The vanishing paradox

Eiser stood at the edge of the ruined city, the winds howling like echoes of a forgotten past—or perhaps a future yet to be written. The sight of collapsed towers and shattered streets weighed on him, knowing that this destruction was somehow tied to his existence. The words of the mysterious figure in the ruins still lingered in his mind: This is your doing. This is what you will become.

Determined to unravel the truth, Eiser set out in search of answers. His first lead was the name—Synn—whispered to him by the fading specter before it vanished into the rift. The name felt like a splinter in his mind, something both foreign and intimately familiar. It wasn't long before the world itself began reacting to his pursuit.

Reality twisted around him in subtle but unnerving ways. The cobbled roads leading out of the ruins shifted when he wasn't looking, rearranging like a puzzle whose pieces refused to stay in place. His own shadow flickered, as if existing in multiple moments at once. And worst of all, people he had met just hours ago no longer recognized him.

At first, he thought it was paranoia, but then came undeniable proof.

Selena, the time-weaver who had warned him of the Keepers of Continuum, had met him just the night before. Now, as he approached her campfire in the valley below the ruins, she looked at him with blank indifference.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice cautious.

Eiser felt something deep inside him twist. "Selena, it's me. We spoke yesterday—about the war, about the ruins, about time itself."

She shook her head slowly. "I don't know you."

Before he could respond, the firelight wavered, as if time itself hesitated. Then, for the briefest moment, recognition flickered in her eyes—like a memory fighting to surface.

Then it was gone.

Eiser staggered back. This was something far worse than simple amnesia. It was as if he were being erased.

A new fear took root in him: If he continued down this path, would he one day wake up to find even himself forgetting who he was?

He needed answers. He needed Synn.

---

His search led him to the Veil District—a place where time flowed unnaturally, where remnants of past and future converged like oil and water. It was there, among the distorted reflections of time, that he finally saw him.

Synn stood beneath a broken archway, his form flickering between states of existence. One moment he appeared as a young man, the next as something older, something fractured beyond recognition. His eyes burned with a knowledge that did not belong to one person alone.

"You've come far," Synn said, his voice layered with echoes of itself.

Eiser clenched his fists. "Who are you?"

Synn tilted his head. "I am you, and I am not you. I am what remains when time refuses to let go."

Eiser felt a cold weight settle in his chest. "What does that mean?"

Synn's gaze darkened. "It means that if you continue down this path, you will become what I am—a man who never was. A paradox so severe that the universe itself will struggle to remember you. People will forget your name, history will erase your existence, and soon, even reality will let you slip away."

Eiser refused to believe it. "There has to be a way to stop this."

Synn's expression was unreadable. "Perhaps. But every paradox seeks resolution. If you do not find a way to anchor yourself in time, then the choice will be taken from you."

A tremor rippled through the space between them, as if reality itself objected to their meeting. Synn's form began to waver, the echoes of his existence splintering further.

"One last warning," he said, his voice almost lost in the distortion. "Your greatest enemy is not the Keepers, nor the war that looms. It is the moment when even you forget who you are."

Then, with a final flicker, he was gone.

Eiser stood there, breathing hard. The weight of those words settled over him like a shroud.

If he wanted to survive, he needed to find a way to defy fate itself.

And he had no time to waste.

---

The city trembled beneath his feet as Eiser turned away from the empty space where Synn had stood. The revelation burned in his mind, a gnawing dread that threatened to consume him. His very existence teetered on the edge of oblivion, and if he didn't act fast, he would be lost to the void.

He had to act before time erased him completely. Every passing moment was a step closer to vanishing.

Eiser sprinted through the twisted streets of the Veil District, searching for something—anything—that could anchor him to reality. The spectral ruins flickered in and out of existence, merging past and future together in an unholy dance of chaos. Every shadow seemed to whisper forgotten names, remnants of those who had been erased before him.

His mind raced. What could serve as a tether? A memory? A physical object? A connection to another person?

Selena.

She had glimpsed him for a moment before reality swallowed that recognition. If he could force that moment to solidify, perhaps he could carve his existence into the fabric of time.

He reached her camp once more, breathless and desperate. She looked up from her fire, startled by his approach.

"You again?" she frowned. "How did you find me?"

Eiser knelt before her, his voice trembling. "Selena, listen to me. This isn't the first time we've met. You knew me once. I need you to remember."

She hesitated, a flicker of doubt crossing her face. "I don't—"

Eiser grabbed her hands, gripping them tight. "You did. Just before, you almost remembered. Dig deeper. It's there, I know it is."

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, something in the air shifted. The flames of her campfire roared unnaturally high, casting elongated shadows. Her eyes widened as flashes of recognition flooded her mind—fragmented conversations, glimpses of a lost reality.

She gasped. "Eiser..."

A sharp pain shot through his skull. Time buckled around him as unseen forces resisted his defiance.

But he refused to let go.

Eiser braced himself against the collapsing timeline. He wasn't just fighting for survival.

He was fighting to exist.