Between Obviousness and Oblivion

I left the stele.

Not with a heroic gesture. Not with strength or solemnity. Just… I detached myself. Like one gently removes a hand that has rested too long on a lukewarm ember. Like waking from a dream without meaning to, still entangled in its colors, its burn, its tenderness.

I had no more questions at that moment.

No more screams.

No more strength.

Only that slow, instinctive, almost unconscious movement. A withdrawal. A gentle flight. A resignation. I left the stele… but it did not leave me.

It was still vibrating within me.

Not like a memory. Not like those images one sees again when closing the eyes, blurry, distant, harmless.

No.

It vibrated like thermal residue.

An invisible, yet burning imprint.