The Reflection With No Grave
"You left me down there."
"Now I want everything back."
The voice hit harder than any blade.
Because it was mine.
Not distorted. Not deeper or higher.
Exactly mine.
Every syllable soaked in the same bitterness I buried when I gave up that memory.
That name.
That moment on the rooftop.
She — it — wore my face. My scars.
But there was something else in her eyes:
A stillness I hadn't earned yet.
A calm that only comes from surrendering everything… and surviving.
The crowd at the Crow Market had gone silent again.
Even the Crows above didn't blink.
They watched.
They always watched.
Maren hovered close, her voice suddenly quiet, uncertain.
"Kashan… this isn't an echo. This is you."
"The piece you gave away… it grew."
⚠️ [Threat Identified: "The Reflection With No Grave"]
Class: Unknown
Origin: Memory of Self, Buried in the Pit
Status: Soul-Stable | Physically Manifested
Unique Trait: Grave Inheritance – Carries all instincts, choices, and regrets from the moment of severance
Warning: This entity remembers everything you forgot.
It may act… before you do.
She stepped closer.
Not rushed.
Not hostile.
Like she was approaching a mirror that had just cracked.
"I remember the name," she said. "The one you loved. The one that made you human."
"I don't."
She smiled.
Not cruel. Not soft.
Just… final.
"That's the difference between us."
Suddenly, she dropped something.
A photo.
I recognized the rooftop instantly.
Two figures.
One was me.
The other — their face was blurred, but I could feel something scream inside me when I looked.
You were safe there.
You were soft there.
And you gave that up for power.
She picked it back up, tucked it into her coat.
And then?
She turned away.
"You're not ready to remember."
"But when you are… come find me."
"I'll be in the place where they bury the ones who never lived."
✅ [Main Quest Updated: "Burial of the Nameless"]
▸ The Reflection is not your enemy.
▸ She is your memory given shape, your guilt forged in flesh.
➤ She holds the answer to your true origin.
➤ She walks toward a place not marked on any map:
The City of Stillborn Souls.
⚠️ Time Limit: None
But the longer you wait…
The stronger she becomes.
The moment she vanished into the fog between stalls, Maren finally spoke.
Not as a ghost.
Not as a soul.
But as a girl.
"That photo... the other person in it—"
"Was me."
I turned to her.
She didn't glow.
She didn't float.
She just stood there. Quiet. Trembling.
"Before I died. Before you ever found the grave. That was us. That was… real."
"You forgot me to survive."
"And I let you."
My knees buckled.
Because I didn't know what I was anymore.
A host.
A weapon.
A walking tomb.
And maybe, worst of all—
A man who buried love to stay alive.
🕯️ [New Trait Gained: Fractured Devotion]
▸ Your bond with Maren now exists on two levels:
Love you forgot, and loyalty she remembers.
Effect: +50% Soul Synergy in combat
Side Effect: Unstable under emotional stress
➤ Maren may remember more than she's telling you.
As I left the Crow Market, the Crows whispered.
Not to me.
But to each other.
One single sentence repeated seven times.
"The grave has cracked open."
"Let what was buried rise."