A chill ran down Leo's spine as the eerie sound echoed through the ruins.
Scrape. Drag. Scrape. Drag.
He tightened his grip on his spear, his eyes scanning the crumbling city for any sign of movement. The fire's flickering glow cast long shadows against the ruined walls, warping shapes into shifting, unfamiliar figures.
"I'm not alone."
The thought took root in his mind like a boulder in a puddle, sending waves of unease through his body. Something was out there. Watching him. Waiting for him.
Leo moved cautiously forward, breathing lightly. He had to know what he was dealing with.
He activated God's Eye.
But something was wrong.
The usual torrent of information—stats, descriptions, details—never arrived. Instead, his eyes flickered.
The world around him flickered.
And then, one, corrupted line of text before his eyes.
[Name: Memory Thief]
Nothing more.
No description. No abilities. Just the name.
And then—
Scrape. Drag. Scrape. Drag.
The sound was nearer now.
Leo whirled around, his heart pounding. The shadows contorted, twisting unnaturally.
And then, out of the darkness of a crumbling alleyway, it emerged.
A monster unlike any Leo had ever seen.
It didn't have a face. No eyes. No mouth. Just a smooth, featureless black void where a head should have been. Its body was elongated and lean, its limbs stretched to unnatural proportions, its fingers terminating in claw-like tendrils that scratched against the rock.
Leo's grip on his spear tightened.
His survival instincts were shouting at him to flee.
But his feet would stop moving.
The creature leaned its head—or where its head ought to be—sizing him up.
And then, in a twisted movement, its tentacles stretched out.
Leo tried to get up, to react—but his muscles were anchored.
As if something ethereal was weighing on him, tugging him down.
And then it touched him.
A burning, scorching sensation flooded his mind.
Flashbacks materialized in front of his eyes.
His cave. The pup wolf. The fight with the Bloodclaw Ursan. The mirror.
And then—
Darkness.
Leo's mind spun. His memories fogged, warped. They were being torn away.
He struggled to keep hold. Struggled to hold on to something—anything—but the more he fought, the more quickly it all slipped through his fingers.
His vision became hazy.
Reality fell apart around him.
And then, suddenly—
He sat up.
A New Reality
Leo sat up with a scream, his damp body jerking wildly on his bed.
He blinked again.
Sunlight poured through a window.
His window.
His room.
His bed.
His desk sat neatly in the corner, his old books stacked where he had left them. Posters lined the walls, his school uniform hung over his chair.
He was home.
His breathing slowed as he stared at the ceiling.
"Was it… a dream?"
The forest. The cave. The ruins. The monster.
Had it all just been some horrible nightmare?
A knock came from his door.
"Leo! You'll be late for school!"
His mother's voice.
His real mother's voice.
For the first time in what felt like forever, relief washed over him.
He was home.
He was safe.
Everything was—
Wrong.
Someone in the depths of his mind muttered that this didn't occur. That something was amiss.
But no matter how desperately he tried to think—
He couldn't remember what.
And outside, in the reflection in his bedroom window—
The Memory Thief watched.