The photo trembled in my hands.
It was old — black and white, edges frayed, like it had survived both time and fire. A girl stood in the image, standing beside a crooked swing set. Barefoot. Smiling at the camera like she didn't know what pain was.
But her eyes… they looked familiar.
Like someone who had once screamed in a coffin with her mouth sewn shut.
The lighter felt heavier than it should've.
Elias spoke without looking at me. "Her name was Maren.Fifteen years old when she drowned. But the river didn't take her memories."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
He glanced over his shoulder. "It means she remembered everything as she died. Every regret. Every betrayal. Every second her lungs begged for air."
"She's the one I buried."
"No," he said softly. "She's the one who buried herself."
[Ritual: Memory Burn Initiated]
You have chosen to face the soul's story.
Burn the photo to enter the Echo Flame.
Inside, the soul's last memory will consume you.
⚠️ Caution: Pain is real. Death is real. Choose wisely.
Outcome Options:
[ Release Soul ] → Sanity +10 / Gain "Compassion" trait
[ Bind Soul ] → +1 Bound Power / +1 Curse
[ Let Decay ] → +15 EXP / Lose empathy over time
I lit the corner of the photo.
It curled and darkened, black smoke rising in a spiral — except it didn't vanish. It reformed in midair, reshaping into a door of flickering embers, suspended above the floor like a hallucination only I could see.
I stepped through.
The world vanished.
[Memory Space: Maren's Last Moment]
I was no longer in the Bastion.
I stood by a river, moonlight trembling on the water's surface. A rope swing dangled from a twisted tree. Wind brushed against my skin, but it wasn't wind — it was breath.
Her breath.
And then I saw her.
Maren.
She walked out of the woods barefoot, clothes torn, tears streaking her cheeks.She wasn't looking at the river.She was looking at me.
"Why didn't you come back?" she whispered.
I didn't answer. I couldn't.My voice didn't work here. I was a ghost. A witness.
She looked down at something in her hand — a photo. The same one I had burned.She folded it gently and tucked it under a rock by the riverbank.
Then she walked into the water.
One step. Then another.Her body shivered. Her teeth chattered. But she kept going.
And right before she went under—
"Someone has to be the grave."
The memory ended like a blade to the throat.
I stumbled back into the Bastion, gasping, lungs seizing. I tasted river water in my throat, even though it wasn't real.
Elias caught me before I fell.
"You saw it," he said. Not a question.
I nodded. Barely.
Then the system whispered again.
[Decision Required: What will you do with Maren's soul?]
She still lingers. Waiting. Watching.
[ Release ]
[ Bind ]
[ Decay ]
I looked at the lighter in my hand. Still warm.Her photo was gone.But she wasn't.
I looked at Elias. He didn't push me. Didn't guide me.
This was my grave to dig.
I swallowed hard.
And I made my choice.