Kai followed Echo through alleys no one walked anymore
She moved like someone who'd been lost for years
Or maybe born that way
The cracks were everywhere
In walls
In windows
In people
Flickers in reality
Small
But growing
"This city isn't floating" Echo said
"It's falling"
Kai laughed
"That's dramatic"
She didn't smile
"I don't remember much"
"But I know this truth came at a cost"
She placed his hand on a concrete wall
Solid
Until it wasn't
His hand phased through
Behind the wall
A staircase
Going down
Pulsing faint blue
"Where does it lead?" he asked
She looked at him
Eyes strange now
Like someone else was watching through them
"To the place they dump the ones who remember"
Before he could speak
The wall behind them shifted
A ripple
Someone stepped out of it
Not human
No eyes
Only a mouth
Stitched shut
It pointed at Kai's countdown
Still stuck on zero
Then it whispered
Without opening its lips
"He was not supposed to stay"