"You've already been here," said the child.
Ruichi turned. The boy was eight, maybe younger. Blank eyes. No shadow. No breath. Just wheat behind him.
"You always come back here."
Ruichi blinked. The boy was gone.
The signpost still read: Sotolo Fields. The letters flickered, then stabilized. He turned toward the windmill again—one story, red roof, distant. He walked. The stalks whispered against his legs. No birds. No sun movement. No time.
After what felt like hours, he was no closer. The windmill vanished. Reappeared. Further back.
He checked his inventory. One golden stalk. He hadn't picked it. He chewed it anyway. It tasted like nothing. Not bland—just absent. Like chewing a placeholder.
The terrain looped every 300 meters. A patch of clover. A broken fence. A crow that never flew. He passed them again. And again.
He tried to mark the ground. He dragged his foot through the soil. The mark vanished behind him. He dropped the stalk. It reappeared in his inventory. He turned around. The windmill was behind him now. Then ahead. Then gone.
Footsteps behind him. He turned. Nothing.
"You've already been here," said a voice. Not the child's. Not his own.
He tried to stop walking. His legs didn't respond. He tried to speak. His mouth opened, but the words weren't his.
"I am harvesting."
He hadn't meant to say that.
A quest appeared.
New Objective: Harvest yourself Status: In progress Reward: Tier 2 Memory Unlock
He hadn't accepted it.
His inventory now held a mirror.
He looked into it. His reflection blinked first.
Then it smiled.
It wasn't a cruel smile. It wasn't kind either. It was knowing. Like the mirror had seen him before. Like it had waited.
Ruichi tried to drop it. His hand wouldn't open.
The mirror pulsed. Not light. Not heat. Something else. A rhythm. A signal. A heartbeat that wasn't his.
The wheat around him began to shimmer. Not burn. Not glitch. Just shimmer. The stalks bent toward him. Not in wind. In recognition.
He felt his feet move. Not by choice. Not by command. Just movement.
His body turned. His legs walked. His thoughts fragmented.
He passed the crow again. It blinked. It hadn't blinked before.
He passed the fence. It was whole now. Then broken again.
He passed the clover. It whispered. He didn't understand the words.
The terrain folded. The windmill collapsed inward. The sky pixelated. The stalks curled into symbols—glyphs he almost recognized.
One looked like Winston's name. Another looked like his own. Another looked like a door.
He tried to scream. His mouth opened. No sound.
He tried to run. His legs walked.
He tried to think. His thoughts looped.
"You always come back here."
"I am harvesting."
"Harvest yourself."
"Tier 2 Memory Unlock."
The mirror pulsed again. It was no longer in his hand. It was in his chest. He felt it. A weight. A presence. A reflection inside him.
He saw himself—walking the field. Again. And again. Past versions. Fragmented. Looping.
One version was crying. One was laughing. One was holding Winston's hand.
None of them looked back.
The glyphs rose from the soil. They hovered. They spun. They aligned.
The windmill reappeared. It was upside down. Then sideways. Then gone.
The sky split. Not open. Not broken. Just split.
A voice spoke. Not from the system. Not from the field. From inside him.
"Harvest complete."
"Memory Unlock: Tier 2."
"System override: location reset."
He blinked.
The wheat was gone.
The forge was cold.
He was standing in it.
Not remembering it.
Standing.
The mirror was gone. The stalk was gone. His hands were empty.
The bakery was quiet. No customers. No deliveries. No events.
Just the usual loop.
Sweep the floor. Check the bread. Light the forge.
Ruichi didn't move.
Villager 2922 did.