CHAPTER 2: The girl who was never Forgotten
Eiran did not sleep again.
Not because he was afraid.
But because he was watching.
Every movement in the Ashen Veil camp felt… wrong now. Wolves spoke, laughed, argued—but there were gaps. Small, invisible fractures in their reality.
Spaces where something—or someone—should have been.
And only he could see them.
At dawn, he tested it.
He walked to the edge of the clearing where the missing wolves used to train. He could still picture them—barely. Their shapes blurred like smoke in his mind.
"There were three of you…" he murmured. "You stood here."
No one answered.
No scent lingered.
No footprints marked the ground.
It was as if the world itself had swallowed them whole.
"You're still trying to remember, aren't you?"
The voice came from behind him.
Soft.
Calm.
Certain.
Eiran turned sharply—
And froze.
Because the one standing there…
should not exist.
She was unfamiliar.
Not just to him—but to the world.
Her presence felt like a contradiction.
Like a word that had never been spoken… but somehow still understood.
Her hair fell in dark waves, untouched by the wind. Her eyes—strange, unsettling—weren't gold like a wolf's, or human brown.
They shimmered like reflections on water.
Unfixed.
Uncertain.
Unforgettable.
"Who are you?" Eiran asked, his voice low.
The girl tilted her head slightly, studying him as if he were the strange one.
"That's an interesting question," she said. "Most people don't ask it anymore."
Eiran's chest tightened.
"What do you mean?"
She stepped closer.
And with every step… the air seemed to resist her.
Like reality didn't quite agree she should be there.
"You remember the ones who disappeared," she said.
It wasn't a question.
Eiran hesitated… then nodded.
"Yes."
Her expression shifted—something like relief flickering across her face.
"Good," she whispered. "That means it hasn't taken everything yet."
"It?" Eiran repeated. "You know what's doing this?"
The girl didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she looked up at the fading moon, her strange eyes reflecting its pale light.
"It doesn't have a name," she said finally. "Not anymore."
"Then what is it?"
She looked back at him.
And for the first time…
there was fear in her eyes.
"It's what's left of something that was forgotten… a long time ago."
Eiran's stomach twisted.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It doesn't need to," she replied quietly. "It just needs to exist."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Eiran asked the question that had been clawing at him since the moment he saw her.
"Why do I remember… but no one else does?"
The girl's gaze softened.
"Because you were meant to," she said.
Eiran frowned. "That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
He stepped closer now, studying her carefully.
"You're not from my clan."
"No."
"You're not from any clan, are you?"
She hesitated.
Then shook her head slowly.
"No."
Eiran felt it then.
That same presence from the night before.
Not around him.
Not in the forest.
But…
around her.
"What are you?" he asked, more cautiously this time.
The girl smiled faintly.
Not like she was amused.
But like she had been asked that question too many times… and never found a satisfying answer.
"I'm the reason it hasn't won yet."
Before Eiran could respond—
A scream tore through the camp.
Both of them turned.
Chaos erupted instantly.
Wolves rushed toward the center of the clearing, panic spreading like fire.
Eiran ran.
The girl followed.
When they reached the center…
Eiran's blood ran cold.
One of the elders was on the ground.
Convulsing.
Clawing at her own chest as if trying to rip something out.
"No—no, I remember—I REMEMBER—" she screamed.
But her voice began to distort.
Glitch.
Break.
"What's happening to her?!" Eiran shouted.
The girl didn't answer.
Because she was staring at the elder with horror.
The elder's body suddenly went still.
Too still.
Her eyes locked onto Eiran.
Wide.
Terrified.
And then she spoke.
But it wasn't her voice.
"You're not supposed to remember."
The air shattered.
For a split second, everything froze.
The wolves.
The trees.
The wind.
Even the light itself seemed to flicker.
Eiran couldn't breathe.
Because now he felt it fully.
That presence.
Not distant anymore.
Not hidden.
Watching him.
The elder's body jerked violently—
Then collapsed.
Lifeless.
A heavy silence fell over the clearing.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
After a moment, one of the wolves whispered:
"Who… was she?"
Eiran's heart stopped.
Because he knew the answer.
He knew her.
She had been one of the oldest.
One of the wisest.
She had a name—
But it was gone.
Eiran staggered back, his mind spinning.
"No… no, this is wrong…"
The girl grabbed his arm.
"Listen to me," she said urgently. "It's accelerating."
"What is?!"
"It's not just erasing the forgotten anymore," she said. "It's starting to erase the ones who remember they're being erased."
Eiran's eyes widened.
"That means—"
"Yes," she said.
"It's coming for you."
A cold silence fell between them.
Eiran swallowed hard.
"Then we stop it."
The girl studied him for a long moment.
Then, slowly…
she smiled.
"For that," she said softly, "you'll need to remember something no one else can."
Eiran frowned.
"What?"
She stepped closer.
So close he could feel the strange pull of her presence.
"Who I am."
And for the first time since this began…
Eiran realized something impossible.
He had never asked her name.
And somehow…
He already knew.
But the moment he tried to say it—
The world trembled.
And the voice returned.
"Don't."