The Last Relic

chapter seven

She stared at the folded paper for a long time.

“Find the place where it began.”

Those words kept circling through her mind.

She thought about Wilume. She thought about the strange object. She thought about the photograph, Meera, the boy, and everything that had happened since her grandmother died.

But then, suddenly, one place came into her mind.

Home.

Not the house where she was currently staying. The house where she had grown up.

The house where every childhood memory she had ever known was buried.

“That’s where it began,” she whispered.

She didn't tell anyone where she was going. She simply gathered what she needed and started her journey back.

The road felt different this time.

She wasn't returning because she missed home.

She was returning because she was searching for something hidden inside it.

When she finally arrived, she stood outside the old house for a moment. Nothing looked different, yet somehow everything felt different.

She slowly opened the door.

The familiar smell of the house surrounded her.

She walked into the sitting room and looked around.

The old chair where her grandmother used to sit.

The table where they ate together.

The window beside which her grandmother used to tell her stories.

Every corner seemed to hold a memory.

She moved from room to room, carefully searching.

She opened drawers.

She looked beneath furniture.

She checked shelves.

She searched through old boxes.

And as she searched, the memories came rushing back.

She remembered the stories her grandmother used to tell her before bed.

Stories about places she had never heard of.

Stories about people who disappeared and returned years later.

Stories about families keeping secrets to protect the people they loved.

Back then, she had thought they were only stories.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

She stopped beside an old cupboard.

Her fingers touched the wood.

She suddenly remembered something her grandmother had said years ago.

“Sometimes, the things you forget are the things you were never supposed to remember.”

She froze.

Her grandmother had said that.

Not once.

Several times.

And suddenly, anger filled her chest.

“So you knew,” she whispered.

Her eyes moved around the room.

“You knew all this time.”

She remembered every time her grandmother had changed the subject. Every time she had refused to answer certain questions. Every time she had told her not to worry about things she didn't understand.

All those years.

All those conversations.

All those stories.

She had trusted her completely.

And now it felt like every memory had another meaning.

“My grandma had been lying to me.”

The words came out quietly, but the anger behind them was strong.

She wanted answers.

Not another warning.

Not another mysterious note.

Not another person telling her that she wasn't ready.

She wanted to know who she was.

She wanted to know who she had always been.

Most of all, she wanted to know why everyone seemed to know something about her except her.

Then she heard footsteps behind her.

She turned quickly.

Meera stood in the doorway.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Meera took a slow breath.

“You came back,” she said.

“I had to.”

Meere looked at her carefully.

“I know.”

The anger inside her began to rise again.

“You knew too.”

Meera didn't deny it.

“I knew some things.”

“Then tell me.”

Meera walked closer.

“Not everything can be told to you. Some things have to be discovered.”

She frowned.

“I'm tired of discovering things.”

Meera gave her a small, almost sympathetic smile.

“Then perhaps you're finally ready to begin.”

She looked at the mysterious object in her hand.

Meera's eyes followed it.

“There is a journey waiting for you,” she said. “And if you truly want to know who you are, you have to follow it.”

“For how long?”

“Until you find the beginning.”

She looked around the house one more time.

For the first time, she didn't feel completely lost.

She still had questions.

Hundreds of them.

But now she had a direction.

Meere gently pointed toward the hallway.

“Go,” she said. “Your adventure starts here.”

For the first time in what felt like forever, she smiled.

She was finally getting closer.

Closer to the truth about her grandmother.

Closer to the truth about the mysterious object.

And, most importantly, closer to the truth about herself.