Until We Remember

Chapter 1: The Dragon Blinked

The dragon blinked.

Maria Santos nearly dropped the drawing.

For a second, she simply stared.

The classroom buzzed with the usual Friday afternoon chaos. Chairs scraped against the floor. Students laughed across the room. Someone in the back was trying—and failing—to hide a bag of chips.

None of that mattered.

Because the dragon had just blinked.

Maria looked down at the paper again.

An intricate black-and-white dragon curled around a towering castle. Hundreds of tiny scales covered its body. Smoke drifted from its nostrils.

And its eye stared directly back at her.

Unmoving.

Ordinary.

Exactly as a drawing should be.

"Miss?"

Maria looked up.

Jake Garcia stood beside her desk, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Can I have it back?"

"What?"

"The drawing."

Right.

The drawing.

She had confiscated it five minutes ago after catching Tyler Ramos waving it around the classroom.

Maria cleared her throat.

"Not yet."

Jake's shoulders slumped.

Across the room, Tyler smirked.

"Told you she'd keep it."

A few students laughed.

Jake lowered his gaze.

Maria felt irritation spark.

"Tyler."

The room immediately quieted.

The boy raised both hands.

"What? I didn't do anything."

"You rarely need to."

A few students snorted.

Tyler rolled his eyes and sank into his chair.

Maria looked back at the drawing.

The dragon remained still.

Of course it did.

Because dragons weren't real.

And drawings definitely didn't blink.

You're tired.

That was all.

Too many quizzes.

Too much coffee.

Not enough sleep.

Problem solved.

She placed the drawing on her desk and turned toward the whiteboard.

"Alright, everyone. Open your notebooks."

A chorus of groans erupted.

"Miss, it's Friday!"

"Exactly."

"Miss, have mercy."

"I am showing mercy," Maria replied. "The quiz is only twenty questions."

The protests grew louder.

Maria smiled despite herself.

This was normal.

Predictable.

Comforting.

Then every clock in the classroom stopped.

Tick.

Silence.

Maria frowned.

The second hand on the wall clock froze.

So did the digital clock above the whiteboard.

3:33 PM.

The fluorescent lights flickered once.

Twice.

Three times.

The classroom fell silent.

Students exchanged nervous glances.

"Did the power just—"

Darkness swallowed the room.

Someone screamed.

Maria's pulse jumped.

For one impossible moment, the classroom vanished.

The desks disappeared.

The walls disappeared.

The students disappeared.

Maria stood alone inside a vast ruined cathedral.

Moonlight poured through shattered stained-glass windows.

Ancient stone pillars rose into darkness.

Strange symbols burned across the floor like glowing scars.

A cold wind swept through the chamber.

And somewhere in the distance—

Something moved.

A massive shadow unfolded between the pillars.

Watching.

Waiting.

Searching.

Maria couldn't breathe.

Couldn't move.

Couldn't think.

Then the creature lifted its head.

And looked directly at her.

The lights exploded back to life.

The classroom returned.

Students gasped.

Someone dropped a backpack.

A chair crashed to the floor.

Maria grabbed the edge of her desk to steady herself.

The cathedral was gone.

The shadow was gone.

Everything was normal.

Except for the terrified pounding of her heart.

"Miss Santos?"

Jake's voice.

Small.

Uneasy.

Maria looked down.

The dragon drawing was still sitting on her desk.

But it wasn't the same.

A line of fresh black ink now stretched across the bottom of the page.

The handwriting was jagged.

Uneven.

Still wet.

Maria stared.

Her blood turned cold.

Because she knew with absolute certainty those words hadn't been there before.

The message read:

THE SEVENTH FRACTURE BEGINS TOMORROW.

And beneath it—

A second line slowly appeared.

Letter by letter.

As if an invisible hand was writing it.

"WE FINALLY FOUND YOU."