CHAPTER 12: The Last Memory
642 Words
The moment we stepped through the glowing door, a warm breeze greeted us.
Birds chirping. Sunshine on our skin.
It wasn’t dark, or broken, or scary like we expected.
It was beautiful.
Too beautiful.
We were in a quiet town that looked like a painting. Children played in the streets. Flowers bloomed in every yard. No pain, no fear, no sadness. Just peace.
“Where… are we?” I asked.
Czar looked around. “It looks like… a perfect world.”
A man stood near the fountain.
He looked exactly like his picture in the file—Kael Ravanar.
Tall, calm, silver streak in his black hair. But his eyes… those were my eyes.
“Diva,” he said with a soft smile. “Welcome home.”
---
Czar stepped in front of me. “You’re not fooling us. We know what you’re doing.”
Kael raised a brow. “Fooling? Is it so wrong to give you happiness?”
“This world isn’t real,” I said. “It’s too perfect.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. Because it’s a world without pain. I created it with the Lost Hour. Here, you’ll never feel unwanted. Never be bullied. Never cry again.”
He stepped closer to me.
“Here, your parents never died.”
My heart skipped.
“What?”
He waved his hand—and suddenly, I was in our old house.
There they were.
Mama and Papa. Laughing. Cooking. Waiting for me.
“Dinner’s ready, sweetheart,” Mama said.
“Come sit,” Papa added. “Tell us about your day.”
Tears burned in my eyes.
It felt so real.
I almost ran into their arms.
But something stopped me.
Czar’s voice.
“Diva,” he said. “It’s not real. Look at me.”
I turned.
And the house faded.
Kael sighed. “Why choose sadness, Diva? I’m offering peace.”
I stared at him.
“Because pain makes us human. And real love comes with real hurt. If I forget my pain, I’ll forget what made me strong.”
Kael’s face changed. Cold. Angry.
“You are just like your mother. Always choosing the hard way.”
“She was brave,” I said firmly. “And so am I.”
Czar stood beside me.
“Erase the Veil if you want. But you can’t erase us.”
Suddenly, the perfect world around us cracked—like glass shattering in slow motion.
The sky turned dark.
The ground trembled.
Kael’s voice turned loud and broken. “You don’t understand! I created this world to fix the past!”
“But we’re not meant to live in the past,” I shouted. “We’re meant to grow through it!”
The clock tower behind Kael began to glow.
The real Lost Hour had begun.
---
Kael looked at me—one last time.
“Then you leave me no choice.”
He raised his hands—
But I already knew what to do.
I took Czar’s hand and shouted, “Remember who we are!”
Light burst from our palms—bright and golden, filled with memories.
Laughing. Crying. Fighting. Healing.
Everything that made us real.
And it hit Kael like a wave.
He stumbled back… and disappeared into the light.
The memory world shattered—
And we woke up.
Back in the real world.
In the middle of the garden.
---
No one else noticed anything strange.
No missing days. No broken sky. Just a normal morning.
But something had changed.
The Veil had healed.
The Lost Hour was restored.
And Czar?
He smiled.
“I guess we’re more than classmates now.”
I smirked. “More than enemies, too.”
We looked at each other.
Then, at the same time, said:
“Friends.”
But I felt it.
A spark.
The story wasn’t over yet.
- Writer
