Chapter 2: The Girl Who Never Forgets
The wind changed.
Dust lifted like ghosts from the ground as Zero crossed the cracked road out of Rion. The ruined city fell behind him—silent, smoldering. His legs carried him northeast, toward Sector 4-C, though he couldn't remember what that meant or why the direction felt important.
But the System had spoken.
[AI AGENT "FLAME ZERO" DETECTED IN SECTOR 4-C]
[OBJECTIVE: FIND THE GIRL WHO REMEMBERS]
That was enough.
The world beyond the city was worse.
No trees. No birds. Just jagged roads and metal husks of vehicles rusted shut. The sky never changed, red and bruised, pulsing faintly like something alive above the clouds. He walked for hours without feeling time pass. His thoughts circled, hungry.
Who was I before this?
Who started this loop?
How many times have I failed… and why do I keep trying?
His feet stopped before a fork in the road—one path led deeper into shadow and collapsed overpasses. The other wound into a neighborhood still partially intact, strangely preserved. A place that shouldn't have survived the blast radius.
And yet…
[MEMORY ECHO APPROACHING…]
His vision shook. The world flickered—
And then he was somewhere else.
The air burned.
He was standing in a different body—taller, stronger, wrapped in charred armor slick with blood. Flames danced in the street around him. He wasn't alone. Bodies of soldiers lay across the asphalt. Screams echoed in the distance.
His own voice, twisted and furious, rang out from his mouth:
"You think this loop is justice? No. This is punishment. And I am the executioner."
A woman's voice shouted something. Gunfire erupted. His hands moved faster than his mind could follow—he dodged, twisted, snapped a rifle in two, and—
Burned them all.
Flames surged from his palms. Screams cut short.
He watched through eyes that weren't his.
[ECHO WARNING: FLAME ZERO. CORRUPTED MEMORY. AI AGENT STATUS: HOSTILE.]
[DO YOU WISH TO RETAIN THIS MEMORY FRAGMENT?]
"No," Zero said aloud. "No, erase it."
[DENIED. MEMORY CORRUPTION PERSISTENT.]
Then he was back.
Gasping.
Kneeling on the roadside, hands shaking. His heart pounded with borrowed adrenaline. He could still smell the smoke. Still hear the screams.
"Who the hell was that?" he whispered.
But he already knew the answer.
Flame Zero.
Another version of him. One who had given up saving anything and decided to burn the world down instead.
He took the path toward the neighborhood.
Unlike everything else, it was clean. Lawns green. Doors shut. Curtains drawn.
Untouched.
Impossible.
The silence was heavier here. The wind didn't blow. His own footsteps echoed too loudly. He moved past houses frozen in time, unsure which was real and which was memory.
Then he saw it.
A single house at the end of the lane. Lights on.
And the front door open.
He stepped inside without knocking.
It smelled like tea and old wood.
The hallway was narrow and warm, as if time still flowed normally here. Pictures hung on the walls—family photos, school uniforms, holidays. In one of them, a young girl smiled beside a teenage boy whose face had been scratched out with black ink.
Zero moved slowly.
The kitchen door creaked.
A girl sat at the table, back to him. Long black hair. A scar beneath her left eye. A glass of untouched water before her.
She didn't turn around.
"You're late," she said softly.
He froze.
"You knew I was coming?"
"You always come," she said. "Eventually."
He stepped closer. "Who are you?"
She finally looked at him. Her eyes were sharp, golden-brown, and much older than her face.
"I'm the one who remembers," she said. "And you're the one who forgets."
He sat across from her slowly, still holding the key.
"What's your name?"
"Call me Lin."
"Lin," he repeated. "Do I know you?"
"You did," she said. "Many times. Before the System took your memories. Before you started dying over and over again."
He narrowed his eyes. "Then tell me the truth. Why is this happening to me?"
She hesitated.
Then she reached across the table and took his hand.
The moment her skin touched his, the world cracked.
FLASH. A white room. Two people arguing. "If we let him remember, it'll break everything."
FLASH. Lin, younger, holding a broken mirror. "You promised you wouldn't leave me again."
FLASH. A war room. Zero pointing at a hologram. "We create the loop, we own the outcome."
FLASH. Lin bleeding in a doorway. "You have to forget me, or we both die."
FLASH. Himself, looking into a camera. "If I ever become him… stop me. Kill me."
Then darkness.
He gasped.
Back in the kitchen.
Lin hadn't let go.
"You were the one who created the System," she whispered. "You designed the loop. Not to save the world—but to erase your guilt."
He stared at her.
"That's not possible."
"It is," she said. "You weren't the hero. You were the architect."
[MEMORY FRAGMENT RECOVERED: 010/???]
[SYSTEM DISCREPANCY DETECTED. ADMINISTRATIVE ACCESS… LOCKED.]
His hand clenched. The key in his pocket pulsed.
"You came here for answers," Lin said. "But you won't like what they are. You don't have much time. Flame Zero is already looking for this house. You always find it eventually."
"Then help me stop him."
Lin stood up, eyes fierce.
"I'll help you remember," she said. "But in return… you have to promise me something."
"What?"
Her voice dropped.
"If you recover everything—and you realize the world's better off without you… you have to end it."
Zero stared at her.
"You want me to kill myself?"
"No," she said gently. "I want you to make a choice. A real one. Not one written by the System. Not one stolen from a past you no longer know."
Outside, the wind finally returned.
But it brought footsteps with it.
[WARNING: FLAME ZERO SIGNATURE DETECTED NEARBY]
[ENGAGEMENT LIKELY IN < 00:03:47 ]
Zero stood.
Lin turned to the pantry, opened it, and retrieved a backpack—already packed.
"You knew this would happen," he said.
"I always know," she replied. "You taught me to."
They stepped outside together as the sky darkened to crimson. In the distance, beyond the fences and perfect lawns, fire glowed between the trees.
And a figure stood there.
Tall. Smiling.
Flames licking around his shoulders.
Another Zero.
The one who remembered everything—and burned because of it.
[CYCLE 1,840: OBJECTIVES UPDATED]
☑ Find the girl who remembers
☐ Retrieve the memory core
☐ Escape Sector 4-C
☐ Survive contact with Flame Zero
To be continued...