Glass memory

We keep walking long after the tunnel should've ended.

The light grows stranger the deeper we go — not brighter, just clearer. Like the air's been filtered of noise, leaving only the shape of what we carry.

No one talks.

Venu hums under his breath, a broken tune from before the Sleep. Ajay walks with his head down. Maika keeps glancing behind her, as if the old world is going to reach out and drag her back.

I keep leading.

Even though I don't know where this path ends.

Even though my chest's been heavy since I chose to go down instead of up.

We find a platform — metal, wide, ancient.

A control panel rests at the far end, half-buried in sediment and dust. Aerith wipes it clean with his sleeve. The screen lights up in fractured green. Words shimmer and fade. Most are unreadable.

But one line pulses, steady:

"Last transfer failed. Memory load: INCOMPLETE."

Ajay leans in. "This was a drop point."

Aerith nods slowly. "It's part of the relay network. Where memory capsules were routed before the final storage."

"Is it here?" I ask. "The bottle?"

Aerith doesn't answer right away. "No. But it means we're close."

Sira touches the panel lightly. "Someone tried to save it. And failed."

Maika sits on a broken beam, head in her hands. "We're chasing pieces of ghosts."

I kneel next to her. "That doesn't mean they weren't real."

She looks at me. Her expression's tired, but not angry. Just worn down.

"Why'd you really go with him?" she asks quietly.

I think about it.

Not the easy answer. The real one.

"Because I wanted to feel like I wasn't the only one who remembered who we used to be."

Maika nods once. Then rests her head on her knees.

That night, we sleep beneath fractured steel beams and faded warning signs.

I lie awake, tracing cracks in the ceiling with my eyes.

Aerith sits a few feet away, staring at a flickering screen that no longer answers him.

I don't know what we're chasing anymore. A bottle. A memory. A second chance.

But I know I'm not ready to stop.

And I know that whatever comes next, I'll face it with eyes open.

Even if they all close theirs.

To be continued…