If memory is a weapon, Asher just handed a bazooka to someone who walks like a runway model and kills like a myth.
Velvora City – Eastblock, 9:32 PM
Rain tapped the city like a metronome of anxiety.
Asher leaned against a vending machine that only sold expired milk and anime DVDs. His coat was soaked, his brain fried, and his list of people trying to kill him had officially outgrown his favorite playlist.
Rachel's voice buzzed in his earpiece.
"She's moving again. Northeast rooftops. Red heels. Seriously, who assassinates people in heels?"
"Style points," Asher muttered, cracking his neck. "Also, maybe she moonlights as a dancer."
"You sure you don't just want to be killed by a hot lady?"
"…No comment."
He leapt from the fire escape, landing on the next rooftop like a broken parkour YouTuber. And there she was.
The Archivist.
Long red trench coat, matching heels, and hair like spilled ink. She moved like wind dressed in silk. No sound. No warning.
Only her eyes—silver like film negatives.
Asher drew his stun blade.
She raised one finger.
And the world… paused.
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Memory Fracture #1: The Playground
Asher blinked.
Suddenly, he was five.
Wearing a blue hoodie, standing alone on a rusted playground.
He turned—his mother stood by the fence. Smiling. Alive.
"Asher," she called. "Come home."
His knees buckled. It felt real. Too real.
Then—he saw the shadow behind her. A man with no face.
He blinked again.
Back to the rooftop.
He was on his knees. Bleeding from the nose.
The Archivist hadn't moved.
She whispered something, too faint to catch.
And the sky above them split for half a second.
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Meanwhile: Rachel and the "Slightly Cursed" Microwave
Back at HQ, Rachel was watching a monitor fizz like soda.
"What the hell is that magic?" she muttered. "Memory displacement? Reality stitching? Interdimensional gaslighting?"
The microwave behind her pinged and blinked 666.
"…Okay, not now, Gary."
Yes, she'd named the haunted microwave Gary. He was a comfort.
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Back to the Fight
Asher swung.
She vanished.
Reappeared behind him.
Tapped his forehead.
"First lie," she said. "Believed."
And suddenly—
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Memory Fracture #2: The Basement
He was in a cold, damp basement. His old one.
A candle flickered.
He looked down.
A journal. His. But every page was written in someone else's hand.
"You didn't survive that night, Asher," a voice whispered. "You never made it out."
Then a mirror broke.
A hundred Asher reflections stared back.
Each one wearing a different expression.
One smiled.
One screamed.
One had no eyes.
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Return to Rooftop – Mental HP: Low
He gasped, clawing at the ground. "What… are you?"
The Archivist knelt beside him, brushing his cheek. Her touch was colder than death, but gentle. Like a librarian patting a book she didn't want to burn yet.
"I archive broken timelines," she said. "Yours is leaking."
He coughed. "Yeah? You got a patch kit for that?"
Her eyes softened. "You shouldn't be waking up yet. But you are. And that means he will too."
"Who?" Asher groaned.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she handed him something.
A small, folded paper bird.
"When the third fracture opens, this will know what to do."
Then she vanished.
No puff of smoke. No flashy magic.
Just… gone.
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Side Event: Police Report You'll See Again Later
A man in a bunny suit was found in District 9, muttering about "skin turning into books" before disintegrating in front of a food truck.
Filed as: "Another Wednesday."
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Back in the Real (ish) World
Rachel found Asher slumped on a rooftop stairwell.
He was clutching the paper bird.
"It's like she pulled parts of me out," he mumbled.
Rachel blinked. "Okay. Therapy coupons just upgraded to a full intervention."
She helped him up.
Then noticed something weird.
His left eye.
It was bleeding… ink.
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Creepy Event #3: The Mirrorless Reflection
That night, in Asher's apartment—
He passed by the mirror on the wall.
But there was no reflection.
Instead, the girl from the morgue was there again.
She held the same paper bird.
And whispered:
"Don't trust the Archivist. She writes lies."
"And you… were her first draft."
[End of Chapter 4]
Preview of Next Chapter:
Chapter 5 – The Book That Wrote ItselfAsher visits an underground library where every book contains a soul—some still screaming. He must find his own volume before the ink runs dry… and the Archivist returns to edit him out permanently.