Echoes of the Forgotten Realm

Chapter 1 The Voice in the Silence

Kazuki Arai leaned against the counter of the convenience store, his eyes half-closed as he stared out into the dark streets beyond. The hum of the fluorescent lights buzzed over his head, the monotony of the evening shift settling into his bones like a fog. He glanced at the clock. 11:57 PM. Three more minutes, and he could lock the doors, stock the shelves, and finally head home.

“Just three more minutes,” he muttered to himself, trying to shake off the weariness.

The streets outside were empty, the occasional flicker of streetlights the only movement in the stillness of the night. He wasn’t sure when his life had become so routine, but lately, every day felt like a repeat of the one before. Get up, go to school, go to work, sleep. Repeat. Nothing ever changed.

He sighed as he moved to the door to flip the sign to “closed,” but just as he reached out, he felt it. A presence. His hand froze.

For a moment, the world seemed to slow down, and a sound—a faint, echoing whisper—brushed against his ears. It wasn’t in Japanese, nor any language he could recognize, but somehow he understood the meaning.

“Come... to us…”

Kazuki’s breath hitched in his throat, and he whipped around, expecting to see someone standing there. But the store was empty.

He blinked, his heart pounding. “What the…?”

The lights above flickered, and for an instant, the store seemed… wrong. Like a static screen on an old TV, everything was just a little out of place, as if the walls themselves were shimmering.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his head, and Kazuki clutched his temples. The world tilted, and the ground beneath him seemed to ripple, like a stone dropped in water. His vision blurred. The whisper came again, louder this time.

“Come… you are needed…”

The store, the streetlights, everything around him melted into darkness.

Kazuki opened his eyes, groaning as the ache in his head subsided. His body felt heavy, as if he'd been asleep for days, but the cold breeze on his skin jolted him fully awake.

He sat up, blinking in confusion. He wasn’t in the convenience store anymore. The familiar hum of city life had been replaced by… silence. A vast, eerie silence.

Around him stretched an endless field of tall, silver grass, gently swaying in the wind under a pale violet sky. He turned, his breath catching in his throat as he realized there was no horizon. The field seemed to stretch out infinitely, with no beginning or end, and above, there were no stars—just an endless expanse of swirling mist.

“Where… where am I?”

The wind whispered through the grass, and for a moment, Kazuki thought he heard voices—soft, echoing, like distant memories carried on the breeze. He stood up, scanning his surroundings for any sign of life, any indication of what had just happened to him.

He should’ve been panicking, should’ve been running around, but somehow, a strange calm washed over him. He remembered the voice in the store. It had called him. It had brought him here.

“But why?” he whispered to himself.

The whispering wind grew louder, and Kazuki felt it again—that presence. It was closer this time. Turning slowly, he saw her—a woman standing atop a small hill not far from him. She was dressed in flowing robes, her long, silver hair shimmering like the grass around them. Her face was pale, ethereal, almost ageless, and her eyes glowed with an unnatural light.

She watched him with an unreadable expression, as if she had been waiting for him all along.

“You’ve come,” she said softly, her voice carrying across the distance like a melody. “I had hoped it would be you.”

Kazuki swallowed hard, trying to find his voice. “Who are you? Where am I?”

The woman tilted her head, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied him. “I am Seraphine, keeper of this realm.” She gestured to the endless field around them. “Welcome to Eryndale.”

“Eryndale?” Kazuki repeated, the name foreign yet oddly familiar on his tongue. “Is this… a dream?”

Seraphine smiled faintly. “If only it were so simple. No, Kazuki Arai. This is no dream. You’ve been called here for a reason.”

The wind whipped through the grass again, and Kazuki felt a chill run down his spine. “Called? What are you talking about?”

Seraphine stepped closer, her movements so fluid it was as if she were gliding. “Eryndale is not just a world, Kazuki. It is the place where forgotten memories come to rest. The forgotten dreams, the lost hopes, the abandoned pasts… all of them find their way here, shaping this world. But something has gone wrong.”

Kazuki stared at her, trying to make sense of her words. “I don’t understand.”

She reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder, her touch cold but comforting. “You were brought here because you possess a rare gift—the power of Echoes. You can remember what others have forgotten. And that power is the only thing that can save Eryndale from the Void.”

“The Void?” Kazuki’s mind was reeling, trying to keep up with the flood of information. “What’s the Void?”

Seraphine’s expression darkened. “A force that consumes forgotten memories. It erases them completely, leaving nothing behind. If it continues to spread, it will consume not just Eryndale, but every connected world—including your own.”

Kazuki’s heart raced. This couldn’t be real. It was too much, too strange. But somehow, deep down, he knew it was true.

“You mean… my world could disappear?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Seraphine nodded solemnly. “Yes. That is why you were chosen, Kazuki. You must help us restore what has been lost. Only then can the Void be stopped.

”Kazuki stood frozen, the weight of her words crashing down on him. He had wanted change, something different from his repetitive life, but this… this was something else entirely.

He took a deep breath, clenching his fists as he looked out over the endless, forgotten world of Eryndale.

“So what do I have to do?”