Mischief in Gusu

Chapter 22: Echoes of the Forgotten Flame

The air grew colder with every step.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji descended the ancient stone steps, torches flickering to life as if the very walls remembered their presence. The further they walked, the thicker the smoke became-not choking, but watchful, curling like fingers around their ankles, trailing behind them like shadows.

Lan Wangji pressed closer to Wei Wuxian, his hand on Bichen, senses sharp. "The spiritual energy here... it's fractured."

Wei Wuxian nodded, scanning the etched walls. "It's not just fractured. It's layered. Time isn't linear here anymore."

They reached the end of the staircase, which opened into a vast underground chamber. And there, in the center, stood a massive stone brazier-far larger than the incense burner they had found, cracked and covered in talismans so old they crumbled at the edges.

Around it were four pillars, each with carvings of different clans-Lan, Jiang, Jin, and Nie. But the center of the brazier had one more unfamiliar symbol-twisting, ancient, a clan that didn't exist anymore.

Wei Wuxian stepped closer, the hair on his arms rising. "This... this is a memory seal."

Lan Wangji turned to him. "A what?"

Wei Wuxian's expression grew serious. "It's a forbidden relic. I read about it once in a scroll so buried, even the Wen Clan avoided it. It doesn't just hold power-it feeds on memory, devours time. If someone dies near it, or if enough regret is spilled here... it stores them, echoes them."

Lan Wangji moved toward the brazier, inspecting the talismans. "These seals are failing."

As if in answer, the brazier hummed-a deep, resonating sound that made the floor tremble.

And then it began.

The room shifted.

Stone cracked. Smoke burst upward. Shadows surged along the walls-faces flickering within them. Lan Wangji grabbed Wei Wuxian's arm, pulling him back as the brazier pulsed violently.

A voice echoed from the smoke. It was faint, childlike.

"Mommy?"

Wei Wuxian's blood ran cold.

Another voice followed-aged, sorrowful, male.

"He said he'd come back... he promised..."

More voices flooded in-regrets, memories, cries of the lost. Some of them were familiar. Some were Wei Wuxian's own, twisted and replayed.

Lan Wangji covered his ears briefly, eyes narrowing in pain.

Wei Wuxian shouted, "This thing doesn't just store regret-it's trying to make us relive it!"

From the smoke, a figure emerged.

Not fully solid, not a ghost-but an echo. A man in battle robes, his face shifting constantly-sometimes a Wen, sometimes a Lan, sometimes Wei Wuxian himself.

It spoke with many voices layered together:
"You took the burner. You turned the key. Now you'll carry the weight."

Lan Wangji stepped forward. "Who are you?"

The figure tilted its head. "I am every moment forgotten. Every grief buried. Every child lost too early."

It pointed at them.

"You reversed time. Now time will reverse you."

Before either could react, a surge of smoke burst forth from the brazier-slamming into their chests. Wei Wuxian cried out as the world tilted, memories flashing through his mind. Lan Wangji stumbled, clutching his head.