[Post-Production Studio – Midday]
The room was dim, quiet except for the occasional click of keys and the soft hum of rendering machines. Multiple monitors displayed color-graded clips from Echo Maze, Elian's film now almost complete.
The edit was in its final phase.
Transitions locked.
Sound mixed.
Even the score had been layered in, a haunting, minimalist composition that Elian insisted on recording live with a quartet.
And yet—
> "It still doesn't feel finished," he murmured.
Arya, sitting beside him, looked up. "What's missing?"
He didn't reply immediately. Just stared at the screen: a still frame of Arya's character walking through fog, alone.
> "There's something I was supposed to remember. It's at the edge of everything. Like a scene we shot but never logged."
---
[System Alert – Passive Memory Resonance Detected]
[ Final Fragment: "Opening Night"
Status: Locked
Time Remaining: 6 Days (Festival Premiere)
Resonance Level: 74% – increasing
Symptoms may include: narrative drift, emotional deja vu, minor hallucinations.
➤ Unlock now? [Y/N]
Risk: Unknown. ]
Elian didn't respond.
Not yet.
He needed to finish the edit.
First.
---
[POV: Miraal – Corridor Outside]
Miraal paced the hallway, phone to her ear. "Yes, I'm telling you—this will blow up. Positive reviews are already leaking. One of the editors cried during the rooftop scene."
> "Then what's the issue?" the voice on the other end asked.
She lowered her voice.
> "The issue is Elian's working like he's racing a ghost."
There was silence.
Then a cautious: "Do we need to… intervene?"
Miraal looked through the glass window. Elian hadn't moved in twenty minutes.
> "No," she said softly. "Not unless he stops first."
---
[Editing Bay – Memory Echo Triggered]
Elian leaned forward and rewound a scene: Arya's improvised monologue from the train.
But this time, a strange thing happened.
The audio glitched—just for a second—and a different voice whispered over the speakers:
"They're all watching you. Don't freeze again, Elian."
He jerked back.
The room was silent.
He replayed it.
Nothing.
Just Arya.
No whisper.
"...I'm imagining it," he muttered. "System?"
[ System Unresponsive. Fragment pressure exceeding safe interface threshold. ]
The whisper returned, closer this time, like someone behind him.
> "You never walked on stage that night. You never even showed up."
---
[Flashback Glimpse – Unknown Stage, Audience Murmurs]
Darkness.
The glow of footlights.
A curtain waiting to rise.
The scent of old wood and sweat.
A man's voice—harsh, panicked—echoing: "Where is he? We're two minutes out—someone get Elian!"
The memory slammed shut like a steel door.
Elian gasped, cold sweat coating his spine.
---
[POV: Shaan – Sound Room]
Shaan watched Elian through the glass, puzzled.
He'd seen directors obsess. He'd seen breakdowns. But this?
> "He's not editing," Shaan muttered. "He's digging."
Miraal stood beside him. "He's chasing a ghost scene. One that doesn't exist."
Shaan glanced at her. "Are we sure it doesn't?"
---
[Later That Night – Elian's Apartment]
Elian stared at the system interface floating silently above his coffee table.
He had locked the door. Disconnected his phone.
He didn't even know why he was hesitating anymore.
> "You want me to remember something I buried. Something I ran from."
The interface blinked once.
Still silent.
Still waiting.
He exhaled.
> "Fine. You win."
And he pressed [Y].
---
[System Unlocking – Final Fragment: "Opening Night"]
[ Warning: Unstable Emotional Construct
Fragment Details:
Event – Stage performance, delayed
Outcome – Abandoned debut
Cause: Panic-induced blackout
Consequence: Permanent withdrawal from acting career
Memory Sealed by Host at Age 17
Integration will overwrite current emotional resistance layer
➤ Proceed? ]
Elian closed his eyes.
> "Do it."
---
[Memory Playback ]
A boy stands backstage.
His chest is heaving. His hands tremble violently.
His cue is in 60 seconds.
A spotlight waits just beyond the curtain. The script is in his hand. It's damp with sweat.
He can hear the audience murmuring.
Waiting.
The director is whispering his name angrily: "You wrote this part. No one else can do it. Don't freeze."
But he does.
His legs won't move.
His vision narrows.
He drops the script.
Turns—
And runs.
Out the back door.
Into the street.
Away from the one moment that could've changed everything.
And never returns.
---
[Back to Present ]
Elian fell to his knees in his living room.
It wasn't just the memory.
It was the shame.
The feeling of letting everyone down. Of running from something he loved more than anything—and never forgiving himself.
Tears ran down his face. Silent. Burning.
The system flickered softly.
---
[System Integration Complete]
[ Final Fragment Integrated
Emotional Load: Stabilized
Trait Gained: Stageborn Resolve – Improved confidence under public scrutiny and live production environments
Block Removed: Voice-related Performance Trauma
Hidden Skill Unlocked: "Cold Read – Can simulate internal monologue for actors based on scene context, improving performance direction." ]
---
[Next Morning – Studio]
Elian walked into the edit room calmly.
Everyone turned.
Miraal stepped forward. "You look… different."
> "I remembered why I started all this," he said.
He took a seat, loaded the final sequence, and added a new voiceover.
Not Arya's.
His.
A narration. Soft. Real.
> "Everyone's afraid of forgetting.
But sometimes, the fear isn't memory loss.
It's remembering too well… and wondering if the past is still watching."
---
End of Chapter 21 – "The Locked Frame"
Cliffhanger: Elian unlocks the final memory: the moment he abandoned his first stage debut out of fear. With it comes a cathartic collapse—and the emotional integration he needed to complete his arc. But now, as the premiere approaches, how will the new Elian face the world that once broke him?