There was something wrong with the wind.
It blew, but only toward them. No matter which direction they turned, it kept pushing at their backs like a whisper trying to guide them where it wanted. The trees made no sound. No rustling. Just stood like statues — stiff and tall, branches hanging downward, like they were being weighed down by silence.
Peter was the first to notice it. He walked slower than usual, glancing over his shoulder every few steps. The others didn't say much — they were all tense, but they assumed it was just fatigue. Until Frank called out to him.
"Peter, you okay?"
Peter turned. Confused. "Who?"
Frank stopped walking. "You. Peter. What's wrong?"
Peter blinked. "I... sorry. I thought you were talking to someone else."
Lucy stepped up beside Frank. "What's happening?"
Tom narrowed his eyes. "Peter, what's your name?"
Peter smiled awkwardly. "What do you mean? I'm... uh... I'm..."
He paused.
His smile faltered.
His hands dropped to his sides.
"I'm..." he repeated, slower this time.
Jack tried to lighten the mood. "Oh come on, don't go all horror movie on us—"
"I don't remember," Peter whispered.
The group froze.
Tom stepped forward. "That's not funny."
"I'm not joking," Peter snapped, panic rising in his throat. "I don't remember my name. I don't remember what my parents looked like. I don't remember what I—what I—what I—"
He gasped and fell to his knees, clutching his head.
Kitty rushed to his side. "He's shaking."
Susan pulled out her glyph set, flipping through them rapidly. "This isn't a mental break. This is interference. External. Subtle. Controlled."
Frank's jaw clenched. "Velmorith."
Tom dropped beside Peter. "You're still you. Stay with us. Listen to my voice."
But Peter wasn't crying. He wasn't breaking down.
He was… fading.
Not physically — his body was still there. But something behind his eyes was flickering. His voice had lost its certainty. His fingers twitched with movements that didn't belong to him. He looked like a shadow pretending to be human.
"I remember walking," Peter murmured. "I remember holding a sword. I remember laughing with all of you."
He looked up, and his voice cracked.
"But I don't remember why I matter."
Everyone went still.
Lucy slowly knelt in front of him. "You matter because you chose to stay when everything else told you to run. Because you held your shield in front of me when the vault cracked open. Because when Frank broke, you helped him up."
Peter looked at her — eyes distant.
"Please," she whispered. "Don't forget us."
Susan moved behind him, pressing a glyph onto the back of his neck.
Glyph of Echo.
It glowed faintly, searching his memory threads, looking for the identity lines — the emotional ties that tethered him to who he was.
The glyph… sputtered. And dimmed.
"Something's disrupting the glyph," Susan whispered. "Something is unraveling his emotional resonance. His core."
Frank cursed. "Velmorith doesn't attack with fire or swords. He attacks with memory. With self."
Kitty stood suddenly. "Wait."
They turned to her.
"Look at our shadows."
They looked.
One shadow was missing.
Peter's.
"His shadow is still here," Kitty said. "But it's no longer connected to his body."
Tom's eyes widened. "It's disconnected. Like... he's becoming a memory before he's even died."
A rustle came from the left. Finally, the trees made a sound. But it wasn't natural.
It was like... paper tearing.
One of the trees peeled open like a book, bark curling, revealing writing inside.
The glyphs inside the tree were not in any known language. They moved.
Susan stared at them, horrified. "Those glyphs… they're his memories. Scrambled. Written into the forest."
"They're taking him," Frank said quietly.
"No," Tom growled. "We're not letting that happen."
He knelt, hands glowing with Palecto energy. He drew a symbol in the air — not one taught by scholars, but one he had felt years ago, during the night of the burning sky.
The glyph hummed. It didn't shine, didn't explode. It hummed like a heartbeat.
Peter gasped sharply. His eyes flickered.
And then—
A tear fell down his cheek.
"I remember," he choked out.
Lucy let out a breath so heavy it shook her.
"I remember... your voices."
Susan's glyph finally reignited.
She smiled. "Welcome back."
Peter swayed, but Tom caught him.
"Velmorith almost got you," Tom said. "But not today."
Peter smiled weakly. "Remind me to never forget again."
Jack snorted. "You'd better not. We're already messed up enough."
They all shared a small, shaky laugh.
But no one said what they were all thinking:
If Velmorith could almost erase Peter's entire identity without them noticing... what would happen if all three villains moved together?