The days following the encounter with the strange memory glitch felt like a blur. Eira couldn't focus on anything else. Every waking moment, she found herself drawn back to the screen, to the memory of Rowan Hale. The hum of the song echoed in her mind, haunting her dreams, tugging at the edges of her consciousness. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't find the answers she was looking for. The data was incomplete, and the more she searched, the more the truth seemed to slip further away.
The weight of the mystery gnawed at her, consuming her thoughts, until she had no choice but to visit the one place she had been avoiding—the Archive, the vast data vault buried deep beneath the Memoria Systems facility.
The Archive was a place reserved only for the highest levels of clearance, a labyrinth of records, memories, and histories. It contained the most confidential data in the world—everything the government wanted to keep hidden, everything they thought was too dangerous to be remembered. Eira had never ventured there before. She knew the risks. The Archive was heavily guarded, both physically and digitally, with layers upon layers of encryption and surveillance. Only the most trusted individuals had access to its contents, and even then, they were often monitored closely. But she had no choice. The answers she sought were buried there, and she had to find them.
She walked through the sterile halls of Memoria Systems, her heart racing in her chest. Every step echoed in the empty corridors, a reminder of how alone she felt in this quest. She had no allies in this. No one to share the burden with. It was just her, and the secrets she was uncovering.
As she reached the entrance to the Archive, she took a deep breath, steeling herself. The biometric scanner flashed green, and the doors slid open, revealing a vast room lined with shelves upon shelves of data cubes, each one holding a piece of the world's history. The air smelled faintly of dust and old paper, a stark contrast to the sleek, sterile environment of the rest of the facility.
Eira moved swiftly through the aisles, her eyes scanning the labels on the cubes. She knew exactly what she was looking for. Rowan Hale. The name was buried deep within the records, hidden away under layers of falsified history and government censorship. It was up to her to find it.
She stopped at a terminal, her fingers trembling as she entered a set of access codes. The screen flickered to life, and Eira's pulse quickened. The Archive's interface appeared, a vast network of interconnected files and records. She typed in Rowan's name, her heart pounding in her ears.
The search results were minimal at first—just a few fragmented records, references to a woman who had been involved in the Mnemosyne Project, but the details were sparse. There were no mentions of her past, her identity, her role in the revolution. Just a few scattered data points, all pointing to the same conclusion: she had been erased.
But Eira wasn't satisfied. She dug deeper, bypassing the surface-level data, diving into the forbidden files, the ones that had been marked as classified. The more she searched, the more the system seemed to fight her, blocking her access at every turn. But Eira was determined. She had come too far to turn back now.
Finally, after what felt like hours of hacking through encrypted files and bypassing security measures, she found it. A hidden file, buried deep within the system, labeled only as "The Keeper's Record". She hesitated for a moment, knowing that whatever lay within that file would change everything.
With a steadying breath, Eira opened the file.
The first thing she saw was a message, a warning:
"To the Keeper: If you are reading this, then the system has failed. The memories of the revolution, the truth of Rowan Hale, must never be allowed to resurface. Erasure is not enough. If you have found this, then the past is already returning, and you have one choice. Will you let it be forgotten, or will you remember?"
The message sent a chill down her spine. This was it. The Keeper—whoever they were—had left a message specifically for someone who would uncover the truth. The file continued, detailing a secret network of individuals who had worked to preserve the memories of those like Rowan Hale, people who had been erased from history. They had been the guardians of forgotten stories, of love and revolution that had never been allowed to see the light of day.
Eira read on, her heart pounding as the file revealed more. It spoke of a hidden archive, a Memory Vault, where the full story of Rowan Hale—and the others who had been erased—was kept. The vault was located in a remote facility, far from the reach of the government's control. It was the last hope for preserving the truth.
And Rowan Hale? She was more than just a symbol of resistance. She had been a leader, a lover, a fighter. She had known the risks, the cost of challenging the system, and yet she had given everything for the revolution. Her love, her life, had been erased because she had dared to challenge the status quo. But she wasn't gone. Not completely.
Eira closed the file, her mind reeling with the implications of what she had just uncovered. She had to find the Memory Vault. She had to find the truth.
But as she stood there, alone in the Archive, a realization hit her: The government wouldn't let her do this. They would stop her. And if they found out what she was after, they would erase her too.
With a sense of urgency building in her chest, Eira exited the Archive, her mind set on the next step. The truth was out there, and she would find it—no matter the cost.