Chapter 2: The Phantom Vision

The days following the memory dive felt like a blur. Lyra couldn’t shake the vision of the mysterious man. His face, sharp and defined, seemed to imprint itself onto the inside of her eyelids every time she closed her eyes. Each night, the dreams came—vivid and unnerving. The man with storm-gray eyes appeared in the depths of her subconscious, his presence growing stronger, more tangible. His voice, haunting and insistent, echoed in her mind, repeating the same words: *Find me.* It felt as though he were calling out to her from beyond the veil of memories, as if he were waiting for her somewhere, just out of reach.

It didn’t take long for the visions to start creeping into her waking life.

As she walked through the bustling streets of Elysium, she began to feel it—a constant prickling on the back of her neck, as though someone was watching her. The sensation followed her everywhere, and with it came the whispers. Faint, ghostly murmurs that she couldn’t quite make out, but always with the same underlying message: *Remember.*

Lyra tried to ignore it, telling herself it was just a side effect of the memory dive. Diving into other people's minds was a mentally taxing process, and residual effects weren’t uncommon. But the more she tried to rationalize it, the deeper the unease set in. Every time she walked past a reflective surface—a window, a mirror—she half-expected to see the man staring back at her. The world felt out of sync, like a badly tuned instrument playing just off-key.

Her work began to suffer. Focus, once her greatest asset, had slipped away. She found herself making small, careless mistakes—misplacing important data, missing key fragments of her clients' memories during dives. It didn’t go unnoticed. Her supervisor had pulled her aside twice now to ask if she needed time off, but Lyra insisted she was fine, despite the growing doubt gnawing at her.

It wasn’t until Aurelia Faelan stepped in that Lyra realized how much she had let the strange encounter consume her.

***

“Lyra, you look like hell,” Aurelia said bluntly, sliding into the booth across from her at their favorite bar. It was a dim, cozy place tucked away from the high-energy chaos of Elysium’s main streets. Here, they could speak freely without the fear of prying ears or unwanted surveillance. Aurelia was the type to call things as she saw them, her sharp, emerald-green eyes missing nothing. She had a fierce, protective aura that had saved Lyra more than once in the past, both professionally and personally.

Lyra gave a half-hearted laugh and rubbed her temples. “Thanks for the confidence boost.”

Aurelia’s expression softened slightly, though her concern remained clear. “I’m serious. You’ve been distracted for days. What’s going on?”

For a moment, Lyra hesitated. She trusted Aurelia more than anyone, but she wasn’t sure how to explain what had been happening without sounding like she was losing her grip on reality. But keeping it to herself had done nothing to help. Maybe sharing the burden would ease the weight she felt pressing down on her chest.

She took a deep breath and leaned in, lowering her voice. “Something happened during the dive. With Maris.”

Aurelia arched a brow. “What kind of something?”

“I saw someone. A man. But he wasn’t part of Maris’s memories. I know it sounds impossible, but I’m sure of it. He looked right at me, said my name like he knew me. And now I can’t stop seeing him. He’s in my dreams, Aurelia. And there are… whispers. I keep hearing whispers, telling me to find him.”

Aurelia’s expression didn’t change immediately, but Lyra could tell her friend was processing the information carefully. Aurelia was pragmatic to the core, always the one to find the logical explanation for things. After a long pause, she finally spoke, her voice steady and measured.

“People’s minds are messy, Lyra. You know that. When you dive deep enough, things get tangled. Memories bleed into each other, especially if they’ve been tampered with, like Maris’s. What you saw could have been a fragment of something unrelated, or your own subconscious bleeding into the dive. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately. It could be nothing.”

Lyra frowned. “It didn’t feel like nothing. It felt… real. He felt real.”

Aurelia took a sip of her drink, her gaze never leaving Lyra’s face. “You’re not thinking of chasing this, are you? Because if you are, I’d advise against it.”

“I can’t just ignore it. It’s not going away. Every day it feels like he’s getting closer, like he’s—” Lyra stopped herself, the words sounding even crazier out loud than they had in her head.

“Like he’s what?” Aurelia asked, her tone sharper now.

“Like he’s… watching me.”

Aurelia set her glass down with a thud, her expression darkening. “Lyra, listen to me. I don’t care how real it felt. Memory diving messes with your head. I’ve seen people lose themselves chasing shadows, obsessing over things they shouldn’t. This man, whoever he is, isn’t your problem. Let it go.”

“I can’t,” Lyra said quietly, her fingers gripping the edge of the table. “What if he’s trying to tell me something? What if I’m supposed to find him?”

Aurelia sighed and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. “You’ve got to stop doing this to yourself. You’re a Memory Seeker, not a detective. Your job is to retrieve memories, not dig around in places you don’t belong. If you keep pushing, you’ll end up crossing a line you can’t uncross.”

Lyra knew Aurelia was right—at least, on some level. She had seen it happen before. Other Seekers who had gone too deep, who had let their curiosity pull them into a spiral of obsession. But something about this felt different. It wasn’t just a fragment or a glitch. The man felt like he was real, like he existed somewhere beyond the memory dive. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew, deep in her gut, that this wasn’t something she could just walk away from.

“I’ll be careful,” Lyra said finally, though the conviction in her voice was shaky.

Aurelia didn’t look convinced. “I hope so. Just remember—some memories are better left forgotten.”

As they parted ways that night, the whispers followed Lyra home, growing louder with every step. *Find me. Remember.* The man’s voice, smooth and chilling, echoed in her ears as she closed the door to her apartment behind her.

And in the silence of her empty living room, she could feel it again—that sensation of being watched.