Fragments of Forever

vials, each a vessel gently extracted and kept from a priceless memory. Among the busy bustle, Elara Renard, a young memory merchant with e

was adept at pointing out the core of memory, its emotional weight, and its resonance with the seeker. Her gentle demeanour and sympatheti

ining for home. "I look for a memory of my childhood village, a

she added, "has the memory of a summer evening, the perfume of freshly baked bread blending with the laugh

the past. Emotionally charged in voice, he thanked Elara and vanis

fort and hope by linking people by the threads of memory. Benevolent as she was, a craving for a life outside the busy m

read light into vials from individuals. These vials were then sold in the active Memory Market; their worth came from the memories' emotional resonance, rarity, and inte

forcers roved the streets, ensuring obedience to the rigorous policies and silencing any merchant criticism. Though she had heard whispers

of a different sort: the thrill of a first dance at the yearly Harvest Festival, the peace of a moonlit swim in Crystal Lake, and the surge o

d on a vial softly glowing goldenly. As she said,

nrise across the Emerald Sea. It should

ght. Elara grinned and watched her go. Events like these inspired her enthusias

ze in her hair as she soared across the heavens, plunge herself into the cool embrace of Crystal Lake, and dance under th

ur, and their face was dark. Their palm extended a whirlingly dazzling mist. "I seek a forgotten

emory magic. She watched an alien brilliance shining shard with edges peering int

the packed market. She saw a black figure with wide-open hands, his eyes ablaze with a terrible brightness, his voice loud with a

ror. The cloaked man had disappeared, leaving the shimmering shard and memory vial alone. Her wor

Elara's soul. Rasping "this memory," "holds a secret, a truth buried for

e. She concentrated her senses, and among the blackness's tempest, a shimmering shard with foreign light emerged from

features were hidden in darkness; his eyes were ablaze with an evil light, and his voice rang with a terrible prophecy of anarchy and devastation. She watched a city covered in

pening the vision. Their voice resounding with old power, "The balance will be broken," they

th a mix of dread and curiosity. The image vanished, leaving her confused and gasping. The memory vial and the shimmeri

h her body. She felt the echoes of the prophecy resounding inside her entire being; she could no longer fight the call of destiny.

trol of the memory trade highlighted, the Memory Enforcement Bureau felt more like a threat than an ally. And the indicat

on. She held the shard closer, its warmth like a beacon in the dark gathering, its whispers a route map into an unknown future. She understood h

gained. Once comfortable in the quiet areas of the Memory Market, Elara loved the small act of connecting with

ness? Could she discover the secrets of the prediction and guard the unified worlds from the cataclysm just a

nspiration in the echoes of the past, grieving people comforted by common memories, and visitors yearning for a taste of home. She recalled the whispers o

ected with the fate of the unified worlds. She could not turn aside this summons, as this obligat

. She would learn to sort the prophecies and use the shard's power. She would face the darkness not in panic bu

ed on her, and their presence froze her spine. "The shard has chosen its keeper," the man said, their vo