Amelia’s head swiveled between Ethan and the figure, the anguish pressing down on her chest. The figure’s gaze, hollow and infinite, locked into her own, patiently and unyielding. Then everything around her froze in anticipation of the inevitable. It was as if time stood still, waiting for her to choose.


“Are you ready?” the ominous figure asked again, each word peeling back her resolve like a blade. “I can erase you,” the voice continued, low, intense, and unrelenting.


Then the entity leaned in, almost touching her face, and she felt its cold presence against her skin. But Amelia didn't flinch. There was no fear in her heart, only sadness.


“However, I can grant you the choice of how you shall be remembered,” the unearthly voice uttered softly. “I can leave your loved ones with a memory of your death - a tragedy, yes, but one that will lock your life forever in their hearts. Or...” His pale eyes gleamed below the hood. “Or... I could erase you from this world, cast you into oblivion, as if you never existed. No memory, no pain, no trace of you. Ethan will wake tomorrow with no recollection of your name, your face, or your love. He will continue living as if you were never here,” the figure whispered.


Amelia's eyes flowed with tears. The burden of her decision was so heavy that it removed her power to speak. She pictured his face in her mind, and even though his smile was joyous, she felt the sadness that her memory would bring, the thought twisting in her chest like a knife. She leaned down and pressed her lips on his forehead, tears pouring directly onto his skin. She would be remembered in grievance, or not remembered at all. She glanced at Ethan, asleep, blissfully unaware of her impossible choice... and it felt like her heart imploded.


“I don't want him to suffer,” she said with quiet resolve. “But I don’t want to be nothing.”


“Both paths are sorrow,” the Balancekeeper whispered. “But the scales demand one.”


Her throat tightened. She saw Ethan’s face flicker in her mind, the warmth of his smile shadowed by the inevitable grief her memory would cause, the thought twisting like a knife in her chest. Amelia kissed his forehead, her tears landing on his skin. She couldn't say goodbye; the words didn't have the strength to convey everything she

was feeling. She turned towards the figure. She opened her mouth, but no words would come. There was only dark silence that she allowed to weigh her down for a brief moment.


“I choose... oblivion,” she said, her voice steady in words, yet cracking beneath the surface, carrying both the weight of fear and finality.


The entity didn’t falter, but gave a small inclination of its head in acceptance of this simple statement.


“Then it is done,” it said softly.


Then the air seemed to quiver as her life began to unravel, its threads slipping silently into the void, and Amelia’s essence faded away. But before the veil consumed her fully, the voice returned, soft and almost tender, a flicker of warmth in the cold silence.


“Because your love was selfless, and your defiance unbroken, I will grant you a gift, if you shall have it - the gift of your memories. You will remember everything - the laughter, the touch, the love that was yours. Even if Ethan will not, even when the world forgets you, you alone will hold the truth of what you lived.... but also the sorrow that comes with it.”


The Balancekeeper shifted toward her, its presence gentler now, no longer a weight but a quiet shadow.


“But to receive this gift,” the figure continued, its tone deepening, “you must take your place among us - the Balancekeepers. Each of us once stood where you stand now. Each of us once made the same choice. And now, it is your turn… if you accept it.”


So Amelia became a Balancekeeper, as it was the only way to preserve her love for Ethan. She took her place among those who had chosen silence over presence, sorrow over recognition, love over everything else. Her name vanished from the world, her touch erased from every photograph, every corner of time - yet within her, memory endured, bright and unbroken.