The Edax Memoriarum

(Prologue)

Dr. Emma Taylor's hands trembled as she held the ancient tomb, it's leather cover creaking with an otherworldly whisper. The words within, penned in a language she couldn't quite decipher, seemed to shift and writhe like living serpents. She had uncovered the book in the depths of the university's rare manuscript collection, hidden away for good reason, she suspected. The title, "Edax Memoriarum" ("The Devouring of Memories" in Latin), was etched in a font that made her skin crawl.

As she delved into the yellow pages, a chill settled in the air, like a cold breath on the back of her neck. The text spoke of a ritual, a forbidden practice that promised to erase the most traumatic of memories. Emma's mind raced with the possibilities - the suffering she could alleviate, the lives she could change. Little did she know, the horrors she was about to unleash would make her question everything she thought she knew about the human mind... and her own.

(End Prologue)

Emma sits in the counseling room on a comfortable lounge chair, her mind pulling her in every direction as she ponders what could happen next. This would be her first time using the ritual on a patient. Her patient, a young girl named Sophie, had been haunted by the image of a monstrous dark figure lurking in her closet. A simple childhood trauma one might think. But this was different.

The little girl had sworn on her life she had actually seen it and she wasn't just imagining it. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, reported that starting about a month ago, in the middle of the night, their daughter would scream bloody murder in her room and when the parents tried to burst in to help her, the door wouldn't budge, it was as if there was a barricade. The little girl would keep screaming and screaming, sending her parents into full panic mode. Eventually, the barricade would seem to just vanish and the door would burst open, revealing little Sophie, terrified as she clutched the covers in her hands, staring at the closet just in front her bed, trembling.

After this happened a couple nights in a row, the parents took Sophie and let her sleep in their bedroom with them. Sophie would have terrible nightmares, causing her to lash out in the middle of her sleep. Both little Sophie and her parents are desperate to get rid of this living nightmare.

Emma's determined to help Sophie overcome her fears. She collected all the artifacts, ancient symbols, and burned incense that the book instructed and placed them around the room, forming a sacred space for the ritual to follow through. She had to do everything perfectly, without fail of any step.

Emma was shaken out of her day dream when there was a knock at the door. She went over to the door and opened it to see little Sophie with her two parents, looking a bit scared at this new experience. Emma signals to little Sophie, gesturing if it's alright to speak to the little girl, the mother nods, a look of sorrow plastered on her face. Emma looks down at Sophie.

"Hi Sophie, would you like to come in? I'm going to help you alright? It'll be okay, you're safe with me." The little girl peeks into the room and then looks up at Emma.

"O-Okay... Thank you." Emma takes her hand and guides her to a spot on the floor with a pillow to sit on, across from that is another pillow, where Emma will be sitting. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter take a seat on the side of the room, out of the ritual circle. Once they are both seated and comfortable, Emma begins to guide the little girl into a deep trance, telling her to close her eyes and breathe deeply and slowly.

Emma then takes a small, ornate box from her shelf, adorned with strange markings. She opens it, revealing a tiny, glowing crystal nestled in a bed of black silk. This is the "The Trauma Keeper's stone," passed down through generations of practitioners in the past. No one has touched this crystal for over five thousand years.

With the crystal in hand, Emma focuses her mind on the memory she intends to consume. She visualizes the traumatic event, feels the emotions, and senses the pain and terror the little girl has gone through. As she does so, the crystal begins to glow brighter, pulsing with an otherworldly energy. Emma then begins to recite the words of the ritual, an ancient language that seems to hold the power of the memories themselves. The words echo through the room, weaving a spell that allows her to tap into Sophie's mind. Emma feels a sudden jolt, as if she's been transported into Sophie's memories.

All of a sudden she is sitting on a bed in a dimly lit room. She looks around, noticing kids toys are everywhere. Her mind races, all the shadows in every corner of the room seem to be dark entities watching her from a distance. Her mind plays tricks on her, bending and twisting the shadows to form creepy and unnatural shapes. She begins to hear a creaking sound come from the closet, her gaze slowly shifts to it in terror as she sees the door slowly swing open. All she could see was darkness, a pitch black void that seemed to consume the closet.

Everything was quiet, Emma waited in expectation of something jumping out at her. Despite her expectations, nothing jumped out at her, but something did start to move within the darkness, but she couldn't decipher what it was. It started off small, and then it seemed to grow bigger and bigger until it was taller than the closet itself, it was a black mass. Her ears started ringing and she could feel cold shivers run down her back. Long, slender, and sharp fingers peeked out from the darkness and wrapped around the outside of the closet door. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she could hear it clear as day. She didn't know what to do, what could someone do in such a situation?

Glowing white eyes stared back at her with an intensity that made her question reality, question her sanity. What was going to happen? Was this the end? The monster suddenly rushed forward to her, growling a bone chilling sound.