Radit and Tamari ran through the crumbling streets, hand in hand, the notebook clutched tight to Radit's chest. Behind them, the giant shadow howled, tearing through the city with a cyclone of blankness, swallowing whole buildings with every passing second.
"Where are we going?" Tamari gasped, breathless, her scarf fluttering like a torn banner.
Radit barely heard her. He felt it — a pull in his chest, a faint thread of warmth leading him through the chaos. The city itself was guiding him, whispering in fragments from the walls, from the cracks, from the dying street lamps.
*Write… finish… remember…*
Finally, they reached the old library — half-collapsed, books and pages scattered like fallen leaves. The hollow beast shrieked behind them, the roar of devouring emptiness drawing closer.
Radit skidded to a stop in the shattered doorway. "This is where it began," he whispered.
Tamari clutched his arm, eyes wide. "What do you mean?"
He opened the notebook, flipping through the trembling pages. "This place… this is where the first story of the city was written. Where people started giving it meaning. It's the seed… the heart. If we can write here… maybe we can seal the blankness away."
Tamari nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Then write," she whispered. "I'm with you."
The ground quaked, and the giant shadow appeared at the end of the street, towering and hungry. Its many mouths opened as one, whispering in a chorus that shook the air:
**We… are… the end…**
Radit took a deep breath and pressed the pencil to the page.
He wrote:
*This city is built from love and loss, from fear and laughter. It was broken, but it was never empty. We remember every crack, every light. We do not vanish. We do not bow. We remain.*
The hollow beast shrieked, the air trembling so violently it knocked Tamari to the ground. Radit kept writing, faster now, shouting the words into the roar:
*We hold the streets together. We anchor the walls. We fill the cracks with hope, with anger, with fire. We refuse to be erased.*
Light exploded from the notebook, blinding white. The hollow beast lunged forward — but its body tore apart mid-stride, fragmenting into threads of static, dissolving into the glow.
Tamari crawled to Radit, clutching his arm. Together they watched as the shadow howled in rage and pain, its many eyes winking out one by one, until nothing remained but silence.
The tremors stilled. The cracks in the ground sealed themselves, leaving only faint scars like old memories. Above, the phantom lanterns glowed again — warm, steady, real.
Radit dropped the pencil, panting. His hands shook, but the notebook in his lap felt solid. Heavy. True.
Tamari rested her head on his shoulder, weeping softly. "It's over," she whispered.
Radit closed his eyes. "For now," he murmured. "But we have to keep writing. Keep remembering. That's how we keep the city standing."
She nodded, wrapping her scarf around both of them. "We will," she breathed. "Together."
Outside the shattered library, dawn broke over the city. New cracks would come. New shadows would whisper. But Radit and Tamari sat there, holding the notebook between them, ready to fight again.
Because the city was still here. And so were they.
**The End**