Sera hesitated.

  The words had almost come out.

  But they didn’t.

  Because the truth was—she wasn’t sure.

  What she was. What she had been. What she was supposed to be.

  She had spent so long existing within the edges of the system, pushing against its weight without ever fully breaking free, that she had stopped thinking of herself as something separate from it.

  But Elias was waiting.

  And even though she didn’t want to say it, even though she hated putting something so uncertain into words—

  She had to.

  For him.

  For herself.

  “I’m not Lost,” she said finally, voice quieter than before. “I wasn’t taken by the system. I didn’t become an agent. I wasn’t shaped into something else.”

  Elias didn’t speak, didn’t push.

  So she continued.

  “But I’m not… free, either.”

  That felt like the most honest way to put it.

  She wasn’t one of them.

  But she wasn’t someone who could walk away, either.

  Sera exhaled slowly, staring ahead. “I exist between.”

  Elias frowned. “Between?”

  Sera nodded. “I don’t remember everything about myself. Just enough to keep existing. Just enough to have meaning.”

  She closed her eyes briefly, as if searching for something. A memory, a feeling.

  Nothing clear came.

  Just fragments.

  A voice—one she thought might have been hers, once.

  A decision—one she knew had changed everything.

  And a name—one she wasn’t sure she was supposed to remember.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Elias,” she said suddenly.

  Elias blinked. “Yeah?”

  She opened her eyes, staring at him for a long moment.

  And then, quietly—“I knew you.”

  Elias stiffened.

  Sera continued before he could respond. “Not clearly. Not in full. But something in me knows you. Recognizes you.” She hesitated. “It’s why I’ve been watching. It’s why I stopped you from calling Valen.”

  Elias’ mind reeled. “So, what? You don’t remember how?”

  Sera exhaled. “I don’t know if I forgot, or if something took the memory from me.”

  Elias’ stomach twisted at that.

  That was a possibility? Just losing something and never knowing what it had been?

  Sera didn’t seem shaken by the idea. But then again, she never seemed shaken by anything.

  Except the Lie Seller.

  And the thought of Elias becoming part of this system.

  Elias studied her carefully. “If you don’t know what you are, then what do you think you are?”

  Sera was silent for a long moment.

  Then, finally, she spoke.

  “What makes someone who they are?”

  Elias frowned. “What?”

  Sera’s voice remained steady. “If a person loses everything, piece by piece, until none of the original remains, are they still themselves? Or are they something else?”

  Elias shifted uncomfortably. “That’s—”

  “The Ship of Theseus,” Sera continued. “If you replace every plank on a ship, is it still the same ship? Or is it a new one?”

  Elias let out a slow breath, something clicking in the back of his mind. “I know that one.”

  Sera raised an eyebrow slightly.

  Elias rubbed the back of his neck. “I got into philosophy a bit. Not a lot. Just… some stuff here and there.” He exhaled. “Started after watching a superhero show. One of those android types, the fake-but-real thing. There was a scene where it asked if it was still itself if it had been rebuilt completely. Same concept.”

  Sera nodded. “And what did you think?”

  Elias hesitated. “I don’t know. I figured, if you still remember who you are, then you’re still you, right?”

  Sera’s expression darkened slightly.

  “That’s a nice thought,” she said quietly.

  Elias narrowed his eyes. “Nice?”

  Sera exhaled slowly. Then, when she spoke again, her voice wasn’t soft. It was sharp. Steady.

  “It’s not just a concept, Elias. It’s not just some neat little thought experiment for university students to debate over coffee. It’s real.”

  She stepped closer.

  “You think the Ship of Theseus is about objects? About boats? It’s not. It never was. It’s about people. It’s about the world you live in and the changes you never notice happening until it’s too late.”

  Elias swallowed.

  Sera’s voice didn’t waver.

  “The Pawn Shops trade in identity. They take pieces of a person away, bit by bit. A memory here. A moment there. You think it’s harmless. You think you’re still you.” She tilted her head. “But how much can you lose before that stops being true?”

  Elias clenched his jaw.

  Sera’s eyes darkened.

  “This isn’t a hypothetical. It’s not a debate. The system doesn’t care about what makes you ‘you.’ It just takes. It replaces. And when there’s nothing left?”

  She paused.

  Then, voice quieter—

  “You become something else.”

  Elias’ chest felt tight.

  Sera let the silence stretch before exhaling. “That’s what happened to the Lost. They weren’t taken all at once. They were chipped away, until there was nothing left.”

  Elias frowned, the weight of the words settling into him.

  “But if all of this is real—the Pawn Shops, the Lost, the Lie Sellers—then so is the soul, right?” His voice was quieter now, almost cautious. “If the soul exists, then how can people lose themselves completely?”

  Sera’s expression flickered, just slightly.

  But when she answered, it was smooth, steady—like she had considered this before.

  “The soul isn’t some unbreakable thing, Elias. It isn’t separate from everything else that makes up a person. It’s not a shield that keeps someone from changing.”

  She glanced at him. “You think it is, don’t you?”

  Elias hesitated. “I just—” He frowned. “If the soul is real, then it should be permanent. Shouldn’t it?”

  Sera shook her head.

  “The soul is like everything else. It changes.”

  Elias stared at her. “You’re saying people trade away their souls?”

  “I’m saying people trade away pieces of themselves,” Sera said. “Little by little. Thought by thought. Choice by choice. The soul isn’t a single, solid thing, Elias. It isn’t some untouched core sitting inside you, unaffected by everything else. It’s built from who you are. And if you lose enough of yourself, if you change too much…”

  She paused.

  “Then what’s left?”

  Elias didn’t have an answer.

  Sera continued.

  “I don’t think the Lost wake up one day and suddenly stop existing. I think they reach a point where there’s simply nothing left to hold them together. Their identity—their soul—has been broken apart too many times.”

  Her voice was even, but there was something else beneath it.

  Something personal.

  Elias exhaled. “And that’s what happened to you?”

  Sera hesitated.

  “I don’t know.”

  Elias clenched his jaw. “But you said you weren’t Lost.”

  “I’m not,” Sera said. “But I don’t think I’m the same person I used to be, either.”

  Elias swallowed.

  Sera let out a slow breath. “That’s why I don’t know what I am.”

  Elias stood there, letting the weight of everything settle over him.

  Sera watched him for a moment, then shook her head slightly.

  “We should go,” she said, voice returning to something firmer. “If you want to know more, you’ll have to come with me to the Pawn Shops.”

  Elias exhaled. “I need to say goodbye to someone first.”

  Sera’s expression flickered. “Who?”

  Elias’ jaw tightened. “Danny.”

  Sera was quiet for a moment

  .

  Then, finally, she nodded. “Alright.”

  Elias let out a slow breath.

  He wasn’t sure why it mattered.

  Maybe it wouldn’t change anything.

  But just in case—

  He needed to say goodbye.

  End of Chapter 12.