The visitor arrived at dusk.
No fanfare. No flashing player title. No system alert.
Just the soft crunch of boots on the south trail and a wide-brimmed hat pulled low against the wind.
Kiriti noticed them first — not because they stood out.
But because they didn't.
That was the rarest kind of presence in this world.
The stranger stopped just past the chapel, eyes scanning the rebuilt walls, the faint trail of chalk lines along the stones, the still-burning lanterns on every corner.
They tilted their head.
Then spoke, voice low and warm.
"This town shouldn't exist like this."
Kiriti stepped forward, quiet.
"It didn't."
The stranger smiled.
"That's what I heard."
Revi emerged from the alley behind the inn, knife already unsheathed.
The stranger didn't flinch.
"I come in peace."
"Everyone says that."
"I came with questions."
"Even worse."
Kiriti raised a hand. "Let him talk."
The stranger removed the hat.
Underneath: a face marked by time, but not age. Slight wrinkles, soft eyes. Hair tied back loosely in a traveler's knot. No visible armor.
Just a thin pack, a flute, and a single token around his neck: a broken emblem, cracked through the middle — once part of a guild badge.
"I used to be Iron Pact," he said.
Revi tensed.
Kiriti didn't.
"Used to be?"
"I left before they came for your town. Something… didn't feel right anymore."
He knelt in the dirt near the memory wall — where Patch's tallies were now joined by dozens more. Lines, words, names. All carved with care.
"I started hearing about you. At first, I thought it was a meme. A fake thread."
Kiriti sat across from him.
"What changed?"
The traveler smiled.
"I heard a bard sing about a soldier who fought with nothing but presence. Who held a town not with force, but with trust. And who couldn't be deleted."
He looked up.
"I wanted to see if you were real."
Revi sheathed her blade — slowly.
The man bowed his head.
"My name's Ilar. I have no guild. No home."
He touched the memory wall.
"But I want to learn how you made yours."
They sat for hours.
Kiriti didn't talk much. But he answered every question.
How he came to Stonehollow.Why he stayed.What Emeric taught him.What it meant to matter to people who were never meant to remember you.
Revi joined in, too. Carefully.She spoke of the orchard pit. Of the tripline beneath the false path. Of the moment she chose them over orders.
And Ilar listened.
Not like a player.
Like a historian recording a miracle.
At some point, Patch wandered over.
He looked at the stranger. Then at Kiriti.
"He's not just here to listen."
Kiriti raised an eyebrow. "No?"
Patch shook his head.
"He's here to carry it."
And so, under the stars, Ilar played his flute.
Not for a quest. Not for loot.
Just for the ones who had stayed.
The melody wound through the houses like smoke. Soft. Laced with gratitude.
The children danced.
The old guards tapped their boots.
And someone — no one saw who — added a new sign beneath the town gate:
"Stonehollow: Entry by Memory"
📄 [SYSTEM FLAG: ECHO SPREAD DETECTED]Zone: Verity Hill (Region 5.3)— Folk NPCs in nearby village "Kellan's Rise" now referencing Stonehollow by name— Echo Phrase Logged: "A town that won't forget you, if you don't forget it."
📄 New Player Title Unlocked: "Flamewalker" – Earned by Player Ilar
Description: "One who carries memory from place to place."
❗ Iron Pact Observation Log: Fragmented Reports
Thread Breach Detected Across 3 ZonesMemory Tether Activity: OUTSIDE SYSTEM PARAMETERS
Back in the square, Kiriti and Revi sat on the fountain.
They said nothing.
They didn't need to.
Ilar approached before dawn.
"I'm going east," he said.
"There's a town near the coast — Windmarch. Old place. Forgotten. They say it lost its history during the last patch cycle."
He looked between them.
"I want to see if memory can grow there too."
Kiriti reached into his pouch and handed Ilar something wrapped in cloth.
Ilar unwrapped it.
A broken tile. From the chapel roof. Still stained with soot from the first fire.
"Tell them it came from a place that remembered how to stand."
Ilar smiled.
Then walked.
Out of Stonehollow.
And into the legend.