Present Day: Dawn#
Reyneese sits alone, staring at nothing. Tea cold again. The third time this morning.
Reyneese (whispers to herself): “Why can’t I remember you?”
A memory surfacing, unbidden. Fragmentary. Like looking through water.
She closes her eyes, reaches for it.
Reyneese: “There was someone. I know there was someone. But your face…”
She tries to focus. The memory blurs harder, like pressing on a bruise.
Reyneese (frustrated, tears forming): “Ten thousand years. And you’re just… blur. Compression. Void where your features should be.”
Memory Fragment 1: Childhood (~10,000 Years Ago)#
The light shifts—moonlit forest, silver trees, ancient and untouched.
Young Reyneese, appearing eight years old but actually closer to one hundred, runs through the moonlit woods. Another young night elf races ahead—laughing, fast, fearless.
THE FACE IS BLURRED. Where features should be, there’s only soft void. But the voice is clear.
BLURRED CHILD: “Rey! Catch me if you can!”
YOUNG REY (breathless, laughing): “Wait! You’re too fast!”
Both running under stars. Silver bark. Moonlight on leaves. The feeling: joy, freedom, safety.
YOUNG REY: “How are you so fast?!”
BLURRED CHILD (slowing, waiting, face turned toward her but unreadable): “Because you’re slow! Come on!”
Hands reaching, grabbing. Tumbling into soft moss. Both laughing.
YOUNG REY: “I caught you!”
BLURRED CHILD: “You did. Good.”
The memory is warm. Golden. Real.
But every time Reyneese tries to see the face—blur. Compression. Gone.
Present Day: The Struggle#
Reyneese opens her eyes. Tears streaming.
Reyneese (to the empty room): “Who were you? Why did you matter so much? Why did you—”
She stops. Hand on her chest where compressed memories live.
Reyneese: “I remember you were important. I remember losing you hurt. But your face. Your name.” (voice breaking) “Why can’t I remember?”
She tries to force it. Was it a sister? A friend? Something more?
The harder she focuses, the more it blurs.
Reyneese (desperate): “Were you family? You felt like family. But I can’t… I don’t…”
Memory Fragment 2: Teenage Years (~9,500 Years Ago)#
Older now. Reyneese appears sixteen but is actually six hundred. Two young night elves sit under an ancient tree, studying.
BLURRED TEEN (demonstrating magic): “Watch this technique—the Light responds to intention, not just prayer. See?”
TEENAGE REY (focused, trying to copy): “Show me again? I almost had it…”
Their hands touch as magic is demonstrated. The intimacy of learning together. Sisterhood. Trust.
BLURRED TEEN: “You’re getting better. Faster than I did.”
TEENAGE REY: “We’ll protect our people together. Always, right?”
BLURRED TEEN (pause, voice softer): “Always.”
They sit together in comfortable silence. Stars overhead. The future feels endless.
THE FACE STILL BLURRED. Reyneese remembers the voice tone. The warmth. The certainty of belonging.
But eye color? Exact smile? Specific features? Gone. Compressed into cells too deep to access.
Memory Fragment 3: The Separation (~9,000 Years Ago)#
Young adults now. Both appearing early twenties, actually around one thousand years old. Standing at a crossroads.
BLURRED FIGURE (voice harder now, distant): “You’re choosing the traditional path. The temple. The Light.”
YOUNG REYNEESE (confused, hurt): “It’s our calling. You can come with me—”
BLURRED FIGURE: “No. I need… something else. Something more.”
YOUNG REY: “More than serving our people? More than… us?”
BLURRED FIGURE: “I’ll find my own way. You follow the elders. That’s who you are.”
YOUNG REY (reaching out): “When will I see you again?”
BLURRED FIGURE (turning away, silhouette against shadow): “When the world needs us both, I suppose.”
Young Reyneese watches the figure walk into darkness. She reaches out—hand extended—but doesn’t follow.
YOUNG REY (whispers): “Come back. Please…”
No answer. Just shadow.
The last image: a silhouette disappearing. The face already blurring even in real-time.
Present Day: Vyrneese Enters#
Footsteps. Vyrneese appears in the doorway, sees Reyneese crying.
Vyrneese: “Rey? What’s wrong?”
Reyneese (trying to compose herself): “Just… old memories. Nothing.”
Vyrneese (sits beside her): “Liar. Talk to me.”
Reyneese (breaks): “There was someone. Long ago. Before you were even created. We were… close. I think. But I can’t remember their face. Can’t remember what we were to each other. Just fragments. Laughter. Training. And then… they left. Or I left. Or we both chose different paths.”
Vyrneese (quiet): “How long ago?”
Reyneese: “Ten thousand years. Maybe more.”
Vyrneese (stunned): “That’s… that’s before I was even made.”
The Conversation: Vyrneese’s Perspective#
Vyrneese: “Rey, I need to tell you something. About my memories.”
Reyneese (looks at her): “What about them?”
Vyrneese: “I was in stasis for twenty thousand years. But before that, I had… comrades. Other dracthyr. We trained together. Fought together. Neltharion created us as a unit.”
Reyneese: “What happened to them?”
Vyrneese (pained): “I don’t know. When I woke up, they were gone. Thousands of years gone. And I…” (struggles) “I can barely remember their faces either.”
Reyneese (surprised): “You can’t?”
Vyrneese: “I remember we mattered to each other. I remember we were a team. But details? Their names are there, but when I try to picture them clearly…” (gestures helplessly) “It’s like looking through fog.”
Reyneese: “I thought I was alone in this. Forgetting faces. Compressing memories.”
Vyrneese: “You’re not. But Rey, can I ask you something?”
The Question: What is Family?#
Vyrneese: “What’s a sibling? Really?”
Reyneese (taken aback): “What?”
Vyrneese: “I was made. Created in a lab. No parents. No siblings. The other dracthyr were… comrades? Family? I don’t know the words. And now I have you, and Brass, and the warband. You call me ’little sister’ but I’m older than you. What does that even mean?”
Reyneese (thoughtful): “I… I don’t know if I can answer that.”
Vyrneese: “You had parents, right? A family?”
Reyneese (long pause): “I think so. But it’s been ten thousand years. I remember… warmth. Safety. Voices singing. But faces?” (shakes head) “Compressed. Gone.”
Vyrneese: “Do you remember if you had siblings?”
Reyneese (struggles to recall): “I… maybe? I feel like there was someone. But whether it was a sister by blood or by choice…” (frustrated) “I don’t know anymore.”
The Realization#
Vyrneese: “So when you call me ’little sister’—that’s not about blood. It’s about choice.”
Reyneese (nods slowly): “Yes. Because blood or not, you feel like family. Like that person I can’t remember. Like you matter in a way that goes deeper than words.”
Vyrneese: “Even though I can’t remember my comrades’ faces, they mattered. Even though you can’t remember this person, they mattered.”
Reyneese: “The body remembers what the mind compresses.”
Vyrneese (takes her hand): “Then let me be your proof. I’m here now. You can see my face. Remember it. And when ten thousand years pass and my face blurs too…” (voice cracks) “At least you’ll know we had this moment.”
Reyneese (crying): “Don’t say that. Don’t—”
Vyrneese: “It’s okay. Because the forgetting doesn’t erase the love. It just makes it… quieter. But it’s still there.”
Closing: The Acceptance#
They sit together in silence. Minutes pass.
Reyneese (whispers): “Whoever you were, blurred face in my memory… I hope you found what you were looking for. I hope you’re happy. Wherever you are.”
Vyrneese: “Do you think you’ll ever see them again?”
Reyneese (bitter smile): “It’s been ten thousand years. If they’re still alive, they’ve changed as much as I have. We’d be strangers wearing familiar shadows.”
Vyrneese: “Or maybe you’d recognize each other. Even with blurred faces.”
Reyneese: “Maybe. But I’m not holding my breath. Ten thousand years is… too long. Some separations are final even if both people survive.”
Vyrneese: “I’m sorry.”
Reyneese: “Me too. But I have you now. And Brass. And the warband. That’s… that’s enough.”
Vyrneese (squeezes her hand): “It has to be.”
Final Image#
Reyneese looking at stars through the window. The blurred memory surfaces one last time.
The silhouette walking away into darkness.
Rey’s young voice calling: “Come back… please…”
No answer. Just shadow.
Present-day Reyneese closes her eyes.
Reyneese (so quiet): “I waited. For thousands of years, part of me waited. And you never came back.”
Vyrneese (beside her): “I’m here now. I came back.”
Reyneese (looks at her, tears streaming): “You did. Thank you.”
They sit together as dawn breaks.
Two ancient warriors. Two collectors of compressed memories. Two people learning that family is what you choose when you can’t remember what you lost.
The Truth About Memory#
Reyneese can’t remember:
- The face of her childhood companion
- Whether they were blood family or chosen family
- The exact reason they separated
- Their name
But she remembers:
- The joy of running through moonlit forests
- The warmth of hands touching while learning magic
- The pain of watching them walk away
- That they mattered
Ten thousand years compress memories into fragments.
But love doesn’t compress. It just changes shape.
This is how night elves survive eternity.
Not by remembering everything.
By remembering that someone mattered.
Even when you can’t remember their face.
Author’s Note#
This is the fourth chronicle in the Reyneese series, exploring the weight of compressed memories and what it means to remember love when you can’t remember faces. This story sets up future revelations about Reyneese’s past and introduces the concept of chosen family versus forgotten blood.
The “blurred face” is intentionally unresolved in this chronicle. Some mysteries take time to surface.
Read more: Chronicle #1: The First Forgetting | Chronicle #2: When Shadows Rise | Chronicle #3: The Methodical Mind | All Warband Stories
Content Warning: This story contains themes of memory loss, grief, separation, and the psychological weight of living for millennia.