Not This Version of You

The mountains loomed ahead, their jagged peaks fading into the mist. The road twisted upward in tight, treacherous curves, carved into the mountainside like an afterthought. It had been years since anyone had maintained it—maybe longer.

Jessica sat in the passenger seat, one hand resting on her knee, the other curled against the cold glass of the window. The night was brittle, the sky bruised with the last remnants of twilight. The farther they climbed, the more the world below seemed to disappear.

Something about it felt wrong.

Leanna drove, her grip on the wheel steady, her focus sharp. Olivia sat in the back, flipping through notes on her tablet, cross-referencing maps and archives, her face half-lit by the blue glow of the screen.

Yuki had been silent for most of the drive. Jessica preferred it that way.

The road bent sharply, the headlights cutting through the thickening fog. Jessica’s stomach twisted, an instinctive, primal unease slithering through her ribs. They weren’t just climbing higher. They were stepping into something older.

Olivia glanced at her from the backseat. “You’re doing that thing again.”

Jessica’s fingers tightened around the door handle. “What thing?”

“The one where you shut down and shut us out.”

Jessica exhaled, watching the trees blur past. “It’s just the air up here.” A lie, but one she needed.

Leanna didn’t press. But she didn’t believe her, either.

---

The world shifted sharply. For a breath, Jessica wasn’t in the car anymore. She was in the shrine. Not the ruins they were heading toward—but the shrine as it had once been.

The air was thick with the scent of burning incense and damp cedar. Shadows flickered against the wooden beams, bodies moving in ritualistic silence. There was a voice—a woman’s voice—murmuring words in a language Jessica didn’t know but somehow understood.

Then—the weight of something pressed against her face. Not hands. Not cloth. A mask.

The moment it touched her skin, the world fractured.

The car jerked, tires skidding against loose gravel.

Jessica gasped, her vision slamming back into the present. Her hands were clenched, nails digging into her palms. Her pulse hammered against the inside of her skull.

“Jessica,” Leanna’s voice, sharp with concern. “What the hell was that?”

Jessica forced her breathing to steady. “Nothing.” A lie. “I just—drifted for a second.”

Leanna didn’t look convinced. Olivia glanced up from her screen, frowning.

Jessica swallowed hard. Not now. Not yet.

---

They pulled off the main road a half-mile from the shrine, abandoning the car in a hollow where it wouldn’t be seen. The ground was uneven beneath their boots, the trees stretching upward like skeletal hands.

The night was too quiet.

Jessica felt it immediately—the weight of unseen eyes pressing against her skin. It was subtle, a shift in the air, the kind of thing her mind should have ignored but couldn’t.

She turned, scanning the tree line. The shadows between the trunks were thick, too deep. Nothing moved. Nothing obvious. But they weren’t alone.

Leanna exhaled, shifting her coat to free her sidearm. Olivia did the same. Neither spoke, but the tension in their movements made it clear—they felt it too.

Yuki adjusted the strap of her bag. “We should move quickly.”

Jessica didn’t argue.

They climbed the narrow path leading toward the shrine. The air grew colder with every step, the wind whispering through the trees in a language none of them could understand.

---

The mist rolled in slowly at first, drifting across the path like breath on a mirror. Within seconds, it thickened, swallowing the world around them in dense, ghostly swirls.

Jessica slowed. Something was wrong. The mist wasn’t natural. It wasn’t drifting in from the mountains. It was settling. Deliberate.

A figure emerged ahead, standing in the center of the trail. He didn’t move. He was waiting.

Jessica’s pulse remained steady, but her fingers inched toward her weapon.

The man stood tall, dressed in black, his face obscured by the fog. The way he held himself—calm, deliberate—told Jessica he wasn’t afraid of them.

She stepped forward. “Who are you?”

The man tilted his head slightly, studying her. Then, almost amused, he spoke.

“You came back.”

Jessica felt something cold slip down her spine.

“You were expecting me,” she said carefully.

The man took a slow step closer. His voice was unreadable. “Not you.” A pause. Then, “Not this version of you.”

The fog curled between them, swallowing the space like a living thing.

Jessica’s fingers curled. “What does that mean?”

The man exhaled through his nose, almost pitying. “You don’t remember, do you?”

Jessica’s breath caught in her throat. The way he said it. Like he had met her before. Like she should know him.

She swallowed hard. “Should I?”

The man’s lips curved—not quite a smile.

“You were one of us, once.”

Her stomach turned to ice.

Leanna stepped forward, her voice flat and sharp. “Get out of the way.”

The man didn’t move. He held Jessica’s gaze, as if waiting for something, measuring something. Then, finally, he stepped backward into the mist. The fog swallowed him whole.

Jessica exhaled, only now realizing she had been holding her breath.

Leanna grabbed her arm. “Jess. What was that?”

Jessica’s mouth was dry. She shook her head. She didn’t know how—but the part of her built to forget knew he was telling the truth.