---
Chapter 16: Eris' Echo
The Riftlight chamber pulsed like a heart.
Kaito stood at its center, eyes fixed on the swirling projection before him — fragmented memories encoded within the Shadowseed. Lines of alien code coiled in the air, occasionally flaring into image bursts: flashes of cities engulfed in Riftlight, screaming faces, a girl's silhouette reaching through smoke.
Dr. Shiro and Mira stood just outside the containment field, monitoring the interface.
"I've never seen the Seed open like this before," Shiro whispered, awe-struck. "It's... responding emotionally. Not procedurally."
Mira folded her arms. "Because of the dream. Because of Eris."
Kaito's voice was low but clear. "I need to go deeper."
Shiro frowned. "Kaito, the further you reach into the Seed's echo, the more you risk overclocking your neural map. This isn't like accessing memory logs. You're syncing with a consciousness fragment. One that may not even be... stable."
"She was like me," Kaito said. "She felt everything I'm feeling now. Fear. Anger. Hope. If there's any piece of her still alive inside this thing, I need to find it."
Mira hesitated, then tapped a command into the console. "Then we stabilize the bridge."
A field of soft Riftlight descended around Kaito, and the outside world dimmed.
---
Memory Sequence Initiated…
Kaito found himself standing in a circular room, white walls humming with energy. The floor beneath him glowed faintly, and the air shimmered like heatwaves.
Across the room stood her.
Eris.
She looked younger than he remembered — maybe fifteen. Pale, wiry, black hair tied back in a short tail. Her eyes were like his — streaked faintly with Riftlight.
She smiled sadly. "You're the one they sent after me."
Kaito blinked. "This is a memory… but you're speaking to me?"
Eris tilted her head. "Not just a memory. A resonance. Fractured thoughts, but aware. A splinter that refused to fade. When they tore me apart, the Seed remembered more than they expected."
She stepped closer, her presence flickering at the edges like a candle in wind.
"They thought the Rift was a weapon," she said. "But it was never about power. It was about choice. They forced us into the Rift. But it offered us paths we never took."
Kaito swallowed hard. "What happened to you?"
Her smile faded.
"They made me the prototype. Subject 2. The first to fully integrate. They wanted a soldier. I gave them a storm. I saw into the Rift — and it saw into me. But I wasn't strong enough to hold both."
The world trembled.
The walls cracked, revealing shifting shadows behind them — cities burning, ships falling from orbit, Riftlight pouring like blood.
"They said I died. But a part of me was seeded. A thought. A warning."
Kaito stepped forward. "Tell me what they're hiding."
Eris's voice dropped to a whisper. "There's another gate. Not the one above the Earth. A deeper one. Inside."
He frowned. "Inside what?"
She placed a glowing finger against his chest.
"Inside you."
---
Memory Sequence Terminated. Neural Strain Detected.
Kaito jolted upright in the chamber, gasping. The light around him collapsed.
Shiro rushed in. "End the sync! Cortical stress at threshold!"
Mira caught Kaito as he stumbled out. "What did you see?"
Kaito's voice shook. "She remembers everything. And she's trying to show me where it leads."
Aya entered a moment later, breath sharp. "We just intercepted a transmission. AegisCorp raided a Riftborn outpost. They took a child."
Silence filled the room.
Mira's jaw tightened. "They're starting the project again."
Kaito clenched his fists. "Then I'm done reacting. I'm going after them."
---
Three Days Later – The Field Mission
The skiff roared low across the black sands of the wastelands, its hull barely skimming the cracked earth. Kaito stood at the edge of the open side hatch, wind whipping through his hair. Behind him, Mira fine-tuned the infiltration rig, fingers flying over glowing holo-keys.
"You sure you're ready for this?" she asked, not looking up.
"Does it matter?" Kaito said. "They're not going to wait for me to be."
She paused. "You're different, y'know. Since the Seed opened up."
He nodded. "It's like I'm not alone in my head. Not just Eris — something deeper. The Seed itself. It's thinking now. Feeling."
She finally looked up. "Just make sure it's you in control when we get inside."
Aya's voice chimed in over comms. "Landing in two. Cloaking engaged. Target is Facility Gamma-5. High security, no-fly zone. We have ten minutes before they scramble aerial defense."
Jax chimed in from the cockpit. "Try not to blow up the whole base this time, kid."
Kaito smirked. "No promises."
---
The facility was buried inside a dead mountain — a concrete dome disguised beneath magnetic camouflage. Kaito and Mira dropped into the access trench, neutralizing two perimeter drones with pulse darts.
Inside, the hallways were sterile, humming with sub-level energy. Riftlight conduits ran along the walls like veins.
Mira guided them through locked corridors. "I'm jamming surveillance for 60 seconds. After that, they'll know."
Kaito nodded and pushed through the next bulkhead.
What he saw stopped him cold.
Rows of containment pods — dozens — each with a child inside. Some asleep. Some staring back at him.
And at the far end... her.
A girl no older than twelve. Eyes glowing blue. The same patterns as Eris. As Kaito.
"She's seeded," Mira whispered. "They've already begun."
Suddenly — alarms.
"INTRUSION DETECTED."
Turrets emerged from the ceiling. Mira shoved Kaito aside as a plasma bolt grazed her side.
He caught her and dragged her behind cover. "You okay?"
"I've had worse first dates," she groaned.
Then came the voice.
Deep. Metallic. Familiar.
"Kaito Ren. You trespass on sacred ground."
From the smoke emerged a tall figure clad in obsidian armor — the Specter from before, but this one was different.
Taller. Cracked. Riftlight oozed from its joints.
Kaito stood, shielding Mira. "You again."
"I am not the echo this time," the Specter said. "I am the hand of the Wraith. And you are the mistake."
Kaito's breath tightened. The Shadowseed burned in his chest.
"No. I'm the correction."
He leapt.
Their clash shattered the walls. Kaito's speed had grown — he was no longer guessing. He moved with intention. Each strike from his fists cracked the Specter's armor. But it adapted, its movements becoming more fluid, more human.
Mira crawled to the pod panel, fingers dancing as she initiated emergency releases.
"You've forgotten what the Rift truly is," the Specter snarled, driving Kaito into the floor.
"No," Kaito growled, pushing back. "I'm remembering."
He unleashed a Rift pulse directly into the Specter's chest — not raw energy, but focused thought. A memory. Eris's memory.
The Specter screamed — and burst apart in a vortex of light.
The battle was over.
But the war was beginning.
---
Back at the base, Aya paced as Shiro reviewed the footage.
"He used a memory as a weapon," Shiro murmured. "That shouldn't be possible."
"It's not," Aya said. "Unless the Seed has fully awakened."
Jax stared at the screen. "Then what is Kaito now?"
Mira, still limping, entered the room with the rescued girl holding her hand.
"She's just like him," she said quietly. "She was dreaming of the Rift too. And someone inside it was whispering to her."
Aya knelt. "Who?"
The girl blinked. "Her name was Eris."
---
Later that night, Kaito stood alone in the chamber again. The Shadowseed pulsed faintly.
"I saw you," he whispered. "You gave me your memory. Your strength."
The Riftlight flickered — and for a heartbeat, Eris appeared again.
Smiling.
"You're not alone anymore," she said.
Then vanished.
---
[End of Chapter 16]