Stravos Vortaris
Sitting alone, I took the clan relic from my Astral Forge and stared at it for a long time.
It was the key to my blessing.
I just needed to escape this rift to receive it.
At that moment, hunger consumed my thoughts. Everything around me looked appetizing.
I had never once considered eating the flesh of a behemoth, but now I found myself salivating at the thought.
I needed to replenish my reserves if I was going to lead this group back to the hideout.
The eggs were not an option anymore. I ruined that. So I needed another way to access more cosmic energy.
Another hour passed before something in the distance caught my attention.
A faint blue glow drifted toward me.
At first, I could barely make out what it was, but the blurry shape slowly took the form of a woman. As she drew closer, I heard her chanting.
"The King is coming."
My hair stood on end. I looked around; everyone else was still sleeping, unaffected by the hollow whisper of this echo.
I stood and cautiously walked toward the echo, my fist coated in my Titan's plated armor.
As I got closer, the echo stopped in its tracks, giving me a clearer view of the woman's form.
My fist unclenched.
The woman was in an elegant silver dress. Flowing blonde hair and striking green eyes.
"M-Mom?"
"Hello, Stravos, my dear. You've grown quite a bit since last time I saw you."
"Grown? What do you know, echo!"
"I know that you only get angry like this when you're hungry. And when you were hungry we'd grab a snack and…"
I held my breath.
She looked up.
"Stravos, do you still watch the stars in the night sky?"
My fist slackened at my side.
I ran up to her, and she pulled me into a warm embrace.
"You're doing an excellent job, my son. You're proving why you should be on the throne."
I lifted my head and stared into her emerald eyes.
"You think so? Do you think it will be enough to make him change his mind?"
"Yes. Do you remember what I told you after I visited the Coterie?"
"The King shall return and get revenge for what was taken from him," I whispered to my mother.
"Correct, that king is you, Stravos"
"But how could that be? I'm the youngest, and I no longer have birthright. Did you forget? Father took that away from me, all because I lost a battle in Karnagrad."
"I don't fully understand the prophecies of the coterie and how they come true, but I do believe that one was about you, my dear," my mother said, giving me a peck on my forehead.
It had been years since I had felt affection. The feeling was almost alien to me.
Yet somehow, it gave me newfound strength to keep moving forward.
To conquer this rift, to prove I am worthy to sit on the throne, that I, too, am a conqueror of legend.
"Thanks, Mom, you always know what to say," I said
Just as I finished hugging her, I felt something bypass the layer of cosmic energy and stab the flesh between my ribs.
I jumped back, raising my guard as I searched for my attacker.
My eyes darted across the dark jungle, searching for any clue that might reveal what had attacked me.
But I saw nothing.
I turned my gaze back to my mom.
"What happened, my dear?" my mom asked, her face twitching.
I studied her, trying to understand what was happening, but her forearms quickly shifted back and forth into pincers.
Why did I let my guard down earlier? Was I really so out of it that I missed something so simple?
Of course this wasn't my mom.
This is a damned phantom echo.
There was no need for talking. I coated my fists in my Titan's plating and charged at the echo.
"Stravos, this is no way to treat your mother. What would your father say? The echo said as I lunged for its throat.
It caught my punch and drove its fist into the underside of my elbow, hyperextending my arm. Before I could react, it drove a knee into my gut.
I skidded across the jungle floor.
"No wonder your father despises you; you're weak, an insult to the Vortaris name," the echo said, wearing my mother's face.
Damn it, if I were at full strength, I could handle this echo no problem. I need more cosmic energy.
I commanded my Titan to find the closest source of cosmic energy, absorb it, and send it to me. Meanwhile, I pressed forward and attacked the echo.
Dashing forward, I dug my hands into the dirt and threw it at the echo, blinding it long enough for me to slip past its defenses.
It was an echo from a category two rift. I didn't need to worry about its abilities. I just had to pummel it.
The echo swatted at the cloud of dirt I threw at it, giving me an opening to slip behind it. I drove my Titan-armored elbow into its kidney.
I spun to its other side and struck the same spot again before sweeping its legs out from under it.
As it fell, I flipped through the air, grabbed its head, and slammed it into the ground.
The echo's head twisted on its neck like an owl, its face stretching into a grin as its features contorted and shifted from my mother's face into something far more grotesque.
"So there is more to you. Is that your power, or are the Titans you use merely a crutch?" the echo said as centipedes began crawling from its sunken eyes.
The sight repulsed me, and its words infuriated me.
I slammed the echo's head into the ground again and again, but it only laughed.
It was sinister. Mad. There was a darkness inside it that I couldn't quite understand, but something about it drove me insane.
I lost control.
I didn't stop until I felt something snap.
Finally, it's finished.
When I looked down, I expected to see a fractured skull, or a snapped neck.
Instead, all that remained was a crater and my bloody knuckles.
"Thanks for the spar, but I wonder just how far that hunger of yours takes you," a low, insidious whisper said.