Chapter Five – Echo Training
The training chamber was buried eight floors beneath the Bunker, reinforced with alloyed steel and ancient kinetic barriers left behind by the last Hero war. It smelled like rust and ozone.
Caleb stood in the center, surrounded by dim lights and a rising sense of dread.
"You don't train like the others," Elara said, crossing her arms. "You don't get to start with push-ups and shield drills. Your powers are Rift-coded, unpredictable. They don't follow rules."
"Figures," Caleb muttered. The bracelet on his wrist still pulsed violet.
Mira stood by the doorway, arms folded, chewing on a protein bar. "At least he hasn't exploded yet."
"Not helping," Caleb said.
Elara stepped forward. "This bracelet is connected to your nervous system. It's not just tracking your bio-readings—it's feeding them Rift pulses in controlled waves. When I activate it, your powers will try to respond. If you fight it, it'll hurt. If you give in completely... we all might die."
She held up a remote.
"Ready?"
Caleb nodded, jaw tight. "Do it."
Elara pressed the trigger.
Pain lanced through his spine. Not sharp—cold. Like being dunked into a frozen river filled with stars. His heart skipped, then beat again, faster. Faster.
Something inside him growled.
His right hand sparked. Thin trails of silver energy flickered across his skin. He opened his palm, and a ripple of Riftlight spread outward, warping the air around it.
"Whoa..." he gasped.
Mira's eyes narrowed. "That's not a normal ability set."
"It's not one we've ever recorded," Elara said. "Try focusing it."
"Focus it how?" Caleb shouted, struggling to stay upright. The Riftlight was clawing up his arm now, swirling around his shoulder. The pain was real. The power was more real.
Then something inside him shifted.
He remembered the Rift-space. The black mirror floor. The voice that called him Echo.
Caleb breathed deeply and let his mind go silent.
The Riftlight calmed.
The swirling energy wrapped tightly around his arm, forming a glowing gauntlet. Not wild. Not random.
It had shape.
"That's... self-manipulation," Elara whispered. "It's forming armor from Rift energy. That's a Level Three ability."
"And he's not even flaring," Mira added. "He's stable."
Caleb clenched his new fist. He felt the weight of it, the hum of potential. For the first time since this nightmare began, he didn't feel powerless.
Until the alarm screamed.
Red lights flooded the chamber. Elara's communicator buzzed violently.
She answered. "What is it?"
A panicked voice replied. "It's Sector 2. We've got incoming—breach-level monsters. And... and something else."
"What kind of something?"
The voice hesitated. "It's speaking."
The line cut off.
Elara turned to Caleb.
"Looks like training's over.