The night sky warped.
Overhead, constellations rearranged themselves, as if someone were etching glyphs into the heavens with invisible ink. Silica stared upward, lips parted. "Kael… is that your doing?"
"No," Kael said, his voice quiet and sharp. "That's the purge."
🟥 System Alert:
Temporal Integrity Breach Detected
Echo Signature: Kaelum Ardentis
Origin Conflict Initiated
Status: UNSTABLE
The forest behind them exploded with black fire—no heat, no sound, just memory reduced to ash. Trees dissolved into sketches. Soil unraveled into linework.
And stepping through it all… was Kael.
Or something that wore his face.
A reflection, too perfect.
Too wrong.
"Hello, Kael," said the Echo.
His voice was melodic. Like memory whispering through a keyhole.
"You sealed me once. You won't do it again."
Kael clenched his fist. "You're not me."
The Echo smiled. "No. I'm who you erased. And now that you've chosen to evolve—I exist again."
🟪 SYSTEM NOTICE:
Echo Anomaly: Manifestation Complete
Codename: REVERSE-K
Threat Level: Ω-Class
Response Protocol: SURVIVE
Silica stepped in front of Kael, sword glowing.
"Back away," she growled.
The Echo's gaze flicked to her. "Still guarding him, Silica? Even when you don't know what he is?"
He waved a hand.
And she vanished.
Not into air—but into memory. Kael's eyes widened.
"No—"
🟥 SYSTEM ANOMALY:
Subject [Silica Rael] Temporarily Memory-Locked
Recovery Condition: Defeat Echo Entity
Kael's eyes burned gold. His Origin Caster class surged, unfinished and wild.
He raised his arm—and the glyphs of evolution spiraled around him.
🟩 Skill Activated: Memory Counterflux
Type: Proto-Engraving / Origin Thread
Effect: Anchor local causal thread to current self-state.
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: 300 seconds
Reality snapped back into shape.
Kael lunged.
Swordless, but every motion inscribed with precision.
He struck.
The Echo dissolved into wisps—but reformed a moment later, laughing.
"Still writing history with instinct? Poor Kaelum. So afraid of remembering, you'd rather invent."
Kael's breath was ragged. The air around him shimmered.
He reached into the Origin Thread.
And pulled.
🟦 Temporary Memory Sync: Engraving Archive Unlocked
— Echo Rewriter Fragment Recovered —
🟪 SYSTEM DIALOGUE (Archived):
"If I could just change one thing… would the world forgive the rest?"
— Kaelum Ardentis
Kael whispered the words.
And something inside him opened.
Not a door.
A scar.
🟨 System Prompt:
You may now select:
[Echo Rewriter – Incomplete Thread]
OR
Continue Origin Caster Path
Warning: Echo Integration is irreversible. Emotional damage risk: HIGH.
Kael stood still, trembling.
"I'm not ready to become what I once was."
🟩 Selection Confirmed:
Continue Origin Caster Path
Echo Fragment Stored in Memory Vault
The Echo screamed as his form destabilized.
"No! You can't cage me again!"
Kael lifted his palm.
🟩 Skill: Temporal Severance (Proto)
Effect: Cut unstable echo thread from localized time pool
Cooldown: ???
A clean line sliced through the air.
The Echo shattered into light—and vanished.
🟦 System Notice:
Memory Purge Successful
Entity [Reverse-K] Reabsorbed
Silica Rael: Restored
Silica blinked into existence, knees hitting the earth.
"What… what happened?"
Kael didn't answer.
He stared at his hands.
Not because they trembled.
But because they didn't.
∎
Far beneath the world, in a chamber of turning gears, the Architect stirred.
"He rejected the Echo again," the Prime murmured. "Good."
But another voice replied from the dark.
"No. He accepted it. Just not yet."
A new glyph began to glow on the Prime's console.
🟪 SYSTEM PROTOCOL FLAGGED:
Echo Rewriter – Thread Count: 1/7
Trace Activation Inevitable
The war of memory had begun.
And Kael Arin was now its keystone.
💬 Author's Note:
This chapter marks the true start of Kael's battle between who he is and who he was. The Echo is no longer just a danger—it's a part of him waiting to awaken again.
What would you do in his place?
💬 Share your thoughts below and please leave a review to support this journey.
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