The Rift chamber trembled around Ash as he fell to one knee, eyes locked on the Rift Aberration.
The creature — if it could be called that — still stood bowed before him. Not with reverence. With recognition.
Ash's heart pounded. His skin was slick with sweat. The air tasted like static and ozone.
> "You are the wound. The mirror. The echo."
The words echoed not just in his ears, but deep inside his bones.
"I'm not—" he began, but the creature raised its head.
And vanished.
The chamber shook once, then stilled. The silence left behind was heavier than the chaos before it.
Ash stumbled backward. His breath fogged the stale air. His reflection flickered on the metallic wall — and didn't match his movements.
His hands trembled as he looked down at the ring.
Still glowing.
Still bound to him.
He didn't know how long he stayed there. Seconds. Minutes. Time unraveled in this place.
Finally, the gate behind him pulsed.
Rei's voice crackled through the static field. "Ash? Do you copy? Nyx tracked your signal. The fallback gate's thinning — you have maybe thirty seconds."
Ash stood slowly. "On my way."
He turned to the gate — but not before stealing one last glance at the spot where the Rift Aberration had stood.
He felt it still watching.
From beyond.
---
Rei yanked him through as soon as he appeared.
Ash collapsed to the floor of the new bunker — smaller, dimmer, carved out beneath Sector 11. It smelled of earth, coolant, and old fire.
"You idiot," Rei snapped. "You were offline for six hours. That gate was fracturing in real-time!"
Nyx hovered nearby, cross-legged midair, eyes glowing faintly.
Ash looked up at them both.
"I saw something," he whispered. "It spoke to me. And then… it bowed."
Rei froze.
Nyx floated down and landed gently beside him. "What did it say?"
Ash hesitated.
"That I'm the echo."
Silence.
Rei crossed her arms. "Then we're in deeper than I thought."
Ash wiped his face. "And that's not all. I think... it marked me."
He held up the ring. The glow wasn't just pulsing now — it was synced to his heartbeat.
"I'm not just wearing Ashen's signature anymore," he whispered. "I'm becoming part of the Rift itself."
---
Only then did he realize how much his body ached. Muscles burned. Fingertips felt raw.
He was changing. And it wasn't just mental.
Later, when he slept — if it could be called that — the dreams came.
He stood in a city street. His city.
Except it wasn't.
The buildings were almost right. The people walked with familiar gaits. The smell of rain, oil, and street food curled around him like a memory given breath.
Then he saw someone on a bench.
Himself.
Younger. Before the Rift. Before the fall.
"You're late," the double said.
Ash's throat tightened. "What is this?"
The echo smiled. "You think the Rift is a place. But it's not. It's everything between who you are and who you pretend to be."
Ash stepped back. "I'm not pretending."
The double stood. "Then why are you wearing his ring?"
Ash looked down again.
The ring flared.
"You should ask them," the echo said. "Ask Rei what she's hiding. Ask Nyx why they've stopped dreaming."
Thunder split the sky.
And the dream shattered.
---
He woke gasping.
Rei sat across from him in the dimmed chamber, arms resting on her knees.
"You're sweating," she said flatly.
Ash nodded. "Yeah. That's the least weird part."
She studied him carefully. "You weren't breathing normally. Looked like your vitals were cycling through two patterns."
"I saw myself."
"Like a hallucination?"
"More like a warning."
Rei didn't push. But her expression tightened.
Ash sat up. "Rei… why me? Why go this far to bring someone like me into this?"
She hesitated.
Then: "Because something inside you bypassed all known protocols. Even the Core's defenses. You're not just a reflection. You're the static that shouldn't exist."
He didn't know whether to be honored or horrified.
---
The alert came during their silence.
A pulse on the commscreen.
Nyx appeared from the shadows, already reading it.
"Sector 9. Watcher activity. Mirror protocol triggered."
Rei stepped up. "Confirmed?"
Nyx nodded. "Anomaly appears identical to Ash."
Ash stood.
"But I'm right here."
"Exactly," Nyx whispered. "That's the problem."
Rei turned slowly. "So either it's a projection—"
"—Or someone just activated a version of Ash that wasn't supposed to survive," Nyx finished.
Ash said nothing. But the dread forming in his chest said enough.
"Then we find it," Rei said, "and finish this before the world realizes there are two of you."
Ash nodded.
But in the back of his mind, the echo's voice whispered:
You are the wound. The mirror. The echo.
And something else stirred — deeper than memory.
It wasn't just that another Ash existed.
It was that it might not be the last.
---