Kael and Lira moved quickly through the fractured ridge beyond the Derelict Spire. Storm clouds boiled overhead, thick with static and charged Echo-surge. Behind them, the tower groaned like a dying beast, shards of memory still falling from its twisted peak.
The fourth fragment now pulsed within Kael's chest—its rhythm slower, deeper, like a new heartbeat grafted beneath his own.
But the air felt wrong.
Not just heavy.
Watched.
---
> Sigil Fragments Collected: 4/7
Resonance Stability: 56%
Corruption Level: 23% — Threshold 1 approached
Warning: Harbinger-Class Entity Nearby
Kael didn't need the system prompt to know.
He felt it.
Like a pressure behind his eyes. A shadow in his blood.
Then—
The wind died.
The world slowed.
And a golden light bled from the horizon.
---
They turned the corner of the jagged ravine—and there he stood.
Not cloaked in darkness like the others.
Not distorted.
But whole. Regal. Towering.
His armor was made of sunlight and silence, his eyes empty pools of gold. Seven chains wrapped around his arms, floating midair, each bearing a symbol Kael couldn't read—but somehow knew.
Death.
Ruin.
Time.
Dream.
Silence.
Sacrifice.
And Judgment.
---
Lira immediately raised her rifle. "Back up, Kael. That's no Echo-born. That's a full Harbinger."
Kael didn't move.
He couldn't.
The Harbinger stepped forward, not walking—gliding, like gravity no longer applied.
Then he spoke.
But not aloud.
Inside Kael's mind.
> "You carry too much. Too soon."
"And still, you gather more."
"Why?"
Kael clenched his fists. "Because no one else will."
> "That is not an answer."
The golden chains rose into the air, each one shimmering with symbols older than language.
Kael stepped forward, ignoring Lira's shout.
"If you're here to stop me, try."
The Harbinger tilted his head slightly.
Then lifted a single hand.
---
Reality broke.
A golden field of chains erupted from the ground, forming a dome. Kael and Lira were sealed inside—time slowed, air thick like honey. Even the wind couldn't escape.
Kael activated the Revenant Edge. The blade morphed instantly, sensing the threat—its shape adapting into a longform lance, glowing with deep crimson veins.
But the Harbinger didn't attack.
He simply spoke again.
> "You are the fourth vessel to reach this point."
"Three chose silence. One chose power."
"What do you choose?"
Kael's voice was steady.
"I choose truth."
---
The chains pulsed.
And then—
The Harbinger moved.
Faster than thought.
Kael barely blocked the first strike—his blade cracking, his feet dragged across the ground. Lira fired a full Echo burst, but the Harbinger deflected it with a glance—time warping around the bullet's path.
Kael rolled, spun, and lunged—Revenant Edge cutting a red arc through the golden mist. He struck something, but it felt like slicing through memory.
Then the Harbinger was behind him.
> "Your resolve is not yet real."
Chains lashed around Kael's arms—tight, burning, ancient.
> Echo Lock Imposed – Trial of Judgment Initiated
Kael gasped.
He couldn't move.
His memories began to leak into the air—playing around him in shimmering threads:
His mother's scream.
Renna's laughter.
The fire.
The Pact seal breaking.
> "Carry your guilt. Or cast it away."
---
Kael's eyes burned. "I won't forget them."
> "Then remember this."
The Harbinger stepped forward.
And marked him.
A searing sigil burned into Kael's shoulder—circular, golden, shaped like a sun split by seven cracks.
Kael screamed.
The chains vanished.
And the Harbinger faded into gold dust, whispering—
> "You now carry more than your own fate."
---
Kael collapsed, barely breathing.
Lira rushed to him, stabilizer in hand. "You're lucky he didn't kill you."
Kael blinked slowly.
"He didn't want to."
Lira frowned. "Then what did he want?"
Kael sat up, the mark still glowing faintly under his skin.
"To remind me," he whispered, "that I'm not the only one watching the end come."
---
> New Trait Acquired: Harbinger's Brand
Effect: Immune to passive Echo Madness / Attracts Dreambound Entities
Unlocked Potential: Future Vision Gate (Locked)
Corruption Level: Stabilized (24%)
---
Far away, in a city cloaked in ash, the Harbinger stood atop a spire—watching the stars rearrange.
And whispered…
> "Five remain. The silence grows impatient."
---