The camp had gone quiet.
Jackie lay beneath a shredded tarp strung between two crumbling pillars, staring at the sky through holes in the fabric. Her tail flicked slowly. The battle still echoed in her bones, in her dreams.
And the whisper—
> "Let go."
She hadn't told Kael that the voice still followed her. She didn't want to give him another reason to look at her like she was a weapon.
She needed air.
She got up, walking past sleeping survivors, still wary of her glowing eyes. She couldn't blame them.
As she passed a dark hallway leading under the stadium, something stopped her.
Voices.
One was Kael's. Calm. Controlled.
The other was… not there. No second voice—just pauses, as if Kael was listening to something only he could hear.
She pressed herself against the wall, just out of view.
Kael's voice was low, but urgent.
> "She's stronger than we thought."
"…No, not yet. She's unstable."
"…Yes, I saw it. The flame didn't reject her."
"…If she really is the Echo…"
Jackie's heart stopped.
> "…I'll guide her as long as I can. But if she turns—"
"Yes. I know what I have to do."
Silence.
Then the scrape of his armor as he turned.
Jackie darted back up the hallway and ducked behind a collapsed concession stand, heart pounding.
> The Echo?
Guide me?
If I turn… he'll what—kill me?
She stood there, gripping the wall until her claws scratched the stone.
---
Later, Kael returned to camp.
He looked as unreadable as ever.
"Sleep well?" he asked.
Jackie didn't answer right away. "What's an Echo?"
Kael stiffened—just barely. But she caught it.
"You said it earlier," she continued. "When you thought I wasn't listening."
He didn't meet her eyes. "Where did you hear that?"
"Does it matter?"
A long pause.
Then: "The Echo is a myth. A legend from the first Rift War. A soul born not from one dragon… but from all of them. A living memory of flame."
Jackie's blood went cold. "You think that's me?"
Kael was silent again.
"You should've told me," she snapped. "If you think I'm some… some chosen weapon, I deserve to know."
Kael looked at her—really looked this time.
"I wasn't sure," he said quietly. "And if I was wrong… I didn't want to curse you with it."
Jackie turned away. "Too late."
---
That night, Jackie couldn't sleep.
The wind shifted.
And this time, when she closed her eyes, she wasn't taken to a dream.
She was taken to a memory.
Not her own.
A battlefield. Fire. Ash. Screams.
And in the center—a girl, dragon-eyed and golden-scaled, roaring skyward as three dragons merged into her form.
She was the first.
She was the Echo.
And when she opened her mouth, the world burned.