Every system has a protocol. Every protocol has a flaw. I was born in that flaw.
The Echo System was humanity's answer to chaos—a biometric resonance network that tracked every heroic act, ranked every savior, and rewarded every sacrifice. It didn't just measure strength. It measured impact. Visibility. Worth.
Kael Virein had none of those.
He wasn't born into the system. He was copied into it. A genetic backup of Echo-0, the prodigy who saved Sector 7 from collapse. Kael was never meant to awaken. He was insurance. A failsafe. A shadow.
But shadows don't stay silent forever.
When Echo-0 died in a mission gone wrong, Kael's body activated. The system blinked. The world panicked. And Kael began to walk—not toward glory, but toward truth.
He wasn't registered. He wasn't ranked. He wasn't real.
But he was alive.
This is not the story of a chosen one. This is the story of a rejected echo who rewrote the protocol.