Rei didn't recall half the streets he sprinted across, but his legs moved him with impossible precision, twisting and cutting, slipping through alleys as if he'd memorised District 6 long before he was born.
Neon lights blurred into streaks.
Rain stung his skin like tiny electric needles.
Behind him, Aetherion pursuit drones roared through the air.
Iris kept pace, breath ragged. "Rei—where are you even going?!"
"I don't know!" he shouted, vaulting over a vendor cart. "My body just—moves!"
"Great, now your legs are possessed!
A plasma bolt exploded a metre behind them, ripping through the pavement. Dust and smoke swallowed the street.
Rei coughed, adrenaline surging.
They're trying to disable, not kill… for now.
Another memory – not his – flashed unbidden:
"Capture all Quantum Echo hosts alive. Terminate only if synchronisation exceeds 12%."
He shook his head violently.
More voices. More fragments.
None of them belonging to him.
A BLOCKADE
They burst into a wider boulevard—and skidded to a stop.
Three Aetherion Enforcers stood waiting, their mech-armour glowing a pale gold beneath the rain. Visors sealed, rifles charged.
The middle enforcer stepped forward.
"Rei Arclight. You are resonating at quantum echo frequencies. Stand down and prepare for containment."
Iris whispered, "Rei… they're serious. What do we do?"
Rei swallowed hard.
"I don't know."
His hands were trembling – but not with fear.
With recognition.
In perfect harmony, the Enforcers raised their weapons.
"Final warning."
Yet Rei's mind was somewhere else—dim corridors, collapsing metal, a figure in a lab coat shouting as alarms screamed:
"Aeron! If the Echo synchronizes, you'll lose your identity—"
"There's no time. Seal the seed in the next carrier!
Rei flinched.
Carrier.
Seed.
Aeron.
None of it made sense, and yet every word felt like truth.
THE ECHO AWAKENS
The Enforcers fired.
Iris screamed –
Rei moved.
He didn't decide to.
He didn't think to.
His body simply slid into a motion more fluid than anything he'd ever attempted in his life.
A shining blue circuit ignited across his arm.
Architect Protocol: Reflex Layer
Status: Unlocked
Time came to a virtual standstill.
The rain hung suspended in the air, like glass beads.
Laser beams traced lazy lines through the sky.
Rei sidestepped in one smooth movement, letting the shots clear harmlessly past him.
Iris was speechless, staring. "Rei… what the—"
Before she could finish, Rei grabbed her wrist and sprinted—apparently not away but towards the Enforcers.
The armoured soldiers shifted in shock.
"Unknown combat pattern—!"
Rei slid between their legs, hooked a foot, yanked—
The first Enforcer fell.
Rei tore the rifle from his hands with a twist he didn't remember learning. The weapon hummed as circuitry synced with his unfamiliar neural signature.
A whisper brushed his mind:
"Override recognised.
Welcome back, Architect.
Rei's breath caught.
Aeron Vale… the Architect…? That couldn't be me.
Yet the weapon in his hands shone forth in obedience.
Rei pointed it skyward and fired a pulse burst.
A shockwave rippled through the district, scrambling drone sensors.
Lights flickered across the skyline.
District 6 plunged into temporary darkness.
Iris blinked. "Rei… did you just EMP the entire block?"
Rei looked at his own hands in terror.
"I… I didn't mean to. I didn't even know I could."
"That doesn't make it better!"
PURSUIT ZERO
A new sound tore through the night.
A heavier mech.
Faster.
Colder.
Descending from above, blades slicing the rain in half.
Rei felt his throat tighten.
"That's—"
Aetherion Pursuit Unit Zero.
The elite hunter-killer model.
Something designed to capture quantum echo anomalies… or destroy them.
Black armour folded open like wings.
A female-coded voice echoed through its helmet:
"Target confirmed."
Quantum resonance level: rising.
Architect signature detected.
Rei whispered, "No… no way…"
Unit Zero's visor burnt scarlet.
"Aeron Vale—
I will bring you back."
Iris paled. "Rei… She thinks you're someone dead. Someone important."
Rei stepped back, shaking.
"I don't know who she's talking about!"
But the mech raised its blade. And Rei realised: he didn't have time to figure it out. THE ESCAPE Unit Zero attacked. Rei grabbed Iris and dived through the blown-out window of an abandoned transit station. Glass shattered around them. The mech tore into the wall behind them, sparks snaking across concrete. Rei and Iris tumbled down the steps of the station. Rei hit the ground hard, coughing. Iris landed beside him. "Rei! Your arm—your arm is glowing again!" He looked. Blue circuitry crawled up his skin like a living tattoo. His heart pounded with unfamiliar power. The mech's footsteps echoed closer. Rei clenched his fist. "Fine," he whispered. "If you want this… Architect… then help me survive." The blue light pulsed. A shield of holographic plates blossomed around him and Iris as Unit Zero plunged downward, blade ready.