The stone spiral wound deep beneath the city, swallowed by dim glyphlight and the scent of forgotten earth. Each step Kael took hummed faintly beneath his boots—like the stair itself was responding to him.
The Echoheart pulsed steadily now, no longer erratic. Rhythmic. Intentional.
Tovan broke the silence as they descended. "This place isn't just built. It's grown. Molded by whatever that relic is feeding it."
Elira nodded without looking back. "It's not just a trial. It's memory made solid."
Kael ran a hand along the wall. It felt warm, like skin holding in breath. Faint images pulsed across the surface—shadows of faces, hands reaching, cities burning. Some Kael recognized. Others he was terrified he might someday live.
At the base of the spiral, the corridor opened into a circular chamber. Smooth stone met old metalwork in the floor, and a raised platform glowed at the center. Around the walls stood twelve constructs, silent and watching.
The moment Kael stepped into the room, the air shifted.
A voice—not mechanical, but something deeper—spoke into the chamber:
"You carry the Eye. Then you carry its truth."
Kael's breath caught.
The platform pulsed once.
Then the world shattered.
He stood alone.
The chamber was gone. So were Elira and Tovan.
Kael blinked—and saw fire.
He was on a rooftop, hands slick with blood. A woman lay before him, her eyes wide, unseeing. A relic shard protruded from her chest, humming faintly.
Kael staggered back.
"I—this didn't happen—"
But it felt real.
Felt like guilt.
Her voice echoed, layered and quiet:
"You had the power. Why didn't you act?"
Another blink.
He stood in a cathedral, relics spinning in the air above an altar. Dozens of people knelt before him.
He raised his hand—and the sky split.
Lightning runes tore through the ceiling. Screams followed. Stone collapsed.
Kael clutched his head. "This isn't me—this isn't—"
"Not yet," the voice said. "But possible."
Meanwhile, Elira turned toward Tovan in the real chamber. The platform glowed violently now, flickers of Kael's face—then others—dancing across its surface.
"What's happening to him?" Tovan asked.
"I think the city's forcing him to see everything he could be," Elira replied. "Every version."
"And if he fails?"
She didn't answer.
Inside the vision, Kael stood before a mirrored version of himself.
This one wore armor of rune-forged steel. His eyes glowed with Echolight. His voice was calm.
"You fear becoming me."
"I fear losing myself."
"Then why did you pick it up?"
Kael didn't speak.
The other smiled—and drew a blade of broken crystal. "Then let's see if you deserve to be more than an echo."
The duel was brutal.
The mirror-fighter struck with perfect prediction—anticipating Kael's every move. Kael fought desperately, pain searing down his arm where the relic flared against his skin. Every blow Kael landed hurt himself—his body reacting as if the memory were shared.
The Echoheart throbbed with something like anticipation—like it wanted him to surrender, to become the version it had already chosen.
Kael grit his teeth, resisting the pull.
Then—he dropped his weapon.
"I'm not here to be you," he gasped. "I'm here to choose."
The light exploded.
The vision collapsed.
Kael fell to his knees on the real platform, breath ragged.
His nose bled as he rose. The relic's light hadn't just overwhelmed him—it had bled into him.
The constructs stirred, then returned to stillness.
A second voice echoed now, colder and mechanical:
"Bearer validated. Conduit unlocked."
A wall at the far end of the chamber split open, revealing a dark corridor spiraling further beneath Vareth.
Kael looked up slowly.
"I passed," he whispered.
Elira stepped forward, offering her hand. "You survived."
Tovan stared down the new passage. "And now we go deeper."
Kael looked at the Echoheart, still glowing.
It didn't feel like it belonged to him anymore.
It felt like it had chosen him back.