Kael's hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Even as the dust settled, and the void rift closed with a final hum, the aftershock of what just happened clawed at his ribs. It wasn't just adrenaline. It was something deeper—a memory that didn't belong to him.
He stumbled backward from the cracked floor, barely catching himself. Behind him, Juro stood silent, scanning the sealed sky with narrowed eyes, sword still humming faintly. Maya crouched over a fractured slab, runes glowing faintly on her fingertips as she tried to stabilize the space they'd almost lost to the void.
Nobody said a word.
Not yet.
Then Kael spoke, voice hoarse.
"That wasn't just some glitch guardian."
Maya turned, hair sticking to her forehead. "You felt it too?"
Kael nodded. "He was connected to everything. Like... the system used him as a failsafe."
Juro crossed his arms. "Or like he was the system."
"No," Maya whispered, standing slowly. "He was a warning."
Kael blinked. "Warning for what?"
A new silence followed. Not the peaceful kind—the kind that comes before a storm.
Juro finally broke it, sheathing his sword. "I think it's time we stop asking what the loop is... and start asking who made it."
The words hit Kael harder than any blow from the fight.
Who made it?
Who had the power, the precision, the cruelty to reset galaxies like clockwork? Who could trap souls in endless repetitions, always just shy of hope?
Kael's breathing grew heavier. "I want to see what's on the other side."
"Kael—" Maya reached for him, but he stepped back.
"No more theories. No more lies. I want truth. Even if it kills me."
Juro sighed, rubbing a fresh bruise near his eye. "You always did have a death wish."
Kael smirked. "You always did follow me anyway."
Suddenly, a sharp ping echoed from Maya's wrist.
She looked down—her communicator flickered alive with static and then... a voice.
Broken, familiar.
"K... Kael? If you can hear me... don't trust the signal. They're—"static"looping the memories... again... I left the Echo Code—"
Silence.
Maya's eyes widened. "That was... Riven. From the Delta Gate. But she—she died three loops ago!"
Kael stepped in. "Or she got stuck somewhere... between loops."
Juro frowned. "Echo Code?"
Maya began tapping rapidly into her device. "It's real. A myth among loop rebels. Some say if you find your Echo Code—the unique frequency of your soul—you can rewrite your place in the loop."
Kael's eyes burned. "Let's find mine."
Suddenly, the ground pulsed—twice.
Kael grabbed Maya as a shockwave lifted the floor.
Juro shouted, "Shield!"
A beam of white-hot energy cracked through the ceiling, slicing through stone like butter. Another rift opened—but this one didn't bleed darkness.
It sang.
A low, dissonant tone that echoed straight into their bones.
Then came the figure—descending slowly, levitating like a god, encased in a suit of gold-laced armor. His face was hidden by a mask of mirrored glass, his aura like static and fire.
Kael instinctively stepped forward, body humming with leftover rage. "Another Outside agent?"
"No," Maya whispered. "That... that's a Warden."
Kael's blood froze.
The Wardens were the ancient enforcement of the loop. Not enforcers—editors. They didn't fight.
They erased.
"Target locked," the Warden said. Its voice was not mechanical, but too perfect—as if mimicking humanity, not living it.
"You have breached memory sanctum thresholds. You have accessed the Echo Beacon. You are... unstable."
Juro raised his sword. "Funny, we were just about to say the same about you."
The Warden raised its hand.
Reality glitched.
Maya screamed as the air bent around them, images of past versions of themselves flickering around the walls—Kael dying, Kael screaming, Maya vanishing into light, Juro kneeling in blood. Every memory the loop had ever stored about them played in reverse at hyperspeed.
Kael stumbled. "It's... feeding on our pasts."
"No," Maya said through gritted teeth. "It's trying to rewind us."
The Warden advanced.
Kael's heart pounded. And then—
He ran.
Straight at it.
The Warden swiped, but Kael slid under its attack and punched the mirrored mask with all his strength. It cracked—just slightly—but enough.
Kael saw something behind it. Not circuitry. Not light.
A face.
His.
"Holy—" he whispered. "It's me."
The Warden grabbed him by the throat. "You were always meant to be overwritten."
A blast of runes slammed into the Warden's back—Maya screamed as her entire power flared.
Juro followed, sword igniting in a rare twin-blade form. He roared and stabbed downward, the sword slicing into the Warden's shoulder and locking in.
The three of them—burnt, broken, unyielding—dragged the Warden to the ground.
Kael leaned close, coughing blood. "You think you're my future?"
"No," the Warden whispered. "I'm your echo."
And with that, the mask shattered.
Kael's own eyes stared back at him.
But older.
Colder.
Emptier.
The Warden was a version of Kael—a version who had lost everything. Who had accepted the loop. Who had become its guardian.
Maya stared. "He's what you'll become... if you give up."
The broken Warden's lips moved one last time.
"Find your Echo Code... before they do."
His body glitched—once, twice—and then faded into white particles.
Silence fell again.
Kael stood, breathing heavily.
He touched the shattered mask on the floor. His reflection stared back—fractured, uncertain.
But alive.
He looked at Maya and Juro. "We're running out of time."
Juro nodded. "Then we'd better make it count."
Kael gripped the mask, then tucked it into his belt.
Because now?
The fight wasn't just for survival.
It was for identity.
To be continued...