The wind howled through the broken archways of the Origin Tower, now half-consumed by the scar of temporal fire. What had once been a beacon of the Architect Order was now nothing but fractured memory—held together by Kael's will alone.
He knelt on the center dais, palm pressed to the engraved sigil glowing dimly with violet light. It pulsed not like magic—but like a heartbeat.
A second one.
🟪 SYSTEM NOTICE
You have unlocked Echo Thread: 2 of 7
Thread Title: The Seventh Thread
Memory Integrity: UNSTABLE
Threat Level: Class S – Emotional Contagion Detected
Kael's breath caught as the energy surged through his fingertips. The sigil under his hand sparked to life, bleeding into the stonework, drawing symbols older than the system itself.
Silica approached cautiously, her boots crunching over shattered crystal.
"Kael… are you sure about this? The last Echo nearly killed you."
Kael turned, shadows dancing across his eyes.
"This one is different. It isn't corrupted."
She narrowed her eyes. "Then what is it?"
Kael didn't answer. He pressed deeper into the engraving, and the world fell away.
⟦ MEMORY THREAD INITIATED ⟧
⟦ Thread Anchor: Accepted ⟧
⟦ Causality Stability: 23% ⟧
⟦ Warning: Temporal Overlap Possible ⟧
The world inverted.
Reality compressed into a dot of light.
And Kael was gone.
…
He stood in a forgotten city where all buildings were shaped from ivory and dreamglass. No people. No sound. Only absence.
Echoes wandered through the streets—shadows of memories. Silent. Repeating.
Here, Kaelum had once reigned.
Here, the Seventh Thread had been cut.
Kael walked, each step triggering ripples in the dreamscape.
And then he saw it.
A younger version of himself—or rather, of Kaelum—kneeling before an ancient stone monolith covered in bindings.
🟥 SYSTEM ARCHIVE ACCESSED
Echo Thread Visual Sequence Playback
"Please… just one more rewrite," the younger Kaelum whispered. "Just one more."
The monolith pulsed.
A voice replied—not a system prompt. A being.
"You've already rewritten time seven times, child. And each time, someone is lost."
Kaelum wept. "Then let me lose myself instead."
"Very well."
The bindings broke.
And Kael screamed.
Back in the present, Kael dropped to his knees.
His ears rang. His heart raced.
Silica caught him before he collapsed completely.
"What did you see?"
Kael shook his head, sweat clinging to his brow.
"He gave up himself," he whispered. "To save someone else. And the system sealed that act… because it broke its rules."
🟦 SYSTEM UPDATE
Echo Thread "The Seventh Thread"
Status: SYNCHRONIZED
Resonance: 2/7 Complete
New Trait Gained: Engraver's Mercy
🟨 Passive Trait Activated
You retain 10% resistance to emotional manipulation and can read suppressed regrets of nearby individuals.
Kael stood again.
He looked at his hands—not for what they held, but for what they didn't.
"You sacrificed yourself… to protect everyone else. But now I carry that thread."
Silica stood silently beside him, her sword humming.
"Then what now?"
Kael looked to the stars, which seemed dimmer than before.
"We find the third thread."
And deep within the world's core, a glyph blinked open in response.
🟪 SYSTEM PING
Thread 3 Detected: "City of Broken Statues"
Coordinates Stored
Warning: Entity Class A guardian detected
Kael breathed in—and smiled faintly.
"I'm ready."
Are you?
∎ ∎ ∎
💬 Author's Note:
Two threads down—five to go. Kael is diving deeper into the truth of who Kaelum was… and who he might become. But power comes at a price. Would you walk this path?
💬 Share your thoughts in the comment section! This is my first-ever novel, and your feedback means the world. Please leave a review, like the chapter, and tell me what you think—every message motivates me to write more.
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