"Thunder, when heard without clouds, is the voice of something buried that is rising."
The time now is 5:01 a.m.
The sky is clear—no clouds, no wind—just that sickly amber glow now staining the early morning horizon.
But then…
BOOM.
The earth trembles. Not from quakes, but from a roaring sound. It was a thunderclap—raw and roaring.
Eric freezes mid-step.
"Did you hear that?" he asks.
Tano frowns, already aiming his modified wrist scanner at the sky. "There are no storm signatures."
Another BOOM. This time the thunder was much louder, but it was not from above.
"That's not thunder," Eric murmurs. "It's something trying to get out."
The System blinks alive:
" [ALERT] Storm anomaly detected: Echo-Class Thunder"
"Trigger recognized: Play Cassette "Unlabelled | Received: Hour 67"
Eric remembers the last hour's events. He had met a man with a burned clock for a face. The man who wore garment made from burned timelines. The man who had said Eric had entered a forbidden timeline, and had given him an unlabelled tape. His instructions to him were to play the tape only upon hearing thunder without clouds!
Eric slowly retrieves the tape he got from the Keeper of Hour 67.
Tano glances sideways. "That's… analog. Why would a futuristic System give you a cassette?"
"Because some truths are too raw for digital."
"Come, let us find a place to play it," Eric urges. They set off looking.
"Where on earth can we find a cassette deck?"
But soon they do find a ruined car half-swallowed by a tree. The dashboard has an old cassette deck.
Eric slides the tape in.
It plays.
First it is only static, then a female voice. The voice is calm, cold, and familiar.
"If you're hearing this… it means you've survived long enough to be dangerous."
"My name was Eva Marrow. Seeker Nine. I died in Hour 61. But not before watching every version of myself die."
At this moment Eric recollects the information received earlier but which he never browsed to check. Now looking at it, its title reads, "The Lost Twelve: Records of Failure, Fracture, and Foreshadowing."
The information goes on to outline the System-archived remnants of each prior Seeker. It details that their timelines, fates, and last actions are preserved as echoes—stored in Rift Vaults, Null Shepherd minds, or embedded in weather anomalies.
It says that each one of the Seekers failed… but some left behind shards—clues, skills, or conditions—that Eric may yet access.
Eric skips the profiles of all the Seekers until he reaches seeker number 9. He reads her stats.
Seeker 9 is also referred to as "The Watcher," and as Eva Marrow.
Trait: Could witness all her alternate deaths in advance.
Failure Point: Hour 61
Final Words: "I saw every version of me. None lived past Hour 73."
Legacy: Buried 9 messages in mirrors across different time-states. If all found, triggers a System Archive Reroll."
And now this same seeker is addressing Eric through the tape.
Tano stiffens. Eric leans closer. The tape rolls on.
"You, Eric, are Seeker Thirteen. But you're not the first to reach Hour 65 and hear thunder without clouds."
"It always begins here: the waking of Vault Echo-0."
The tape glitches.
"Vault Echo-0 is not a place. It's a memory alive enough to hunt. It only wakes when a Seeker remembers something that never existed."
Eric swallows hard.
He remembered his sister in Hour 67.
"Vault Echo-0 will now try to repair the paradox… by replacing you."
"If you begin hearing voices in your own tone, run. If your reflection starts blinking differently, you're already compromised."
The tape ends with a strange distortion—a sound like laughter, through water.
The two quickly leave the car and keep moving. South. Trees are dying faster now, leaves turning white, bark crumbling like ash.
Suddenly, Tano pulls Eric aside.
"Your shadow just blinked."
"What?"
"Just now. It moved before you did."
Eric turns looking at his shadow. The shadow, in the orange light, seems ordinary. But then… it smiles.
The System flashes:
"WARNING: Memory Echo Detected."
"Identity Threat: Class B"
"Do not engage. Do not respond. Keep moving."
The shadow steps out of the ground—pulling up like a curtain—and forms into another Eric.
But it is not quite him.
It has the same face,
But its eyes are pitch black.
Its smile is far too wide.
And it speaks first.
"You remembered her. That broke the rule."
"Who are you?"
"I'm you. If you had chosen survival."
It glances at Tano. "He dies, by the way. Hour 64 in my loop. You're already behind."
Eric reaches for the spike-blade, but the shadow twin raises a finger.
"Don't worry. I'm not here to fight."
"I'm here to watch you make the same mistake I did."
Then it vanishes—melting into the crack of a nearby tree.
Just ahead, the morning mist thickens. But it's wrong. It appears greenish, and alive.
And in it stands a familiar silhouette.
Tano grips Eric's arm.
"You seeing that?"
The figure steps forward.
It's a young girl—the same as the one from Hour 67. It is Eric's sister.
But she looks older now. She seems to have already reached Fourteen years.
"You came late," she says.
"You aged."
"You're collapsing time. Every memory you keep pushes the countdown into bleed."
"They'll start accelerating the collapse."
"What do I do?"
"You need to find the Pulse Point. It's buried in the Vault under the first Seeker's Sanctuary."
Eric freezes. "The Safe Loop?"
She nods. "Beneath it is where the Vault first whispered. That's where you'll find the root memory. Where they chose you. Or made you."
"Wait! You say they chose me?"
"There's more than one Seeker left, Eric. They've just… been put to sleep."
"How many?"
"Twelve."
And she begins to fade away.
As she fades, she whispers:
"They gave you a name, but it's not yours. It is a name that was never meant to be."
At that instant the System screams:
" [SYSTEM ERROR: Identity Anchor Conflict Detected]"
"Name discrepancy at core."
"Host consciousness may have been rewritten."
"Would you like to remember your real name?
[▷ YES | NO]"
Eric stares.
Tano looks horrified. "You don't know your real name?"
"Apparently not."
He taps YES.
The System freezes. Then:
"Real Name Located: ERIC — Unregistered, Synthetic ID Layer Confirmed."
"Original designation: [REDACTED].:
"Your true self was stored in Pulse Point before the countdown began."
Eric sways.
Was he a construct? It appears so. This is literally telling Eric he may not be who he thinks he is—his identity may have been fabricated.
And the System has further confirmed: Eric is synthetic. His real name… is hidden in the Pulse Point.
He wants the System to say more. Nothing happens.
The System goes dark.
Thunder rolls again.