The moment Ren stepped through the glowing door, reality wobbled like jelly in a windstorm.
Colors warped. Gravity whispered. A wind laughed in lowercase italics.
And then…
He was sitting in a classroom.
Like, an Earth classroom.
Chipped desks. Cracked whiteboard. Fluorescent lights that flickered just enough to drive anyone mad. Out the window? A gray sky and motionless trees.
Ren blinked. He looked down.
"Huh. Hands. Still mine."
But he was younger. Like, pre-finals anxiety younger.
He wasn't wearing his travel cloak or mushroom-scented tunic. Just jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt that read:
Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too
"Okay," he muttered. "Now it's creepy."
A bell rang. Nobody moved.
Because no one else was there.
Except one other student.
A boy. Slumped in the back row. Head down. Hood up.
Ren squinted. "Wait…"
The boy looked exactly like him.
But not him.
His doppelgänger raised his head slowly, revealing eyes dull with exhaustion and a faint glimmer of fear.
The room darkened at the edges.
[Echo Trial #1: "The Road Not Chosen"]
✦ Observe. Do not interfere.
✦ You are witnessing a possible You.
Ren gulped. "Oh. We're doing this kind of memory."
He watched as the other-Ren sat alone while papers were handed out by a faceless teacher.
The other students? Shadows.
Muted laughter echoed.
Words floated above them like glitchy subtitles:
"He's weird."
"Not like the rest of us."
"Always drawing maps."
"Thinks he's clever."
"Wants to run away."
Other-Ren scribbled in a notebook. Symbols. Stars. Doorways.
Ren leaned closer.
It was a sketch.
Of Cindale.
Ren whispered, "No way…"
That version of him—before mana, before worlds—was dreaming of this.
Or something like it.
The bell rang again.
But this time, it howled.
The windows shattered. The shadows grew eyes. The air burned like cold static.
Other-Ren stood up, clutching his notebook, and ran for the door.
Ren instinctively moved to help him—
[WARNING: Echo Rule Violation]
❖ You may not interfere directly.
❖ Side effects: Feedback. Regression. Displacement.
"Oops."
Too late.
The moment froze.
Ren was yanked upward—not physically, but like a thought being erased—and flung out of the memory-space.
The world twisted.
The Warden's voice boomed:
"You looked too closely. The past is fragile."
"Still… you saw it, didn't you?"
"You always wanted to leave."
Ren landed hard back in the Gallery.
Keeri and Clomp rushed over.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Nope."
Clomp offered a glowing fungus snack. "You look rattled. Want a damp waffle?"
Ren took it. Ate it in one bite.
"…I think I saw myself."
Keeri looked serious for once. "Before you became an Echo."
Ren nodded slowly. "I think I was trying to leave the world even before I knew there were others."