Chapter 10: Echoes of the Past
For a long, heavy moment, Noah thought maybe Aelion was messing with them. But then, shapes emerged from the fog. Three figures. Moving with the same slow precision as the masked stranger, but different—less graceful, more… deliberate.
Noah's stomach sank.
"Lyra," he whispered. "Please tell me this is the part where you say, 'Don't worry, those are our friends.'"
"No," Lyra said, narrowing her eyes. "These aren't friends."
The fog parted, and Noah's breath caught.
The figure leading them was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing black armor engraved with glowing violet runes. A jagged sword rested on his shoulder, and his face—no mask this time—was unsettlingly familiar. His dark hair, his sharp jaw, even the frown etched deep into his brow.
Noah's knees went weak.
"…No. No way."
"What?" Lyra asked sharply, glancing at him.
"That's—" Noah stammered. "That's me."
Not him-him, exactly. But close enough. Like a version of him that had grown up in a nightmare. The armored figure looked older, colder, his eyes an unnatural silver glow.
"Another reflection," Lyra muttered, grimacing. "I should have known."
"Reflection? What does that mean?" Noah whispered.
"It means the Netherveil is pulling pieces of you. Echoes of who you are… or who you could become."
"Yeah, that's not creepy at all," Noah muttered, eyes locked on the armored version of himself.
The other two figures flanking his doppelgänger were just as unsettling. One was cloaked in feathers blacker than midnight, carrying a twisted bow with arrows that looked like shards of obsidian. The other was hunched, with glowing tattoos crawling up their arms like living vines, eyes bright like molten gold.
The armored Noah—his "echo," apparently—stopped about ten feet away and tilted his head slightly. When he spoke, his voice was Noah's voice… but deeper, heavier, with a strange echo behind it.
"Veilwalker," the echo said. "So this is what I was before I became something real."
Noah's throat went dry. "Uh… I'm already real, thanks."
The echo's silver eyes narrowed. "You're soft. Weak. You have no idea what this place demands. But I do. I survived what you never could."
"Wow," Noah muttered, "even evil versions of me hate me."
Lyra stepped forward, her blade drawn. "Back off. We're not interested in your games."
The echo gave her a cold, amused look. "Ah. The failed apprentice speaks. Still clinging to the old ways?"
Lyra's grip tightened on her sword. "Watch your tongue."
The echo smirked. "Or what? You'll try to cut me down? You'll fail, like you always do."
Noah glanced at Lyra. "Okay, is it just me, or does he… know you?"
Lyra didn't answer. Her silence said enough.
Before Noah could ask more questions, Aelion's voice cut through the tension, urgent and sharp.
"Warning: breach energy detected. 87% probability of hostile engagement."
The echo's grin widened. "Good. Let's see if you're worth keeping alive."
He moved faster than Noah expected. One second he was standing still, the next he was charging, sword swinging in an arc that shimmered with black fire. Noah barely had time to react, stumbling backward while Lyra met the blade with her own, the clash ringing like a church bell.
The swamp clearing erupted into chaos.
The feathered archer leapt onto a glassy rock and fired an arrow straight at Noah's head. He yelped, ducking just as the projectile slammed into a tree behind him, exploding into black shards. "Lyra!" Noah shouted. "There's two more freaks with him!"
"Handle it!" she yelled back, locked in a furious duel with the echo.
"Handle it? I'm not even sure I know how to handle me!" Noah yelled, fumbling with the Veil Coin.
The coin pulsed again, almost like it was alive, responding to his fear. Silver light sparked around his fingertips, forming threads that connected to the ground like glowing roots. Noah stared at his hands, eyes wide.
"Okay… this is new."
The hunched figure with the golden tattoos lunged at him, claws glowing. Noah panicked and raised his hand, shouting the first thing that came to mind: "STOP!"
The threads of silver light shot outward, forming a jagged wall between them. The clawed attacker smashed against it, hissing as the light burned its skin. Noah blinked in shock.
"…Did I just… win? No, wait. Still alive. Not winning. Yet."
Meanwhile, Lyra fought like a storm. Every swing of her rune blade sent arcs of blue fire clashing against the echo's black flames. He was stronger, faster, but Lyra had precision—and fury.
"You don't belong here," she snarled as their swords locked.
"Neither do you," the echo hissed. "But at least I've embraced what I am."
Lyra shoved him back, sparks flying as their blades screeched. "You're not him. You're just a twisted copy."
"Maybe," the echo said. "But I'm the copy that wins."
Noah, desperate, tried focusing on the coin again.
"Okay, magic coin, time to do something cool." He closed his eyes, picturing the barrier like before—but stronger, bigger.
The coin flared, silver light expanding into a dome around him. The next arrow that came his way disintegrated the moment it touched the barrier.
"Yes! I'm alive! I'm—"
The barrier cracked.
"Oh no. I'm less alive now!"
The golden-tattooed figure slashed at the dome, breaking through. Noah rolled to the side just in time, feeling claws swipe the air where his face had been.
"This is so not my day," he muttered.
Lyra caught sight of him struggling. "Noah! Use the coin's edge! Think of it as a blade!"
"A blade?!" Noah yelled, ducking another strike. "It's a coin! It buys vending machine snacks!"
"FOCUS!"
Noah gritted his teeth and did as she said, picturing the coin stretching into something sharper. To his shock, the coin's light warped, shaping into a thin silver blade in his hand.
"Oh. Oh, that's—cool! Terrifying, but cool!"
With a desperate shout, he swung the makeshift blade at the tattooed attacker. The light cut through its glowing vines, sending the creature screeching backward before it vanished into black mist.
The echo, seeing this, snarled. "So the coin did choose you. Hmph. We'll see how long that lasts."
He signaled the archer, who fired another volley. Lyra deflected two arrows, but one grazed her arm, leaving a black scorch mark. She hissed but didn't falter.
"We're done here," the echo said coldly, retreating a step. "Next time, Veilwalker, you'll wish I'd killed you."
With that, the three figures dissolved into mist, their shapes melting into the swamp shadows.
Noah stood there, chest heaving. "So… we just… won? Is that what winning feels like? Because I think I'm dying."
Lyra wiped the blood from her arm. "No. That wasn't winning. That was surviving."
Aelion's voice buzzed softly. "Recommendation: relocate immediately. The breach energy remains unstable."
"Wait," Noah said, still trying to catch his breath. "That guy. The armored version of me. What was that?"
Lyra's face was unreadable. "We'll talk later. Right now, we need to move before the swamp decides to throw something worse at us."
"Worse than my evil twin?" Noah groaned. "Fantastic."
As they left the clearing, Noah looked over his shoulder. The cracked sky above Gravewater pulsed again, faintly glowing. He couldn't shake the feeling that his echo would return—and next time, he might not walk away so easily.