The silence after the voice felt heavier than any roar. Kael stood before the stone gate—an open eye carved from obsidian, its iris aglow with faint blue veins of mana.
The voice had been real. Not an echo. Not a hallucination.
"Father…?" Kael whispered, though the word felt foreign on his tongue. It scraped against memory like metal against stone.
He took a step forward. The air grew denser, thick with something more than mana. Memory? Will?
The gate pulsed.
And then, with a slow grinding groan, it opened.
Beyond the Gate
Inside was not a room.
It was a void.
A hall without walls, filled with shifting constellations and threads of glowing light that crisscrossed the air like veins in a living cosmos.
Floating in the center was a man—cloaked in flowing white, face hidden beneath a silver mask. The voice came again, warmer this time.
"You've grown," he said. "Faster than they expected."
Kael's hand instinctively reached for his chest, where the Echo Body pulsed with mana. "Who are you?"
The man tilted his head. "You still don't remember. Good. That means he hasn't touched your core yet."
Kael's brow furrowed. "He?"
"You'll come to know him. But not yet."
The man extended a hand. "I am Theron. I was once your father."
Kael's legs nearly gave way.
"I don't have a father," he whispered.
"Not in this world," Theron said, lowering his hand. "But you had one… before the fall. Before you were scattered across the Echoes."
Kael backed away. "You're not real."
"You were never meant to awaken this soon," Theron said quietly. "The One will come for you now. That… was inevitable."
The Warning
"What are you talking about?" Kael shouted, mana flaring around him.
"Shhh." Theron raised a finger.
And the stars went still.
"You must return now. The Echo Core must stabilize. And your second body… must be prepared."
Kael's mind reeled. "Second—what?"
Theron stepped closer. His eyes glowed behind the mask—eyes so familiar it hurt.
"You are building your tier. Each tier brings another self. Another life. You must guide it, shape it, bind it. Or it will break you."
Kael's breathing became shallow. "I'm not ready."
"No," Theron said. "But you must become ready. The One watches."
The name sent a ripple through Kael's Echo Core.
He stumbled.
And the world shattered.
Back in the Tower
Kael gasped awake on the cold stone floor. The gate was gone. The hall silent.
But something had changed.
Inside his core, something pulsed. Not just mana. Not just memory.
An imprint. A presence. A spark of someone who called himself father.
Kael rose slowly.
And in the silence, a new voice whispered—this one sharp, cold, ancient.
"So… he found you first."