The training dome was quiet at night.
Kael stood alone, surrounded by flickering resonance modules. Juno had pushed him hard during the last session—too hard. His stabilizer had cracked. His core had flared. And now, he was bleeding resonance into the air like smoke.
He collapsed near the edge of the dome, breath shallow, vision blurred.
> "I'm not optimized," he whispered.
> "I'm not ranked."
The system would've archived him for this. Lira had warned him: "Burn too fast, and you'll collapse before you ignite."
But Kael didn't care.
He didn't want to be a hero anymore.
He wanted to be real.
---
Scene Shift: A Soft Voice
"Are you okay?"
Kael blinked. A figure knelt beside him—small, gentle, eyes wide with concern. She wore no stabilizer. No protocol badge. Just a scarf wrapped around her wrist and a satchel of old tech parts.
> "You're leaking resonance," she said. "That's not good."
Kael tried to sit up. "Who are you?"
> "Nami," she said. "I fix things. Mostly drones. Sometimes people."
Kael coughed. "I'm not broken."
> "I didn't say you were."
She helped him sit against the wall. Her touch was careful, but not afraid.
> "You're Kael, right? The one who uploaded Resonance Code?"
Kael stiffened. "That wasn't supposed to be public."
> "But it was supposed to be remembered."
---
Flashback: Echo-10's File
Kael had read it a dozen times. "Impact isn't ranked. It's remembered."
He hadn't understood it fully—until now.
Nami pulled a small device from her satchel. It hummed softly.
> "This will stabilize your core for a few hours. It's not system-approved, but it works."
Kael took it. "Why help me?"
Nami shrugged. "Because you're trying to change something. And that matters."
---
Scene Shift: Rooftop of the Dome
Kael and Nami sat side by side, watching the city lights flicker. Below, drones patrolled. Above, the Monument of Echoes glowed with ranked names.
Kael's name wasn't there.
> "They say you're dangerous," Nami said.
> "They say I'm unstable," Kael replied.
> "I think you're just… burning differently."
Kael looked at her. "You don't have resonance. You don't have rank. Why do you care?"
Nami smiled. "Because I remember my brother. He was Echo-10."
Kael froze.
> "He wasn't optimized," she continued. "He wasn't ranked high. But he saved Sector 7. And he left behind a code that made people feel something."
Kael whispered, "He was the first anomaly."
> "And you're the next."
---
Training Scene: Off-Grid Dome
Lira calibrated the field. Juno activated the sequence. Kael stood in the center, resonance pulsing.
But this time, Nami watched from the edge.
Kael faltered. His core destabilized.
> "You're thinking too much," Juno growled.
> "You're feeling too much," Lira added.
Kael collapsed again.
Nami rushed forward. "Stop. He's not a weapon."
Juno stepped back. Lira hesitated.
Kael looked up at Nami. "I can't control it."
> "You're not supposed to," she said. "You're supposed to channel it."
She placed her hand on his chest—above the resonance core.
> "Don't fight the burn. Shape it."
---
Kael's Internal Monologue
> "I was born in someone's shadow."
> "They called me a glitch. A leftover."
> "But I feel. I remember. I burn."
He stood.
The field pulsed.
Kael activated a new sequence—one not in the system's database. It was raw. Unstable. Beautiful.
Juno stared. "That's not protocol."
Lira whispered, "That's resonance clarity."
Nami smiled. "That's Kael."
---
Closing Scene
Later that night, Kael sat alone, watching the Monument of Echoes.
He didn't need his name etched there.
He had something stronger.
He had memory.
He had bonds.
He had burn.
> "I'll rewrite their system," he whispered.
> "With the people they tried to erase."
And the dome echoed.
Not with applause.
But with silence.
The kind that remembers.