Eclipsed Horizon — Chapter 86: "Hunting the Echo"
Arc: Outer Vein Incursion — First Contact Combat
The first creature stepped out of the fractured fog like a glitch made flesh.
Angular limbs. Skin that wasn't skin but panes of refracted resonance, shifting in and out of solidity. Eyes—if they were eyes—glowed with a cold, predatory hunger.
Jax whispered, "Oh, that's new."
It screamed.
The sound tore across the floating landmass, shaking the crystalline growths under their feet.
Arden didn't hesitate.
"Positions! Drayen, Vance—anchor the forward vector!"
Cael and Lyra moved instantly, pulsebands syncing with a metallic chime that spread through the ground like a ripple.
The creatures recoiled—
Then shifted.
Like they'd smelled blood.
Lyra tightened her grip on Cael's arm.
"They can sense our Link."
Cael nodded. "They want it."
Arden muttered, "Then starve them."
The first wave hit.
---
Engagement One — Resonance Predators
Three creatures rushed forward, flickering between physical and energy states. Their claws crackled with resonance static—more like micro-dimension tears than bone.
Jax fired first.
A burst of pulse-rounds slammed into the lead creature. Most passed harmlessly through its half-phased frame, but one round connected solidly, sending it skidding sideways with a distorted hiss.
"Got your attention, huh?" Jax grinned—
—before another creature lunged at him from the right.
Sena yelled, "Jax! Duck!"
He dropped just as Sena's stabilizer discharged in a cone of harmonic force. The creature's body collapsed inward, like someone folding paper the wrong way. It shrieked and dissolved into violet dust.
Jax flashed her a thumbs-up. "You're my favorite today!"
"Focus!" Sena squeaked, cheeks pink.
---
Cael's Frontline
But the central threat was in front—coming straight at Cael.
Lyra shifted beside him, gauntlets glowing with analytical overlays.
"Cael—don't block. Pulse it."
Cael planted his foot, exhaled, and pulled on the Link.
Light burst from him—gold and white, the same resonance that had stabilized the descent.
The creature leapt—
Cael thrust his hand forward—
A shockwave erupted, a concentric ring of resonance that tore a trench in the ground.
The creature shattered mid-air.
Fragments of its form splintered into motes of corrupted Aether.
Lyra's voice was calm, steady.
"Good. Again if needed."
Cael nodded—but something slashed across his awareness like a razor-thin signal.
The Echo. Farther. Weak.
He gasped.
Lyra instantly caught his arm. "Cael—stay with me."
He centered himself around her resonance. The pull steadied.
Arden barked, "Vance, Drayen! If you lose anchor I need to know!"
Lyra called back, "Stable!"
Cael wasn't entirely stable, but he forced himself upright.
The creatures sensed the flare.
Three more peeled from the fog—fast.
"Here we go again—" Cael braced.
---
Mireen Steps Up
One creature angled toward Mireen.
Her eyes widened. "No no no—"
Sena shouted, "Get behind me!"
But Mireen didn't run.
She squeezed her hands together, activating her peripheral resonance module. A soft cyan bubble burst outward—
A shield.
The creature slammed into it at full speed and rebounded like it hit a wall.
Sena blinked. "Mireen! That was—"
Mireen trembled. "—mostly instinct."
Arden cut in. "Do it again when I say."
Mireen nodded—terrified but determined.
---
The Field Shifts
Seraphine's voice spiked with alarm.
"Commander—vector signatures increasing! Five… no, seven approaching from the far ridge!"
Jax groaned. "They complain about my combat exams but THIS is fine?"
Arden replied:
"This is an exam."
Lyra's eyes narrowed.
"No… this is someone's trap."
Cael felt that too.
The Echo's signal wasn't moving.
It was flickering.
Like something was suppressing it.
The predators weren't randomly hunting—they were reacting to a resonance disturbance.
They were drawn here.
Drawn to the Link.
To him.
---
Formation Break
Three creatures surged at once.
"Arden!" Cael shouted. "They're targeting our center!"
"I see it!" Arden boosted forward, resonance blades igniting along her arms. She sliced across a creature's neck—if it had a neck—splitting it into two halves that spasmed and disintegrated.
Another creature leapt at Cael.
Lyra met it mid-air—gauntlet up—triggering a focused diagnostic burst that forced the creature into full physical form for one second.
"Cael—now!"
He slammed his palm forward.
Boom.
Direct hit.
The thing exploded into shards of refracted light.
Jax whistled. "You two are ridiculous."
Lyra didn't even look at him. "Focus or die."
"Yes ma'am."
---
The Leviathan Shadow
Then—
The light dimmed.
Not from weather.
From something passing overhead.
The ground vibrated.
Shadows rippled across the floating landmass like a curtain being pulled.
Everyone froze.
Mireen whispered, "What was that…"
Cael didn't answer.
His pulseband surged violently.
Lyra sucked in a breath. "Cael—something's forcing a resonance breach."
Seraphine's voice trembled.
"Commander. A titan-class signature just entered scan range."
Jax coughed. "Titan-class? As in… Leviathan level?"
"Higher," Seraphine whispered.
"…much higher."
The predators felt it too.
They turned.
Hissed.
Then—
Ran.
They scattered into the fog like terrified animals.
Arden exhaled slowly.
"That confirms it. Something is dominating this field."
Lyra whispered:
"And it isn't the Echo."
Cael felt his heart hammering against his ribs.
Because beneath the titan signature—
faint
warped
hurting
—he felt the Echo.
It was calling him again.
But this time…
It felt scared.
Lyra squeezed his hand.
"Cael. Tell me honestly. Can you handle moving forward?"
He looked up.
The fog twisted. The ground rumbled. The titan signature pulsed like a heartbeat made of stormlight.
And he thought of the Echo alone in this impossible place.
"Yes," he said.
"But we need to move fast."
Arden nodded sharply.
"Team! Tight formation! Drayen leads the vector—Vance maintains his stability—Jax and Sena wide guard—Mireen shields—Seraphine rear analysis."
She stepped forward, resonance blade drawn.
"We're hunting the Echo before something else consumes it."
---
The Second Wave
They had taken only ten steps when the mist exploded outward.
A creature twice the size of the others lunged from the left cliff, body rotating like a spiral of broken glass.
Mireen screamed—
"SHIELD!"
She raised her hands—
The creature smashed into a cyan barrier.
This time the barrier held.
Jax didn't wait.
He vaulted over the shield, weapon humming, and slammed a capacitor charge directly into the creature's torso.
The burst of light was blinding.
When it cleared, nothing remained.
Mireen stared at her own hands. "Did… did I really—"
Sena hugged her from behind.
"You absolutely did!"
Arden didn't praise—she moved.
"Go. Go now. The path's open."
---
Cael's Link Surges
The ground began to tilt.
The floating landmass shifted, breaking apart along new fault lines.
Seraphine yelped, "The gravitational field is destabilizing!"
Lyra grabbed Cael.
"Anchor!"
He reached for the Link—
And felt a jolt so powerful it almost knocked him unconscious.
Lyra gasped. "Cael—what is that?!"
"The Echo—" he clenched his jaw "—it's reacting to something. Something massive."
His vision blurred—
He saw
light
shattering
a figure curled inward
resonance chains wrapped around it
—and a shadow with many limbs closing in.
He staggered.
Lyra caught him.
"Cael! Stay with me."
Her voice was the thread that kept him standing.
He breathed.
The Link steadied.
Arden turned to them.
"Report."
Lyra answered first.
"He's stable. But something is actively suppressing the Echo—hard."
Arden nodded once.
"Then we hit that next."
---
Approach Vector
They moved across the last ridge of the floating landmass.
Ahead—
A massive chasm opened, swirling with violet and cobalt storms. At its center, on a shard of land the size of a small platform—
A column of resonance light spiraled upward.
Seraphine whispered, "Commander… that's a containment spire. Not natural."
Cael froze.
Because inside that spire—
He felt it clearly.
The Echo.
Faint.
Flickering.
Hurting.
Lyra drew in a breath.
"They're trapping it."
Arden's voice dropped to a blade-edge whisper.
"Then we're not hunting the Echo anymore."
She looked toward the descending shadow in the clouds—
The titan.
"We're hunting whatever did this."
---
End of Chapter 86: "Hunting the Echo"