Reto woke up with his heart still sprinting.
For a second he didn't know where he was then the smell of metal and smoke hit him. The slum roofs of Cindervale stretched above, all bent tin and hanging wires. He was in his tiny attic again, the kind of place you could lose a fight just by standing too quick.
His shirt clung to him, soaked. The dream had been Kaien's chains blue light cutting through everything, then that golden flash that came from him. He rubbed his chest where the glow had sparked. Nothing. Just the usual bruise map.
(The teachers lowkey bad asl) he muttered, voice rough. "What the hell, Reto… lock the hell in."
He swung his legs off the cot and checked the corner mirror: busted glass, but enough to see his reflection. Same brown skin, same sharp eyes, same hair that refused to behave. He sighed.
"Look at your cut, bro," he told himself with a grin. "You look like you lost a fight with a fatty."
The laughter shook off the edge of last night's panic.
Downstairs, the neighbor kids were already yelling, somebody arguing about whose Echo stone they cracked during practice. The whole block buzzed like a half broken amplifier. Typical morning in Cindervale's lower ring.
Reto grabbed his pack stitched canvas, half burnt at the bottom and slid the little coin purse he'd earned from the pit into his pocket. That money was supposed to pay for one more month at Cradle Academy South, the lowest tier school that still taught basic Echo theory. If he missed another week, he'd get dropped, and without student protection he'd be fair game for the Corps.
He wasn't about to get mad like that.
A clatter echoed outside. For a moment, he froze, expecting the shimmer of blue chains in the doorway. Nothing just Milo and Taz, his two ride or dies, already waiting on the stair rail.
"Ayy, Fast Copy!" Taz called. "You still alive or what? We thought the Corps packed you up!"
"Man, if they caught me, you'd hear about it. Whole block would be glowing," Reto shot back, hopping the railing.
Milo smirked. "No cap, you really gotta stop scrapping in those pits. Kaien's people don't play."
Reto shrugged. "Gotta eat somehow. And anyway…" He flexed his hands, feeling that ghost tingle in his veins again. "Something changed last night. When that dude threw his chain, I "
Taz cut him off. "Bro, don't even start. Just say you got lucky before the teachers see those bruises."
"Yeah, yeah." Reto zipped his jacket. "Let's move before we're late."
The three of them jogged through the smoky alleys toward the tram line. Around them, the city glowed awake vendors calling out, echo forgers tuning their hammers, light rippling from the upper towers where Kaien's domain pulsed faintly against the sky.
Reto glanced up at that light and felt his pulse answer.
He's looking for me. I know it.
He pulled his hood up.
"Alright, Fast Copy," he muttered under his breath. "Lock the hell in. School first, hiding later."
The tram screeched to a stop, doors hissing open. The boys piled in, laughter cutting through the morning noise. For a brief moment, it almost felt normal just another day, another hustle.
But as the tram rolled past the central tower, the windows flickered with a rainbow shimmer.
Reto's reflection blinked then for a heartbeat, a golden echo of himself looked back and smiled.
Cindervale's lower tram screeched against the track as it stopped outside Cradle Academy South, the city's cheapest certified echo school. The gates hummed with faint blue light, half the runes flickering from bad maintenance.
Reto stepped off with his hood low, trying to look invisible. Last night's fight still buzzed in his muscles; every echo in the air seemed louder than usual, like his senses had turned up too high.
Milo nudged him. "You good, bro? You're walking like you just saw a ghost."
Reto smirked. "Nah. Just didn't sleep. Dream felt real like I was still fighting."
Taz snorted. "You were fighting. You hit that pit too much. One of these days, the Corps'll grab you mid round."
"Then I better stay faster," Reto said. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
Inside, the halls were all cracked stone and metal wiring, the hum of low level resonance vibrating through every pipe. The academy taught basic control how to tune your pulse, measure frequency, and not blow a hole through your roof. Half the students were too tired or hungry to care.
Reto dropped into his seat. Instructor Daya, an old veteran with sharp features and silver streaks in her hair, wrote diagrams on the board.
"Your echo isn't power," she said. "It's rhythm. Lose the rhythm, you lose yourself."
The class repeated her words automatically, voices overlapping in dull rhythm.
Reto wasn't listening. Something inside him still glowed from last night. He could feel every motion in the room: the heartbeat of the kid next to him, the tiny flicker in Daya's wrist when she drew a line. The rhythm was everywhere patterns layered on patterns.
He raised his hand without realizing it.
"Ma'am," he said quietly, "can… someone's echo copy another's rhythm?"
Daya stopped writing. "Copy?" Her tone sharpened. "Only if the frequencies align perfectly and that almost never happens. Why?"
Reto hesitated. "No reason. Just curious."
"Curiosity gets echoes killed," she said, turning back to the board.
But when she lifted her hand to demonstrate a movement pattern, Reto's body moved too unconsciously, perfectly in sync. His fingers flicked the air in the same shape.
And the world jumped.
The sound cracked like lightning. Daya's chalk split in half. The board shuddered.
The room went silent. Students stared. Even Reto looked stunned.
"Reto Kopi," she said, voice low. "What did you just "
He didn't answer. His right hand trembled, faint gold lines crawling under his skin. His echo was awake again, responding to hers. Mimicking it.
Milo whispered, "Bro, that's not normal."
Daya walked over slowly. "You'll come with me. Now."
Before Reto could stand, the door slid open. Two figures entered in black armor lined with spectral insignias Spectrum Corps.
The taller one bowed slightly to Daya. "Sorry for the interruption, Instructor. We're investigating an echo anomaly detected near this school last night."
Daya frowned. "You can't just walk into my class without clearance."
The man ignored her. His gaze fell on Reto, eyes narrowing.
"There," he said. "The signal matches him."
Every student turned. Reto felt heat rush through his face. "Wait what are you talking about?"
The man stepped forward. "By Lord Kaien's order, you're to come with us for resonance testing."
Reto's chair screeched backward. "I didn't do anything."
The officer raised a hand. Blue light formed around his fingers a chain of solid spectrum energy. "Don't make this harder."
Reto's heart kicked once, hard enough to make the air hum. His vision sharpened. The faint gold flicker on his skin flared.
Move.
He didn't think he just copied the man's motion, the angle, the timing.
His own chain of light burst forward gold this time colliding with the blue one midair.
The classroom exploded in a shockwave of color.
Desks flipped. The walls shook. Students screamed.
When the dust cleared, both chains were gone. Reto stood breathing hard, light still fading from his hands.
Daya stared. "Reto… what are you?"
He looked at her, then at the stunned Corps officers, and backed toward the open window.
"Still figuring that out," he said and jumped.