The world around Ren trembled.
Not violently.Not with danger.
With expectation.
The clearing dimmed as if the sky itself leaned closer to listen.The roots around the seal twisted inward, forming a soft spiral beneath his feet—like a cradle or a threshold.
Borin hauled himself up from the tree he'd smashed into.Lyra pushed herself through the soil, sprinting toward Ren.Draven regained consciousness just long enough to scream again and faint a second time.
But Ren did not move.
He couldn't.
The echo in his chest—the crackling silver line pulsing with unnatural light—hummed with a question only he could hear.
"Will you break…or become?"
Ren inhaled sharply.The breath stung, like drawing cold air into a wound.
Lyra reached him first.
"Ren! REN!"She grabbed his arm, pulling him back, pulling him down, pulling him toward herself."Look at me—don't look at the seal—don't listen to it—listen to me."
He tried.
Gods, he tried.
But the world was splitting.
Not outside.
Inside.
Two rhythms fought in his ribs:
His heart—and the echo.
One pulling him toward himself.One pulling him toward something he didn't understand.
Borin staggered beside them, jaw tight.
"Kid. Fight it. I don't care what it is—fight it."
Ren's breath hitched.
"I'm… trying."
Lyra pressed her forehead to his.
"You are not alone. You hear me? You are NOT alone."
The echo pulsed, irritated.
Ren winced.
Lyra's voice softened.
"Ren… what is it asking you?"
Ren's chest rose and fell shallowly.
His voice cracked into a whisper.
"It wants to know… what I want to become."
The forest held its breath.
Borin's hands curled into fists.
"And what will you tell it?"
Ren's gaze dropped to the glowing fracture on his chest.
The silver light pulsed again, faster now—not consuming him,not corrupting him,
inviting him.
Lyra cupped his cheeks.
"Ren. Look at me.Don't answer it alone."
Ren closed his eyes.
The dream returned in flashes:
The sealed one kneeling, begging the forest to bury them.The Shadow walking a path that no longer belonged to anything living.The silhouette bowing to him as the "next one who will choose."
And the echo—
waiting.
Ren's jaw tightened.
"I don't want to become like them."
Lyra froze.
"Then don't."
Ren swallowed.
"It's not that simple."
The echo whispered again.
"Become."
Ren stood straighter, breath trembling.
"I don't want to break either."
Borin nodded grimly.
"Then choose something else."
Ren shook his head.
"I don't know what else there is."
Lyra's hands slid down his arms.
"Then choose who you want to be."
Ren's chest shook.
The echo pulsed.
"Be born."
Ren gasped.
Something inside him opened—like a gateor a woundor a memory he never had.
Voices—not words,just feeling—
sorrowlongingterrorhope
flooded through him.
Images flashed:
Hands trembling under moonlight.Roots wrapping gently around a kneeling body.A face dissolving into gray.A path carved by silence.A child—him—standing at the edge of that path.
Ren fell to his knees.
Lyra embraced him immediately, arms around his shoulders, face buried in his hair.
"Ren, stop—stop listening—stop carrying this—please—please just breathe—"
Ren's voice cracked against her chest.
"I'm scared."
Her grip tightened, fierce and trembling.
"I know. And you're allowed to be. You're allowed to be scared. You're human, Ren."
The echo trembled—offended.
Ren choked on a breath.
"I don't know if I am."
Lyra grabbed his face and forced him to meet her eyes.
"Ren.You.Are.Human."
The echo stilled.
For the first time since he had heard it—it hesitated.
Ren blinked.
Lyra continued, voice shaking:
"You laugh, you bleed, you care, you get scared, you protect us, you argue with Draven, you hold me when I can't stop shaking—you're human."
Her thumb brushed his cheek.
"And I won't let anything take that from you."
Ren's vision blurred.
The echo pulsed again—but softer.
"…human?"
Ren gasped.
"It's… asking."
Lyra swallowed.
"Then answer it."
Ren lifted his head.
Looked at the seal.At the roots.At the memory beneath.At the echo inside him.
His voice came out thin, but steady.
"I don't want to become Shadow."
The echo pulsed—a denial.
"I don't want to become Seal."
The echo rippled—considering.
Ren breathed in.
"I want to become me."
Silence.
Utter silence.
Even the wind dared not move.
The echo pulsed—
once,twice,three times—
and the silver crack dimmed.
Not gone.
But quieter.
Ren sagged into Lyra's arms.
She held him tightly, tears falling into his hair.
Borin exhaled and lowered his axe.
Draven whispered:
"Is… is it over?"
Ren shook his head slowly.
"No."
He placed a hand over the faint glow on his chest.
And whispered:
"But it asked.And I answered.Now… it will decide."
Lyra pressed her forehead to his again.
"We decide together."
Ren nodded.
Weakly.
Gratefully.
And the forest—the entire forest—exhaled a long trembling breath.
Because for the first time…
the echo inside Ren wasn't pulling him.It was listening.