Soulbeat Convergence***
*Power shared leaves scars no one else can see.*
Aru didn't wake to pain.
He woke to **absence**.
No echo.
No second rhythm tapping at the edges of his senses.
Just silence—thick, suffocating, wrong.
His eyes snapped open.
Stone ceiling. Flickering lantern light. The Hollow's infirmary.
He sat up too fast.
"Kairo—?"
Nothing answered.
The silence screamed.
---
## **THE COST REVEALED**
Eidolon was already there, seated against the wall, arms folded. He hadn't slept.
"You burned the bridge," Eidolon said quietly.
Aru's heart stuttered.
"…What does that mean?"
"You didn't merge," Eidolon continued. "You **overlapped**. Two autonomous rhythms occupying the same core."
Aru clenched his fists.
"Where is he?"
Eidolon met his eyes.
"Nowhere you can reach easily."
The words hit harder than any blow.
---
## **BETWEEN BEATS**
Aru closed his eyes and focused inward.
Where the Second Beat had once pulsed—steady, human—there was now a **gap**. Not emptiness. Distance.
Like a door left ajar in a storm.
He listened harder.
At first—nothing.
Then—
**…thum.**
So faint it almost wasn't there.
Aru's breath caught.
"Kairo," he whispered.
The response came late. Weak. But unmistakable.
*Hey…*
*Sorry. Think I fell through something.*
Aru laughed shakily, tears spilling.
"Idiot," he breathed. "Don't do that."
A pause.
*Can't promise,* the echo replied. *Everything's… blurry.*
Eidolon's jaw tightened.
---
## **THE FRACTURE**
Maera entered, expression grave.
"The Circle felt it," she said. "The convergence didn't end when you separated."
Aru frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Maera held up her violin.
One string had turned black—vibrating faintly on its own.
"The network shifted," she said. "Like Ardenia updated itself around you."
Eidolon stood.
"The Reset Protocol," he said. "It was myth—until now."
Aru swung his legs off the bed.
"Explain."
---
## **THE RESET**
Eidolon's voice was heavy.
"Before the Aural Crown, there was a failsafe. A system designed to erase anomalies that threatened reality's rhythm."
Aru felt cold.
"And I triggered it."
"Yes."
Maera swallowed.
"It doesn't target people. It targets **patterns**."
Aru understood immediately.
"Us," he said.
"Anything that doesn't belong."
The faint echo stirred.
*Wow,* Kairo muttered weakly. *That sounds… rude.*
Aru almost smiled.
---
## **THE WARNING SIGN**
Deep beneath Ardenia, ancient towers hummed to life.
Not musical.
Mechanical.
A single phrase echoed through forgotten conduits:
**RESET IN PROGRESS**
**TARGET: CONVERGENT RHYTHMS**
Across the world, sensitive musicians collapsed, clutching their chests.
The ground itself began to **sync**—losing its natural variation.
Too perfect.
Too even.
Too dead.
---
## **A PROMISE MADE IN SILENCE**
Aru stood, steady despite the tremor in his hands.
"So what happens now?" Maera asked.
Aru looked inward again.
The echo was still there—but farther away. Like shouting across a canyon.
"I don't know how long I can keep him anchored," Aru admitted. "Every time I draw too much power… he slips."
Eidolon stepped closer.
"Then you stop fighting like a weapon," he said.
"And start fighting like a **conductor**."
Aru met his gaze.
"You'll teach me."
Eidolon nodded once.
"Yes."
---
## **TWO RHYTHMS, ONE VOW**
That night, Aru sat alone at the edge of the Hollow.
The city above was unnaturally quiet—reset silence creeping in.
He pressed his fist to his chest.
"I won't lose you," he whispered.
After a long pause, the echo answered—soft, stubborn, smiling through static.
*Yeah… you kinda suck at quitting anyway.*
Aru smiled through tears.
The Second Beat resumed.
Changed.
Careful.
Controlled.
Not louder—
**clearer**.
Above them, Ardenia's ancient systems aligned for erasure.
And for the first time, the world prepared to face a rhythm
that refused to be reset.