The sky fractured like a mirror struck by a hammer.
Lines of violet light spiderwebbed across the night, tearing through clouds, splitting moonlight, dripping Echo energy in shimmering droplets that evaporated before hitting the ground.
Kaelen felt the vibration before he understood it.
A resonance too ancient to belong to any mortal Echo bearer.
Too cold.
Too perfect.
Too… familiar, in a way that froze his blood.
Raina's grip tightened on his wrist.
"That's not a mortal Echo," she whispered. "And it's not bound to any wielder."
Kaelen swallowed. "Then what is?"
Before he could finish, the fracture widened
and something stepped through.
A silhouette descended slowly, as weightless as mist.
Female in shape, but not human.
Her body was composed of translucent, violet crystalline shards that floated in perfect formation like an Echo ripped away from its wielder and forced into a humanoid form.
Her face was smooth but expressionless, sculpted like a mask.
And her eyes...
Kaelen had never seen them before.
They were hollow, shimmering with Void-lilac, yet they held a frightening focus.
Like a predator that had finally found its prey.
Raina inhaled sharply.
"A Fragment…"
Kaelen blinked. "A what?"
Raina's jaw clenched. "A divine fragment. A shard of the Echo Mother's will that survived her death."
The Fragment floated silently, head tilting, observing them.
Then it spoke.
Not with a voice, but with a vibration that shuddered through Kaelen's bones.
"ANOMALY IDENTIFIED."
The words shook the rooftop.
Kaelen stumbled back.
Raina stepped in front of him instantly, shield Echo flaring like a dome of sky blue light.
"You're not touching him."
The Fragment tilted its head again.
"UNAUTHORIZED RESONANCE DETECTED."
Raina spat, "He's under Reserve protection."
"MALE RESONANCE IS FORBIDDEN."
"CORRECTION: ELIMINATE."
The Fragment raised its arm.
Resonance gathered around it, collapsing inward, pulling light into a single point a spear of compressed, divine frequency.
Kaelen had only a moment.
"Raina!"
But Raina was already moving.
Her Echo manifested with a ringing boom.
A curved shield of pure resonance expanded outward, protective and unyielding.
"Stay behind me!" she shouted.
The Fragment released the spear.
A streak of violet death tore across the rooftop
and slammed into Raina's shield.
The impact detonated in an explosion of light and vibration.
Kaelen was thrown backward, skidding across broken tiles. He coughed violently, throat burning with dust.
Raina wasn't thrown.
She held. Barely.
Cracks laced across her shield Echo. Her knees buckled. Her shoulders trembled. Her Echo light flickered.
The Fragment drifted closer.
"INSUFFICIENT.
SECOND STRIKE."
Kaelen felt panic ignite.
This wasn't like the patrol officers.
This wasn't even like a high ranked Echo user.
This thing didn't breathe.
Didn't tire.
Didn't think like a person.
Raina braced herself again, raising her shield.
Kaelen could feel her trembling.
She couldn't keep blocking attacks like that.
He pushed himself up desperately. "Raina stop you're going to get yourself"
"Be quiet," she snapped, eyes fixed on the Fragment.
"I'm not losing to a memory. Not today."
But Kaelen could see the truth in her stance.
Her Echo was straining.
Her resonance was fraying.
Her legs were shaking.
A second spear of divine resonance formed in the Fragment's hand.
Raina whispered under her breath, "Damn it…"
Kaelen felt the gauntlet heat against his skin.
Host alert: lethal force imminent.
Direct interference required.
"I can't block that!" Kaelen hissed.
"I barely understand how this thing works"
Clarification: you do not block.
You end."
"What?"
But the gauntlet was already acting.
Three of its rings rotated inward, aligning in a pattern Kaelen hadn't seen before.
The air around his forearm distorted collapsing inward like gravity pulling on light.
Raina gasped as she felt it.
Even the Fragment paused.
For the first time… it tilted its head as if confused.
"NULL FREQUENCY… DETECTED."
Kaelen stepped beside Raina before he even realized he was moving.
She grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?! Stay behind"
He didn't answer.
He couldn't.
The gauntlet whispered
Pulse.
The divine spear launched.
Kaelen swung his arm.
A wave of blackened air rippled forward silent, invisible, absolute and erased the spear as if it had never existed.
The rooftop fell silent.
Raina stared at him in shock. "This...this can't be"
Kaelen didn't feel triumphant.
He felt sick.
The Null Pulse had drained him like someone had ripped the breath from his lungs. His knees nearly buckled.
But the Fragment froze mid-air.
For the first time since appearing… it hesitated.
Its voice vibrated, glitching.
"NULL… SIGNATURE…
IDENTIFIED."
Kaelen felt the gauntlet tighten.
Stand still.
It is analyzing you.
And it remembers.
"Remembers what?" Kaelen whispered.
The Fragment's head lifted.
Its hollow eyes fixated directly on him.
"FORGER'S LEGACY.
HOST DETECTED."
Raina inhaled sharply. "Kaelen...move!"
The Fragment raised both arms
But instead of attacking, it pressed its palms together.
It bowed.
Not a respectful bow.
Not reverence.
A bow of acknowledgment.
The bow a predator gives another predator.
"THE MOTHER FEARED YOU."
"THE MOTHER DIED BECAUSE OF YOU."
Kaelen felt his heartbeat stop.
"I...I've never"
Raina stepped between them again, shouting, "Stop talking to him! He owes you nothing!"
The Fragment ignored her.
Its voice shook the air:
"THE 10TH LAWSTRING
FORBIDDEN.
UNREACHED.
UNKNOWN."
Raina froze.
Kaelen tasted ice on his tongue.
The Fragment extended an arm toward him, crystalline fingers stretching out
"YOU CARRY THE KEY."
Kaelen stumbled back.
"What key?! I don't even know what you're talking about!"
The Fragment drifted closer.
"THE REASON SHE FEARED.
THE REASON SHE ATTACKED.
THE RESONANCE SHE COULD NOT BIRTH."
Kaelen shook his head.
"I don't understand"
"THE ULTIMATE RESONANCE."
The words shook the rooftop like a quake.
Raina's shield Echo flickered violently.
Ultimate Resonance…
The power a mortal woman could awaken only through willing sacrifice.
The power the Echo Mother had feared without understanding.
The power Kaelen could trigger
He didn't want it.
He didn't ask for it.
But the Fragment leaned in
Its mask like face inches from Kaelen's.
"YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST."
"AND YET YOU DO."
Its hand reached toward his chest
Raina's instincts exploded.
"NO!"
She threw herself in front of Kaelen, shield-first.
The Fragment's attack hit her squarely.
Her scream tore the air.
Blue light shattered.
She was hurled across the rooftop, crashing through a brick chimney.
Kaelen cried out, "RAINA!"
Dust swallowed her form.
The Fragment turned back to him
Face blank.
Voice calm.
Intent absolute.
"ANOMALY.
TERMINATE."
It raised its arm for the killing blow.
Kaelen backed away until his heel met the rooftop edge.
He glanced down.
A two story drop.
Debris below.
No safe landing.
Trapped.
Cornered.
Nowhere left to run.
The gauntlet pulsed violently
Override unlocked.
Host desperation threshold exceeded.
Null Shift possible.
"What the hell is Null Shift?!"
Jump.
"What?"
Jump, Kaelen.
NOW.
The Fragment's arm descended.
And Kaelen
With no time left
Jumped off the building.
The last thing he heard before the wind swallowed him was the Fragment whispering:
"FOUND YOU."