I crashed back into existence like someone being dropped onto a trampoline made of dirt and bad decisions.
WHAM.
Face-first into the forest floor.
"GHHH—why is gravity so VIOLENT—"
Wolf Puppy instantly jumped on me, licking my ear.Gloop wrapped its gooey self around my leg.Forest Horror screamed in terror, then relief, then terror again.
Guide appeared above me, pixelated and frantic.
"PLAYER! You vanished! You blinked out! You DESTABILIZED REALITY! You—"
I groaned into the ground."I WAS GONE FOR FIVE MINUTES—HOW DID YOU WRITE A WHOLE REPORT ALREADY—"
"I PANICKED."She crossed her arms. "Also, I am an efficient multitasker."
Forest Horror crouched beside me."Did the sky hand eat you?"
"Almost! Thanks for the support!"
Something's Wrong
When I sat up, I immediately felt it—
Something was missing.
A faint hum in my chest was gone.Like a string had been plucked out of me.
"...Uh," I said, "guys? I think something's wrong."
Guide floated closer."What do you feel?"
"Lighter. But not in a good way. Like… something ripped a piece of me off."
Gloop gasped."WHAT PIECE?! YOUR LEG?! YOUR LUNG?! YOUR BRAIN?!"
"I still have all three of those—probably—"
Wolf Puppy sniffed my chest and whimpered.
Guide's face darkened.
"Oh no."
"Oh no?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN OH NO—"
"Player… the Ancient Power didn't grab you. It grabbed your thread."
"My WHAT?"
She pointed to her chest.
"The red connection thread. The one linking you to the Ancient Power. It's gone."
"Gone as in… misplaced gone?" I asked hopefully.
She shook her head.
"Gone as in—it took part of your lifeline."
My heart dropped into my shoes.
"W-what does that mean?!"
Future Me's voice echoed in my head:
"If they grab even one thread… they gain access."
"…Guide?"My voice cracked."What does it have access to?"
She hesitated.
Then:
"…Your future."
A Very Unfortunate New Visitor
Before I could panic further, the air popped like a bubble.
A swirl of sparkles exploded in front of me, accompanied by the loudest, most annoying voice ever:
"HELLLLOOOOO TOTALLYNOTAFAILURE!"
A man stumbled out of the sparkles—Tall, wearing a bright purple suit covered in stars, a bowtie made of smoke, and hair that changed color every three seconds.
He winked at me.
"Ta-da! Your PERSONAL destiny supervisor has arrived!"
I pointed aggressively."WHO?! ARE?! YOU?!"
He struck a dramatic pose.
"The name's Evan Tremblefoot Stardust the Third, Esq.Master of Fate! Auditor of Anomalies!And newly assigned caretaker of you, the most hazardous Wild Thread this reality has ever cursed—uh—I mean blessed!"
Guide facepalmed so hard it echoed.
"Oh no. Not him."
Evan gasped."Rude! I am a DELIGHT."
He leaned down to me.
"You, kid, are causing so many paperwork fires that the Department of Destiny finally stepped in."
"Department of WHAT?!"
He flicked my forehead.
"You opened Thread Sense early.You messed with the White Space.You touched three timelines.You got flagged by an Outer Entity.You lost a core thread.You triggered two paradox alarms.AND you are statistically the most dangerous organism in a 7-realm radius."
I blinked.
"…I did all that?"
Gloop raised a gooey hand."We helped!"
"No you didn't!" I yelled.
Forest Horror patted my back."We believe in you… even though everything hates you."
Guide sighed."That is not helpful, Horror."
The Real Problem
Evan pointed his glowing clipboard at me.
"I'm here to stabilize you before you explode into a paradox smoothie."
"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN—"
"It means," he said, crouching to my eye level,"That the Ancient Power now has ONE of your future threads."
"And?"
"And that means it knows one version of your future—which it can now force into reality if you aren't careful."
My blood turned to ice.
"I don't want that," I whispered.
Evan patted my shoulder gently.
"Most people don't want their destiny hijacked by a cosmic horror, kid."
Guide floated closer, voice soft.
"But we'll help you keep control of your timeline."
Forest Horror nodded."And punch sky creature."
Gloop held up a slime fist."YEAH!"
Evan snapped his fingers.
"Perfect attitude! Because step one in destiny recovery iiiis…"
We all leaned in.
"…training."
I blinked."Training for what?"
Evan grinned.
"For not dying! Obviously!"
Evan clapped his hands.
The forest rippled like water—and suddenly we weren't in the forest anymore.
We were in…
A training arena?
If you could call it that.
It looked like a cross between:
a gym,
a magical battlefield,
a circus arena,
and the inside of someone's brain during a sugar rush.
Floating platforms drifted around us.Random obstacles appeared, disappeared, and reappeared upside-down.There was a trampoline made of clouds.A giant rubber duck floated majestically in the distance.
Gloop whispered, "I am afraid."
"Same," I said.
Evan spun dramatically.
"WELCOME! To STARDUST DESTINY BOOTCAMP™!"
Guide groaned."No trademark symbol is needed. No trademark exists."
"It will," Evan said smugly, "after this lesson."
Lesson 1: Don't Touch Anything
Evan turned to me.
"Because you are a Wild Thread, literally anything you touch can trigger a reaction. So your first task is simple."
He snapped his fingers.
A glowing red button appeared on a podium.
DO NOT TOUCH—it said in giant letters.
"Do. Not. Touch. This. Button."
I nodded, dead serious.
"Easy."
Gloop leaned toward Guide."He's going to touch it."
Guide sighed."He's definitely going to touch it."
Forest Horror muttered, "Betting one pinecone he touches it."
I scowled."I can hear you all! And I'm not touching it!"
I turned away from the button to prove I had self-control.
That's when my elbow bumped the podium.
click
"…I hate my life."
The arena shook.
The button exploded into confetti.
A giant hologram flashed:
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU FAILED IN RECORD TIME!
Evan applauded."Fantastic! See? Self-awareness is the first step to improvement."
"That wasn't self-awareness!" I yelled. "That was ACCIDENT!"
"Exactly."
Lesson 2: Controlled Chaos
Evan snapped again.
Suddenly, eleven floating orbs appeared around me.
Each one had a different symbol:
FireWaterStoneWindLightShadowGrowthDecayTimeMirrorand… a banana?
Evan gestured dramatically.
"These orbs react to your Thread Sense. Your task is to not activate any of them."
"…By doing what?"
"Moving from here—"He pointed to a marked spot."—to there," he pointed thirty feet away, "without causing a magical catastrophe."
"That sounds—"
The nearest orb pulsated.
"EASY!" I lied.
I took my first careful step.
The Time Orb flickered.The Shadow Orb wiggled.The Banana Orb peeled itself threateningly.
Guide shouted, "FOCUS! Don't use your thoughts, don't use your emotions—just breathe!"
I inhaled slowly.
The orbs calmed.
Nice. Good. I could do thi—
Wolf Puppy barked with excitement and ran toward me.
"NO NO NO—"
He tripped on a pebble.
bonk
He bumped into me.
I stumbled sideways—
—and slapped into the Fire Orb.
FWOOOOM.
The entire ground turned into a giant flame trampoline, launching me fifty feet into the air.
"EVAAAAAAN THIS IS GOING POORLYYYY—"
Up I went.Down I went.Straight into the Banana Orb.
It peeled.
And exploded into slippery magic.
I crashed to the ground, covered in glowing banana goo.
Forest Horror clapped politely."Ten out of ten landing."
I groaned.
Evan scribbled something on his clipboard.
"Excellent! Marking that as 'chaotic potential: extremely high.' Moving on!"
Lesson 3: Thread Sense (but actually using it this time)
Evan snapped one last time.
Everything froze.
The floating platforms.The orbs.Wolf Puppy mid-wiggle.Gloop mid-squish.Even the air looked paused.
Evan's voice softened.
"This part is serious. No jokes. No banana orbs."
I swallowed."…Okay."
"Close your eyes," he said. "Reach for the threads you saw in the White Space."
I did.
And immediately—
The world dissolved into shimmering lines.
Glowing threads stretched out from everyone, connecting like constellations.
Evan nodded.
"Good. Now find the thread that feels… wrong."
I scanned the threads.
Guide's thread was soft blue.Forest Horror's was mossy green.Gloop's was sparkly.Wolf Puppy's was warm and fuzzy.
But then—
I saw it.
A thread that wasn't connected to anything.
A torn, red thread…trailing outward into darkness.
"Evan…" I whispered."…that's the one the Ancient Power took."
Evan's expression turned grim.
"Yes. And I was hoping it wouldn't be that one."
My stomach twisted.
"What does it mean?"
Evan hesitated.
"It means the future they stole was not random."
My throat tightened.
"What future did they take…?"
Evan looked me directly in the eyes.
"The timeline where you become strong enough to beat them."
I froze.
Forest Horror froze.Guide froze.Everything froze a little more.
"So…" I said slowly."They stole my victory?"
Evan nodded.
"They stole your winning future."
The arena dimmed.
A cold wind blew through—even though the air was still frozen.
Gloop whispered, horrified:
"Then… how do we beat something that already stole the ending?"
Evan looked at me.
Serious.Determined.A spark in his chaotic eyes.
"That," he said, "is why you're training."
He stepped closer.
"Because if they stole the future where you win…we have to create a new one."
Time unfroze.
The floating platforms drifted again.Wolf Puppy finished his wiggle.Gloop squeaked mid-squish.The air hummed with energy.
But I didn't move.
Because I couldn't stop staring at that torn red thread I'd seen —the future stolen from me.
Evan placed a hand on my shoulder.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
I swallowed."I mean… on a scale from one to 'a nightmare monster stole my destiny,' I'm somewhere around… 'please pass the emotional support cinnamon roll.'"
Forest Horror gently offered me a pinecone.(It wasn't a cinnamon roll, but the thought was nice.)
Guide spoke, voice soft and serious.
"Player… you were never meant to carry this burden alone. Even as a Wild Thread, you are part of a larger weave."
For once, she didn't sound exasperated.
She sounded… worried.
That scared me more than the Fallen Guardian had.
A Message From the Future
Evan snapped his fingers.
A small crystal fragment appeared — cracked, glowing faintly.
"This," he said, "washed up at a rift boundary last night."
"Is it dangerous?" I asked.
"Yes," he said honestly. "And also no. And also… maybe."
"I hate Eldoria so much."
"Good," Evan said. "That means you're learning."
He tapped the crystal.
It glowed —and a projection flickered in the air.
A silhouette.Blurry, distorted, but unmistakably human-shaped.
And then—
My blood went cold.
Because the voice that came out was mine.
"If you're hearing this… it means they took it."
Gloop grabbed my arm."Oh no. Ohhhh no no no—"
The projection continued.
"Listen. You won't regain what they stole. Don't try. Instead, you need to find—"
A burst of static.The figure distorted violently.
"—the Collector. Before he finds you."
I stepped back."Collector? Who the heck is the Collector?"
The projection flickered.
"He hunts anomalies. And you're the biggest one Eldoria's ever seen."
I blinked."…That feels like an insult."
Evan shook his head."No. It's a warning."
The projection flared one last time —
"Don't trust—"
—and shattered.
Silence.
Not even Forest Horror dared breathe.
I turned to Evan.
"…Don't trust who?"
He didn't answer.
Which was a terrible sign.
The Collector's Calling Card
Before anyone could speak, something buzzed in the air.
A ripple.Like a thread snapping.
A small object dropped from a tear in reality and landed at my feet.
A metal token.Black.Emblazoned with a symbol:
A single, open eyemade of intertwined threads.
Guide gasped.
"Oh no."
Gloop fainted immediately, face-planting into a bush.
Forest Horror backed away, growling deep in its chest.
Wolf Puppy hid behind my legs.
I looked at Evan.The most powerful Wild Thread in Eldoria.
Evan's expression was the most serious I had ever seen.
"That," he said quietly, "is his mark."
I held the token up.
"And what does it mean?"
Evan exhaled.
"It means the Collector has already found you."
Great.
Amazing.
Fantastic.
I was now being hunted by:
A corrupted Ancient
A Fallen Guardian
A legendary anomaly hunter who collects people like Pokémon cards
And, apparently, the future version of ME thinks this is very bad news
I rubbed my face.
"Okay. Okay. It's fine. We can handle this. Right? Maybe? Hopefully? Evan, tell me we can handle this."
Evan smiled.
Not reassuringly.More like someone who knew this was about to get much worse.
"Of course we can," he said."Probably."
"STOP SAYING PROBABLY!"
The First Sign
The token suddenly hummed.
Threads of energy swirled from it, reaching outward —searching.
Guide shouted, "DROP IT!"
I threw it.
It hit the ground.
The threads formed a shape in the air:
A face.Not human.Not monstrous.
Just… watching.
A voice whispered through the arena:
"Found you."
Every hair on my body stood up.
Forest Horror roared.Wolf Puppy barked madly.Even the slimes turned into tiny shields.
Evan grabbed me by the arm.
"Lesson time is over," he said urgently.
"What—why—where are we going?!"
He pulled me toward a shimmering warp gate forming behind him.
"To hide you," Evan said."Before the Collector arrives."
I felt the temperature drop.
In the air behind us, the voice whispered again—
"You can't hide from me."
The warp gate swallowed us whole.
Not painfully — more like being yanked through a stretchy bubble made of warm air and bad decisions. My stomach did a full gymnastics routine.
We landed on solid ground.
Kind of.
Because the "ground" was transparent and floating, like a glass platform suspended above endless swirling colors. Waves of gold, blue, and violet flowed beneath us like liquid sky.
My knees wobbled."Where… are we?"
Evan spread his arms dramatically.
"Welcome to the Dimension Between Threads."
Gloop peeked over the edge.
"We're… not gonna fall, right?"
Forest Horror grabbed Gloop by the back of the head and pulled him away from the edge.
Evan shook his head. "You won't fall. Gravity here is politely optional."
"So this place is safe?"
"No."
I glared at him.
He held up his hands."Look — nothing in Eldoria is safe-safe. But this place is harder to detect."
Guide stepped closer to me, her expression tight.
"This pocket realm is where Wild Threads were originally woven, long before Eldoria was built around them. It is… ancient. And unpredictable."
"And this helps us how?" I asked.
Evan pointed at the air.
A glowing pattern floated there — a tangled web of tiny white lines.
"This is your thread signature," he explained. "It's scrambled here. The Collector can't track you as easily."
"Okay," I said slowly. "So what's the catch?"
He hesitated.
That was NOT a good sign.
"The Dimension Between Threads adapts to whoever enters it. Sometimes it shows memories. Sometimes emotions. Sometimes… truths."
"Please define 'truths' in a non-terrifying way."
"It won't be terrifying if you stay calm."
"How can you say that when you KNOW I don't do calm?!"
The First Echo
A soft ding echoed through the realm.
The colors beneath us rippled.
Guide tensed. "Something's manifesting."
A shape rose from the swirling colors, forming right in front of us —a silhouette.
Not a monster.Not the Collector.
It was… me.
Or at least, a glowing outline of me.
"NOPE," I said immediately, backing up. "No thank you. I don't do haunted mirror versions of myself."
Evan stepped between us."It's not hostile. It's an Echo."
The Echo tilted its head.
Then it spoke in my voice:
"Why did you leave the real world?"
I froze.
"…What kind of therapy-session jump scare is THIS?!"
The Echo walked closer, still glowing softly.
"What were you running from?"
Wolf Puppy whined.Forest Horror positioned itself between me and the Echo.
Evan's expression softened.
"Listen," he said quietly. "The Dimension is trying to understand you. To stabilize your signature. It needs to know who you are."
"Okay but why does it have to ask creepy existential questions like it's my school counselor?!"
The Echo reached out its hand.
"What do you want to become?"
The Pull of the Threads
Before I could answer —or pass out —
something tugged the air.
A thread snapped.
Guide gasped. "He found us."
The colors below darkened.The air tightened.A cold whisper threaded through the realm:
"You can't hide in my own hunting grounds."
Evan cursed under his breath. "He shouldn't be able to get in here this fast—"
A crack split across the sky.
Long, thin, like a glass fracture.
From behind the crack, a single eye appeared —threadlike, glowing white.
Watching.
Always watching.
The Collector's voice seeped through:
"Little Wild Thread… your future belongs to me."
The Echo-me flickered violently.
Guide grabbed my arm."Don't listen to him—"
The realm shuddered again.
The crack widened.
The eye grew brighter.
Evan pulled me close, voice low and urgent:
"Do NOT answer him. He turns your words into binding."
The Collector whispered:
"Tell me your fear."
The crack grew.The eye focused on me.
Evan's grip tightened.
Forest Horror roared.Gloop shook.Wolf Puppy barked furiously.
The voice came again — softer, coaxing:
"Tell me what you fear most… and I'll give you the future that was stolen."
My heart pounded.
Because some part of me felt drawn to the voice.
Like it already knew the answer.
Part 9: What the Collector Wants
The crack in the sky widened like someone was tearing open a glass window with invisible fingers.The swirling colors of the pocket realm darkened, draining out into shades of bleak silver.
The Collector's single, thread-white eye watched me without blinking.
"Tell me your fear," he repeated softly."Truth sharpens the thread."
Evan stepped in front of me.
"Collector! She's under my protection. You have no right to—"
A second crack ripped across the sky.
The Collector's voice turned cold.
"You, Evan, forfeited your 'rights' centuries ago."
Evan stiffened.
And that scared me more than everything else combined.
A Truth From the Past
The Echo-version of me flickered again, distorting like static.
Guide whispered quickly, urgently:
"The Echo's becoming unstable — if it breaks, the realm will collapse. We need to silence the Collector before—"
The Collector laughed — a single, searching sound.
"Let the Echo shatter. It will reveal everything she hides… even from herself."
My chest tightened.
"What do you mean 'hides'?! I'm not hiding anything!"
The eye focused directly on me, every thread swirling inward.
"Every Wild Thread is born with a sealed memory.""Yours… is the strongest I have ever sensed."
I stumbled back.
"A sealed MEMORY?! Evan, you didn't tell me about that—"
Evan winced."I didn't want to pressure you. Wild Threads stabilize better without—"
Without what?Without knowing parts of themselves were locked away?
The Collector's voice slid like cold metal:
"Evan fears what you truly are."
Evan flinched.
Guide shouted, "DON'T LISTEN—"
But the Collector continued, soft and slow:
"Even HE doesn't know the full truth.""Only I do."
My heartbeat thudded painfully.
"What truth?! What is everyone hiding from me?!"
The Collector's eye narrowed, threads coiling.
"A bargain."
The Collector's First Offer
The cracks in the sky snapped wider, and a shape began forcing its way through — not a full body, just a hand.
A hand made of woven threads.
Long fingers.Delicate.Deadly.
It reached toward me.
Evan stepped between us, energy blazing.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!"
The Collectors hand froze.
Not out of fear — but out of amusement.
"Relax, Evan. I only want to speak."
Then the hand turned its palm upward.
A new thread materialized there — glowing red.The same color as the future-thread I had seen broken.
My stolen future.
I couldn't breathe.
"That— that's mine."
"Yes," the Collector whispered."And I can return it."
Guide grabbed my wrist sharply."Do NOT accept anything he offers."
But my eyes were locked on that glowing thread.
My future.My destiny.Everything the Fallen Ancient tore away.
"What do you want in exchange?" I whispered.
The pocket realm trembled.
The Collector finally answered:
"I want the Echo."
Every creature in our group gasped — even Forest Horror.
"The Echo? The weird glowy version of me? WHY?!" I demanded.
The Collector chuckled softly.
"Because it remembers what you do not.""Give it to me, and I will restore the future that was stolen from you."
The Echo-me flickered violently, as if in pain.
Guide shook her head furiously."Player, NO. The Echo is a part of your core self. Giving it away would—"
The Collector interrupted:
"—free her."
Free me?
From what?
His voice wrapped around me like cold silk:
"Evan's half-truths,""The Ancients' plans,""And the Wild Threads' binding rules."
I swallowed.
Evan met my eyes — for the first time looking scared of losing me.
"Don't make any deals with him," he said quietly."You don't understand what you'd be giving up."
I looked between them:
Evan, desperate
Guide, terrified
My Echo-self, unstable
The Collector's hand holding my stolen future
Then the Collector spoke one final time:
"Choose, Wild Thread.""Your Echo… or your future."
The realm trembled like it was breathing too fast.
The Collector's thread-hand stayed outstretched, holding the glowing red strand — my stolen future.
The Echo-me flickered beside us, glitching like a corrupted reflection.
Evan's voice cut through the shaking:
"Player… don't pick anything yet. Think."
"THINK?!" I shouted. "The universe is literally cracking open like an egg—"
Above us, the massive fracture split further, webbing across the sky like spider cracks in ice.
The Collector chuckled.
"Your time for 'thinking' grows short."
A second thread-hand appeared, gripping the edges of the crack, prying it wider.
The Realm Fights Back
The floor beneath us suddenly shifted, colors surging upward.
Guide gasped, eyes wide."The pocket realm is trying to protect you! It's pushing the Collector out—"
CRACK.
A third fissure burst open.
A deeper, colder silence fell over everything.
The Collector whispered:
"You cannot protect what already belongs to me."
The colors beneath our feet rippled again — and suddenly formed walls of light around the Echo.
It was trying to hide it.
The Collector laughed.
"Defensive strategies never suit merciful realms… they always break."
He snapped his fingers.
All three cracks connected at once.
The Attempted Tear
The Echo screamed — not in a horror way, but in a "my existence is being forcibly rewritten" kind of way — and clutched its head.
I bolted forward.
"HEY! STOP HURTING ME— ME? Whatever it is!!"
Evan grabbed my arm but I yanked free.
The Collector's voice deepened.
"Give me the Echo, and this ends."
"No!" Guide shouted."You'll destroy her identity!"
"YES," Evan added,"AND her soul!"
"Well THAT sounds important!" I yelled.
The Echo staggered, then reached toward me with a trembling hand.
"Wait— you can move?!" I asked.
Its voice came out fractured:
"D-on't… let… him…"
The Collector snapped the air.
Threads flew toward the Echo.
Evan threw up a barrier — a glowing shield of wild, swirling light.
It held.
For one second.
Then shattered like glass.
Then I Finally Snapped
Something inside me broke.
Not like a thread snapping.
More like something that had been asleep for a long time suddenly woke up.
I stepped forward.
Evan reached for me.Guide shouted my name.Gloop made a terrified squeak.
But I wasn't scared anymore.
I was angry.
"What do you REALLY want from me?" I demanded.
The Collector paused.
Then slowly, deliberately, spoke:
"I want your origin."
"My WHAT NOW—"
"The sealed memory within you," he continued."The lost beginning. The reason you exist at all."
Everything froze.
Even the pocket realm stopped moving.
Evan swore under his breath.Guide covered her mouth.Forest Horror growled like a warning siren.
The Collector finished:
"You are the last unfinished Wild Thread.""And I intend to complete you."
The Echo Breaks
Before I could respond, the Echo screamed again — louder, sharp enough to crack the transparent platform.
"No no no NO—" I reached for it.
But as soon as I touched it—
Light exploded.
A memory slammed into me:
A flash of a room.A circle of Ancients.A glowing thread in their hands.Someone shouting—
"She's waking too early— stop the weave— STOP IT—"
Then darkness.
Then a voice — familiar and terrified:
"Run."
And the vision cut out.
I collapsed to my knees, gasping.
Evan rushed to me."Are you okay?! What did you see?!"
"I— I think… I think that was… my creation?"
He went silent.
Guide knelt beside me."That memory should've been impossible to access—"
The Collector laughed softly, proudly.
"The Echo has opened the first door."
I looked at the Echo — and my stomach dropped.
It was dissolving.
Piece by piece, drifting apart like ash in wind.
"No… NO— EVAN, fix it—"
"I'm trying!" Evan shouted, hands glowing.
Guide stabilized the platform.Forest Horror tried to hold the Echo together physically — it didn't work.Wolf Puppy pawed at the fading light, whimpering.
The Collector whispered:
"Choose.""Save the Echo… or save your future."
My breath caught.
My hands shook.
But then—
The Echo looked at me one last time.
And smiled.
A calm, sad smile.
"Choose… you."
Then it shattered.
Gone.
Completely.
Evan screamed "NO—!"Guide gasped.Gloop melted into a puddle of panic.
I didn't move.
I couldn't.
The Collector's voice slid down through the cracks:
"How tragic.""But necessary."
A thread-hand reached through the largest fissure and flicked the red glowing thread — my stolen future.
"This is all that remains."
I reached for it.
But the Collector yanked it back.
"Not yet."
The cracks snapped shut.
The eye vanished.
The hand dissolved.
The pocket realm stabilized—
—leaving us aloneon a trembling, transparent platformin a universe suddenly too silent.
The Final Twist
Evan sank to his knees, shaking.
Guide whispered, horrified:
"He took it."
I stared at the empty space where the Echo disappeared.
"He took… what?" I whispered.
Guide swallowed.
"The Collector now holds the origin key to your sealed memory."
Evan looked up at me, eyes full of fear.
"Player… he can unlock what you are."
"And that means… what?"
Evan hesitated.
Then said the words that froze my whole body:
"It means the Collector can finish the version of you the Ancients tried to stop."