Echoframe daily-pulsed cryptic:
"Warning: Emotional resonance low. Sacrifice required next evolution."
Noctis bared stories—pains hoarded, dreams faded—vulnerability gamble deepening link. Astra mirrored: isolation-fears, acceptance-crave, voices halting earnest.
Combat danced dummies-illusions: predator-rehearsals, stand-defenses. Astra shone creative—astral-traps light-woven, accidental frenzies: phantom-beasts rampaging, shadows Noctis chased draining dual.
Bond Surges trials every days—resource costlier activating, effects thunderous, aftershocks vicious: fatigue mental-fog, visions spectral, senses fleeting unveiling cave-secrets doors half-there.
Progress scarred-sacrifice:
Astra's leaks awakened echoes—near-memories ghosting, voices faint-lost-kin, world-mastery ripples.
Noctis honed costly—sleep-thievery hours, perceptions warped hope-fear perilous mingle.
Bond climbed—22% week's end—price ceaseless: fatigue grinding, arguments flint-sharp, cave-shimmers unstable-fate.
Mornings chilled deeper. Monsters silent-vigil, sensing shift. Astra glimpsed island nearer effort-pulled, mocking-retreat distant tease.
Forest-morning silence shattered wolf-chase vanish. Sun-leaf-filter illusions scent-maze. Pack swift-over, trails blood-faint fur-streak twig-snap.
Noctis plunged, senses honed: breakage patterns, blood metallic-wind.
Astra lagged mud-booted. "Losing," whispered anger-ashamed.
Noctis knelt blood-rock hover, bond-hints maze-navigate—not wolves, chasers.
Hours gnawed patience hunger. Wind metallic-deep. Shadows honed. Remains found.
Glass-shards carpeted—wolf-cadavers mirror-shatter tree-under, blood grotesque-streak. Claws-fur-bone-eyes formless-surgical, beauty cold-violence—no monster-slaughter focus unnatural.
Center: it.
Human-seeming—youth-thin, face wild-black-hair veiled. Bare hands-feet. Rags monster-skin stitched. Breath wolf-hush measured. Air wrong—Noctis sensed impossible-strength deliberate-slow.
Astra froze fear-pulse bond. Noctis voice-caught name-greeting—unanswered, unblinking. Gaze Astra-sweep, Noctis-lock: ancient-unyielding-cold.
Sudden: motion. Reckless-no, certain-gravity. Astra-lunged nails-claw curl. Noctis interposed sword-flash block. Impact arm-shock stagger; thing pressed silent-efficient, beast-boy human-utter.
Fight brief-brutal. Noctis reeled skin-torn leaf-blood. Astra supported astral-flicker. Thing shredded ignored-pain, weakness-zero.
Desperation-grab-run, undergrowth-crash tree-hollow escape. Thing statue-watch unreadable.
Echoframe aftermath-pulse:
"Warning: Threat—Human. Origin: Unknown. Recommended: Avoid. Survival probability: reduced."
Noctis-Astra undergrowth-stumbled claw-branch skin, thing-back pressure. Panic reason-prickle; Noctis low-burst silence-speed.
Woods maze-clever-chance. Shake-thought—snap underbrush. Astra gasp wide-clutch. Twice duck—stone overhead-blur branch-crack.
Astra trip; Noctis aid—boot-click snare. Wire-tight yank, bone-blades tree-swing face-inch slice.
Chill: animal-ground no—thing's territory human-hand monstrous-cunning. Root-vine-mud trap-lurking.
Crawled. Noctis scanned step-marker: stone-stack so, trail-sweep, leaf-mislead. Panic-shape habit-learn.
Astra yelp sinew-thorn net leg-snap. Noctis slash-free; thing materialized shadow-thick gaze-burn. Hand-flash snare-toss; Noctis dodge Astra-drag tree-break.
Thing followed run-no, shadow-cling appear.
Noctis rasped: "Herding. Panic-path set."
Astra horror-wide nod. "Knows—better alive."
Final snare moss-pit bone-sharp. Noctis pull-time cut-mud arm-spatter. Close-branch tangle thing-shadow loom-closer.
Breathless blood-smeared ravine-burst refuge. Thing edge-hesitate yellow-flicker... uncertain first.
Echoframe flicker:
"Trap grid: advanced. Operator: Human. Recommended: Escape perimeter."
Noctis Astra-press back, sky-strip glance. "Turn pattern—outthink. Wait. Watch move."
Astra nod tremble-hand light-shape barrier-whisper astral-shield chasm-edge warning-shimmer.
Noctis precision-careful, pattern-recognize: stone-turn so, bark-clean-strip, vine-knot deliberate—defense-ambush map living. Blade unsheathe breath-wind shift hunter-near.
Sudden cliff-drop—silent calculating finger-curl eye-wide untamed. Noctis lunge blade-raise metal-skin sharp stillness. Thing dodge-fast unexpected low-sweep leg. Astra shadow-half flare power blinding indigo-star gloom-dance.
Thing stagger blind-heart. Noctis seize shoulder-slam chest. Ravine-wall crash stone-void tumble.
Thing instant-rebound wall-spin throat-target. Noctis twist slice shoulder-shallow.
Guttural-animal slip—pain-fury raw neither-howl-word. Teeth-flash hand-claw muscle unnatural-bulge.
Fight ravine-floor spill, Astra dart distract-disrupt attack. Noctis-blow land—thing absorb roll eye-wild-intelligence control-always watch-learn.
Traps triggered at every turn, the forest itself becoming a weapon.
A snare snapped out of nowhere, a loop of gut and sinew biting into Astra's ankle and yanking him off his feet. He hit the dirt with a choked cry, fingers clawing at the tightening cord. Noctis didn't hesitate—his blade flashed down, slicing through the knot with a harsh jerk. The rope parted, but before he could draw breath, a soft click above made his skin prickle. He lunged sideways, dragging Astra with him as a spray of hidden needles hissed down from a dead branch overhead, thudding into the earth where they'd just been—thin, bone-white spines quivering like angry teeth.
Stones shifted treacherously beneath their boots, rolling like live things. The ground tilted toward the chasm, hiding its hungry drop behind tangled ferns and shadows. Noctis's foot skidded on loose gravel; his stomach lurched as the abyss yawned close. He threw his weight backward, hauling Astra by the collar, both of them stumbling to one knee as rock crumbled away with a grinding groan, plunging into emptiness.
From the left, a low creak warned him a breath too late. A crude pendulum swung out of the gloom—a log of bone and sharpened metal bound together, hurtling on a woven rope. Wind screamed past his ear as the weapon missed his head by inches, smashing into the opposite wall and exploding flakes of stone. Chips stung his cheek; he tasted grit and blood where the impact had grazed him.
The thing moved among its own traps as if walking a familiar script. It stepped neatly past the swinging pendulum, ducked the falling needles, skirted loose stones without ever glancing down. Every snare, every pit, every hidden blade became an extension of its will. It barely seemed to move fast, yet somehow it always appeared where escape narrowed the most, forcing Noctis and Astra toward dead ground, toward edges lined with teeth. Every turn they chose felt predicted. Every sudden dash became a move the thing had already solved.
Panic scraped at Noctis's spine. He was a hunter, a survivor—but here he was prey in someone else's written maze. Desperation sharpened his focus into something knife-thin. He called on Bond Surge without hesitation, feeling the spark of the Echoframe's power seize his veins. The bond flared white-hot, a rush of Astra's fear and stubborn courage flooding him. Time stretched, clarifying: motion smeared slower, details snapping into brutal focus. He saw the thing's rhythm—attack, watch, draw back, herd. He saw the subtle pattern in its footwork, the habitual pull to the right when it struck, the places it never stepped.
Noctis feinted left, forcing his body to move against old habits, drawing the thing in close, just enough to make it commit. Astra stumbled at his side, but Noctis spun, one arm snapping back to yank Astra behind him like a shielded ember. With his free hand and all the force left in his legs, he slammed his sword down into a patch of seemingly solid earth.
The blade bit through packed soil into something else—woven roots, disguised supports. The ground gave way with a roar. Dirt collapsed in a whirlpool of dust and debris, the concealed pit swallowing stone and air. The thing dropped with it, its hands scrabbling for purchase. For an instant, its fingers scraped the edge, nails digging into the rim.