Morning moved slowly, creeping over Karura Haven like a guilty thing, its light pale and unsure, as though the sun itself hesitated to shine upon the destruction left behind. Smoke drifted above the east wall. Birds did not sing. Even the spirits moved quietly, their glow dim and trembling. The air tasted of ash and fear.
Children huddled together in groups, their eyes wide, their breaths thin. Adults walked in heavy silence, checking the wounded, repairing what could be repaired. The village felt… wounded. Not just physically — but like its soul had been scraped raw.
Everyone felt the missing shape where Kalenji had been. Everyone felt the shadow where HelixCorp had touched us.
We gathered at the center of the village Mara stood in the middle of the square, staff planted firmly in the ground. Zara was beside her, blood on her sleeve, face set in hard lines. Jinx perched on a collapsed wall, his shadow curled around him like a watchful serpent. Elias was hunched over a scrap of shattered drone, muttering soft curses.
I stood with Lyra and Orion, each clinging to one of my arms. The crowd murmured anxiously until Mara lifted her hand. "We survived," she said, voice steady but heavy. "But we did not escape unharmed." No one spoke. "Kalenji has been taken."
A ripple of grief passed through us. Lyra bowed her head. Orion's fingers tightened painfully around my wrist.
"And more will be taken," Mara continued, "if we do not act with wisdom, not panic."
Zara stepped forward. "HelixCorp used new tech," she said. "Nullifiers. Light-nets. Dampeners. They came prepared."
Jinx snorted. "Understatement. They came like wedding guests who already knew the dance routines." A few people laughed — tired, strained, grateful for the brief levity. Then Mara pointed toward me. "Kailen has seen something none of us can."
My breath caught. All eyes turned to me. I felt exposed. Too exposed. Like the Echo itself buzzed under my skin, threatening to rip through me again.
Mara continued. "He reached into the Echo during the battle." Elias nearly dropped his drone fragment. "Wait you Echo-dived during combat? That's insane. And extremely cool. Mostly insane."
"Kailen," Mara said, "tell them."
I swallowed, steping forward. "When they took Kalenji… I felt him." The memory of his fear pierced me again. "And I followed the memory of his path."
Whispers broke out. "You followed a memory?" "You saw them?" "You tracked the drone?" "How?"
Orion tugged my sleeve. "Dad's an Echo-binder. The Oracle said." Lyra added quietly, "He saw everything."
Mara nodded. "Kailen can sense the imprint of what was, the direction, the moment, the echo of the act."
I exhaled. "They're taking him east," I said. "Toward the mountains. A moving transport. Possibly a mobile lab or a relay hub."
Zara stiffened. "Vestra Halix favors mobile labs. She relocates them every few days to avoid detection."
My stomach churned. "She was there," I whispered. "I felt her." Fear spread through the crowd like cold wind. Jinx dropped from his perch, landing gracefully. "Then we don't have much time!"
Later, after the meeting dissolved and the village began its frantic repairs, Lyra pulled me aside. "Dad… are you okay?" Her voice was small, unfamiliar. My fierce daughter rarely sounded afraid. I knelt. "No," I said honestly. "But I will be."
She studied me with eyes too old for her age. "When you… saw the Echo… did it hurt?"
"Yes," I admitted. "A lot."
She bit her lip. "But you did it anyway."
I nodded. Orion approached quietly, Amu's tiny hand in his. "Will you… look for Kalenji again?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. "But not alone."
Orion swallowed. "I want to help."
"No," I said instinctively.
A faint glow flickered in his eyes. "Dad… I felt him too. When they took him. His mind… it was screaming."
Lyra touched his shoulder. "You were shaking."
"I don't want to feel that again," he whispered. "But I don't want him to feel alone either."
My heart felt like it cracked. "You're both just children," I said.
Lyra gave a humorless laugh. "Not anymore." And that truth… hurt more than anything.
Mara found me later by the river, kneeling beside the water, gripping the soil as though it could anchor me. "You're spiraling," she said softly.
"I don't know what I'm doing," I whispered. "I jumped into something too big. Too wild. I don't know how to do it again without… breaking."
"You won't break," she said. "Not if you learn to listen properly." She knelt beside me, her presence grounding. "The Echo isn't chaos, Kailen. It's memory. It rewinds, reveals, repeats. You reached into it with fear. Now reach with intention."
I closed my eyes. Mara's voice guided me; "Feel the ground. Feel its history. Feel your heartbeat in the soil. Let the Echo speak first. Do not force it. Invite it."
The world softened. The shimmering lines in my vision slowed, became gentle currents instead of violent storms. Colors dimmed to warm glows. The river hummed not loudly, but like a distant song, and then… a memory surfaced. Not mine. Kalenji's.
I heard his small voice. I saw the blur of trees from the rising drone. I felt the cold metal of the aircraft's interior. I sensed a presence observing him. Vestra's. But this time, the vision didn't crush me. It flowed through me, a story being retold by the world.
When I opened my eyes, Mara nodded slowly. "You see?" she whispered. "You are meant for this."
I exhaled shakily. "For finding people," I said.
"For following the truth," Mara corrected. "Even when it hides in shadows."
That night, as the village slept in uneasy quiet, a soft glow appeared at the edge of the Spirit Grove. I felt it before I saw it. A warmth in the air. A pull in my chest. A whisper in the roots beneath my feet.
The Oracle Child stood among the silver vines, the stars reflecting in her eyes. She spoke without sound, her words threading directly into my mind, "The path has begun."
I stepped closer. "Can I save him?"
Her expression dimmed, not hopeless, but heavy with ancient sorrow, "Saving one is easy," she said. "saving many is harder."
A chill prickled down my spine. "What do you mean?"
She looked toward the horizon — the direction HelixCorp had fled. "They will return," she said. "For more."
My fists clenched. "We'll be ready."
Her light flickered. "You are not ready."
I swallowed. "Then help me."
She stepped close enough that I could see constellations swirling within her pupils. "I can warn you," she said softly. "But I cannot fight for you."
"Warn me of what?"
Her voice entered me like a cold wind through a warm room, "The shadows of greed do not sleep. The woman of glass hungers for the Echo, and the storm of steel is already on its way."
My blood froze. "HelixCorp?"
The Oracle nodded once. The Grove dimmed around her. "Prepare, Echo-binder. The next attack will not be to steal a child. It will be to erase the Haven."
And just like that, she vanished. Leaving only silence, and me, shaking in the dark, knowing the war had truly begun.