There was no falling.
Not at first.
Just the sensation of being unmade — as if every atom in Arlen's body had been pulled apart, examined, and reassembled in the wrong order. His vision fractured into shards of color. His thoughts scattered like leaves in a storm.
Then gravity remembered him.
And he fell.
Air — or something like it — rushed past him in a blur of shimmering light. The Echo Realm twisted around him, a kaleidoscope of impossible geometry. He reached out blindly, searching for Mira, for anything solid, for any anchor in the chaos.
His fingers brushed hers.
A spark of resonance flared between them.
And the fall stopped.
Abruptly.
Painfully.
Arlen hit a surface that felt like stone wrapped in static. Mira landed beside him, rolling to her knees with a gasp. Her mark flickered wildly, unstable, pulsing in frantic bursts.
"Mira—" Arlen reached for her.
She flinched, clutching her arm. "Don't— it's too much. Everything's too much."
The ground beneath them hummed, shifting like a living thing. They were on a platform suspended in a void of swirling Echo currents — a place that felt both ancient and newly formed, as if it had been created the moment they arrived.
Lysa wasn't with them.
Neither was the Titan.
Arlen's stomach twisted. "We got separated."
Mira nodded weakly. "Divergence. The System triggered it. Emergency protocol."
"Why?"
"To keep us alive."
Arlen exhaled shakily. "Then where's Lysa?"
Mira looked out into the void. "Somewhere else. Somewhere safer. Or somewhere worse."
The Realm Reacts
The platform trembled beneath them, sending ripples of light across its surface. The patterns shifted, rearranging themselves into symbols Arlen didn't recognize — but Mira did.
Her eyes widened. "It's reading us."
"What does that mean?"
"It's adapting. The Echo Realm is… responding to our resonance signatures."
Arlen frowned. "Is that good or bad?"
"Yes."
Before he could argue, the platform extended outward, forming a bridge of light that stretched into the distance. The far end was obscured by swirling mist, but Arlen felt a pull — a subtle tug in his chest, like a compass pointing toward something unseen.
Mira felt it too. "It wants us to go that way."
Arlen helped her stand. "Then we go."
Walking the Unstable Path
The bridge was narrower than the previous one — barely wide enough for two feet side by side. It pulsed with each step, reacting to their presence. Sometimes it brightened, stabilizing. Other times it dimmed, flickering dangerously.
Mira's mark glowed brighter with every step, drawing the path into focus.
Arlen's mark… didn't.
It pulsed irregularly, like a heartbeat skipping beats. The corruption from the Hunter residue was reacting to the realm in unpredictable ways.
Mira noticed. "Your mark is destabilizing."
"I'm fine."
"You're lying."
"Probably."
She gave him a look — half fear, half frustration. "If your mark collapses, the realm will tear you apart."
"Then I won't let it collapse."
"That's not how resonance works."
Arlen forced a smile. "Then I'll break the rules."
Mira huffed a breath that was almost a laugh. "Idiot."
"Your idiot."
She squeezed his hand.
The bridge stabilized.
The Echo Shade
Halfway across the bridge, the mist ahead shifted.
Something moved within it.
A shape — tall, thin, humanoid, but wrong. Its limbs were too long, its movements too fluid, like a shadow trying to remember how to be a person.
Mira froze. "Arlen… that's an Echo Shade."
He tightened his grip on her hand. "Is that bad?"
"It's a memory that lost its anchor. A consciousness fragment without identity. They're harmless unless provoked."
The Shade tilted its head.
Then it stepped onto the bridge.
Arlen whispered, "I think it's provoked."
The Shade moved with unnatural grace, gliding toward them. Its body flickered between forms — a man, a woman, a child, a soldier, a stranger — as if cycling through every memory it had ever absorbed.
Mira raised her free hand, her mark flaring. "Stay back."
The Shade paused.
Then it spoke.
Not in words.
In resonance.
A single, broken message:
"Help… me…"
Mira's breath caught. "It's aware."
Arlen stepped forward. "Can we help it?"
"No," Mira whispered. "But we can release it."
The Shade reached toward them, its hand trembling.
Arlen felt the pull — a desperate, pleading resonance that tugged at his mark.
Mira's mark flared brighter, pushing back.
The Shade screamed — a soundless, psychic wail that shook the bridge.
The path flickered violently.
Arlen grabbed Mira. "We need to move!"
"No— wait— it's trying to—"
The Shade lunged.
Arlen reacted without thinking.
He thrust his hand forward, channeling his mark.
A burst of corrupted resonance shot from his palm, striking the Shade square in the chest.
The Shade shattered into fragments of light.
The bridge stabilized.
Mira stared at him, horrified. "Arlen… what was that?"
He looked at his hand, trembling. "I don't know."
But he did.
The corruption was growing.
The Chamber of Echoes
The bridge ended at a massive doorway carved from crystalline light. It opened as they approached, revealing a chamber filled with floating shards — each one containing a flickering image.
Memories.
Thousands of them.
Mira stepped forward, mesmerized. "This is a Memory Vault. A place where the realm stores imprints."
Arlen watched the shards drift around them. "Why bring us here?"
Mira's mark pulsed.
The shards responded.
They swirled around her, forming a spiral of light. Images flickered across their surfaces — battles, cities, faces, moments from lives long gone.
Then the shards shifted.
They showed Mira.
As a child.
As a teenager.
As she was now.
Arlen felt his breath catch. "It's reading your life."
Mira's voice trembled. "It's choosing."
"Choosing what?"
She turned to him, eyes wide with fear.
"Whether I'm worthy of being the Anchor."
The chamber darkened.
The shards converged.
And the System spoke:
Anchor Evaluation Initiated Warning: Divergence Detected Secondary Anchor Required
Arlen's mark ignited.
Mira grabbed his hand. "Arlen— no— your mark isn't stable enough—"
The System overrode her.
Secondary Anchor Identified Status: Corrupted Risk Level: Extreme Synchronize? Yes / Yes
Arlen laughed weakly. "Not much of a choice."
Mira's eyes filled with tears. "Arlen… if you sync with me now, the corruption could kill you."
He squeezed her hand.
"Then we make sure it doesn't."
The shards closed in.
The chamber erupted in light.
And the synchronization began.