A sensation like plunging into cold flame seized Kairo as the world melted away. Sound warped. Color fractured. Reality unraveled like a thread in a hurricane.
When the spinning stopped, he was standing on… nothing.
No sky. No ground. Just shards of floating memory and coiled ribbons of light that shimmered like broken mirrors. This was not a dream. It was something far older and far more real.
> [Internal Realm: Echo of Origin Initialized]
> Warning: Host stability below optimal threshold.
Before him stood a figure.
His height. His build. His face.
But twisted.
Cloaked in shadowfire, his older self looked at him with starless eyes, a jagged halo of broken clocks spinning behind his head. The aura pouring off him made the entire realm tremble.
"Is that really me…?" Kairo whispered.
The figure tilted its head. A thousand whispers echoed in its voice when it spoke.
> "I am what you become if you follow chaos… and forget everything else."
Kairo took a shaky step back.
"I won't become you."
"You already are," it said.
> [Trial Objective: Endure the Echo for 3 Minutes or Defeat It]
> Bonus Objective: Unlock Hidden Sequence (??% Synch required)
The trial began.
---
The corrupted Kairo vanished.
A pulse slammed into Kairo's chest, flinging him backward through the void. He tumbled through a memory — his mother's voice, a forest breeze — and landed hard on a flickering stone platform.
Another blast. Kairo raised his arms instinctively.
> [Passive: Temporal Resistance Activated]
> Time Flux slowed: -30% damage.
The bolt hit, but didn't crush him. His eyes widened.
> "I'm resisting…?"
---
He gritted his teeth, breathing hard.
"Fine. Let's try this."
The system chimed softly.
> [Emergency Protocol Enabled: Instinct Access]
> Primordial Instincts Unlocked: Spatial Shift – Lv. 1
Time slowed.
Kairo moved without thinking. He *blinked*—a flicker—and reappeared ten feet away as a claw of black energy slashed through where he had been.
He countered with a desperate wave of his hand, and the space around his echo-self rippled violently.
> [Spatial Rip: Successful — Enemy Disoriented 1.5s]
It wasn't much. But it was something.
---
They clashed again.
Black and silver collided. For a moment, the void lit up with fractals of possibility. The corrupted future-Kairo roared, shadows twisting into forms too ancient to name.
> "You are not ready!" it growled.
> "Not yet!"
> [Warning: Stability 27%]
> Do you wish to End Trial Now? (Y/N)
Kairo clenched his fists.
"No."
He charged. Chaos raged around him — not controlling it, but swimming through it.
And then… he touched his future self.
The world stopped.
---
Flashes. A library older than stars. A woman in golden chains whispering his name. The silhouette of a god turning its eyes toward him.
His future self stared back.
"You have a choice," it said. "Don't become me."
Then everything shattered.
---
> [Trial Complete – Objective: Survive (Success)]
> +4 Synchronization
> Total Sync: 9%
> New Ability Fragment: Chrono Edge (Locked)
> Codex Fragment Unlocked: Whispered Oaths of the First Chaos Bearers
Kairo gasped and opened his eyes.
Back in the forest. The stream still flowing.
But everything… had changed.