🔥 Ashenwell Tower – Post-Battle
The room still reeked of burnt Lume. The shattered Echo core sat in containment, flickering like a dying star.
Kaia stood by the desk, arms crossed, silent.
Grim? Grim was boiling.
He hadn't said a word since they returned.
Not to Lys. Not to Kerren. Not even Sparks.
"She knew," Sparks whispered. "Kaia knew. And she didn't tell us."
He finally broke the silence, voice low and controlled.
"How long?"
Kaia didn't flinch. "Since before Ashenwell."
"And you still brought me here like some favor? Like some project?"
"I brought you here because I knew what they'd do to you outside these walls."
He stepped forward. Fast. Too fast.
"And what exactly do you think they'll do now, Kaia?"
She didn't answer. Not with words.
Instead, she dropped a folder on the table. The cover read:
PROJECT SOLACE: Architect Profile – Dr. Veyra Cael.
Sparks: "Cael. That's Tarin's bloodline."
Kaia nodded. "His sister. His handler. My former mentor."
Grim stared at the name like it was a weapon.
"She raised me in that lab. Didn't she."
Kaia's silence was confirmation enough.
"You stood there while they carved me open and told me it was destiny."
"I protected you," Kaia snapped. "When I could. I wasn't strong enough to stop them then."
Grim's aura flared—purple fire laced with space-fold energy.
"Then maybe you should've died trying."
Kaia swallowed hard. "You don't mean that."
He turned away. "Right now? I don't know what I mean."
🧠 Inside the Echo Core – Sparks' Dive
Later that night, Grim sat alone in the sealed chamber, watching the Echo's fragments glitch and shift.
"There's something hidden," Sparks said. "Deeper than the attack subroutine. Like... a locked box under a locked memory."
"Open it."
"This may hurt."
"I want it to."
Sparks pulsed—and everything went dark.
🔓 Memory Dive – Vision
The world blinked into a lab—white, sterile, humming with cold magic.
Grim saw himself—younger, scared, restrained.
Dr. Veyra Cael circled him.
"He's stabilizing. Naming will begin. Prepare the memory mold."
Another figure entered—voice muffled, but familiar.
Kaia.
"You're not going to mark him yet. He's still a child."
"He's a weapon. And weapons don't need names. They need commands."
Grim flinched in the memory—then watched as Kaia slammed a palm into the console, sparking the chamber.
"No. I'm done."
Security rushed in. Kaia ran. Took him.
Sparks whispered:
"She saved you. And that's why she's always watching. Always hiding."
The memory rippled—then split.
In the fragments, a single word burned:
"Aelric."
🫀 Back in the Real World
Grim gasped, eyes wide.
"My name…"
"Aelric," Sparks repeated, voice soft. "That's who you were. Before they made you forget. Before they made you into Grim."
Grim touched the edge of the table.
"Then maybe I should stop being who they named… and start becoming who I was meant to be."
🏰 Ashenwell – Just Before Dawn
Kaia stood by the window, watching stormclouds rise in the distance.
A flare shot into the sky.
"That's not a student signal," she muttered.
The sky darkened with black-winged skimmers.
The Blank Court had come.
"Full invasion protocol. Masked agents. Drones. They're not here to threaten."
"They're here to take."
And they wanted Grim.
"You ready?" Sparks asked, voice steady.
Grim looked at the window, fire forming in one hand, and violet shimmer in the other.
"They took everything from me."
"Then let's take it back."