Kael didn't hesitate.
He reached for the girl's hand—not the shard, not the chains, but her trembling, calloused hand. "I'm here. I won't abandon you."
As his fingers touched hers, a blinding pulse of Echo energy flared from the throne. The spectral arms shrieked, recoiling. The gears halted.
The bindings snapped.
And Ilya collapsed into his arms, unconscious but free.
Lira stared in disbelief. "You chose to save her over the shard."
Kael shook his head. "She is the shard now. There's more to this than fragments. They're alive. They remember us."
---
> Sigil Fragment 5 Acquired (Symbiotic Integration)
Fragment Name: Memory of the Lost Child
Host: Ilya (Bonded)
Kael: Linked
Passive Effect: Echo Link Established — Dreamsharing Enabled
Warning: Link is unstable. Further proximity required for full activation.
---
They escaped the Bone Cradle slowly, avoiding corrupted patrols and shifting fog fields. Kael carried Ilya on his back, the girl light as ash, but radiating with strange, warm power.
Halfway through the tunnels, she stirred.
"The voices… they're quieter now."
Kael met her eyes. They were no longer blindfolded—but glowing faintly blue.
Lira asked, "What are you, Ilya?"
The girl blinked slowly.
"I think I'm what happens when a soul doesn't shatter properly."
They reached the surface just as a new pulse echoed through the sky.
Far in the distance, a spire collapsed—the sixth fragment, destabilizing.
Kael stared at the storm brewing above the horizon.
"Then we're running out of time."
---
> Sigil Fragments: 5/7
Echo Sync: 72%
Corruption Level: 26% (Stabilized)
Linked Entity: Ilya — Dreamstate Guardian (Tier Unknown)
---
And deep beneath the ruins, where the throne had once stood, the shadows reformed into a shape. A whisper followed:
"He chose mercy.
Let us see what mercy costs."
---