Buzz didn't move at first.
The voice still clung to his ears like wet cloth.
Thin.
Young.
Hurting.
Zza squeezed his arm so hard his shell creaked. "Buzz. Eyes on me."
He blinked. "You heard it too."
Alma muttered, "I heard it and I wish I didn't. That sounded like… someone choking on their own name."
The Elder gestured patiently toward the narrow stairwell.
No dust.
No damage.
Clean metal that somehow felt older than the sentinel behind them.
**"Move. The echo grows."**
Buzz swallowed. The echo… yeah, echo was a word for it. But echoes didn't sound like begging. Echoes didn't say his name like a memory that shouldn't exist.
He whispered, "I don't know that voice."
The young metal creature stepped beside him.
Still smiling.
Always smiling a little too long.
**"You will."**
Zza shot it a glare sharp enough to cut steel. "Stay away from him. Buzz doesn't need cryptic riddles from whatever you are."
The creature blinked slowly.
Almost amused.
