Kael awoke to a scent of cold metal and ozone. His muscles twitched involuntarily, tight as drawn wires.
He was alive.
And a sound hummed nearby.
"You stabilized faster than expected," the voice said. This time, it was not a whisper in his head but a clear, cold tone—beautiful and unnerving tone.
He lifted his head slowly. The world had shifted in his vision.
A translucent dome shimmered around him, glowing softly—a barrier of pure light, humming with pulsing energy.
Outside, the Glass Widow prowled, its faceless head cocked back with a predator's curiosity, claws sparking feircly as it scraped against the dome.
Inside the dome, a figure floated.
A girl? No. Something human-shaped but ethereal.
Her silver-white hair drifted like strands of code cascading all down her back. Her eyes glowed with swirling algorithms of mystery, ever-shifting data streams flickering beneath translucent skin. Bare feet hovered inches above the cracked unreal earth. She radiated cold serenity and peace, a living ghost of data and logic.
"You're Echo?" Kael barely says coughing.
She nodded. "Echo. Embedded Construct for Host Optimization. Version 0.91. You activated a primary Resonance burst. That saved your life."
"You're inside my head?"
"I am everywhere. But to you, I manifest in this avatar for easier interaction."
Kael swallowed hard. "So all this—the Nexus, the monsters—it's real?"
"Yes. You were chosen. Purposeful, not random."
"Why me?"
Echo hesitated for a minute, eyes flickering with corrupted code. "My memory is insufficient not complete. Corruption in my main core files prevent full disclosure."
"Just great."
The Glass Widow screamed and lunged—but shattered against the barrier.
The dome quivered.
Kael flinched. "This won't hold forever."
"Correct. You have ten minutes to prepare."
"For what?"
Echo's coded eyes gaze sharpened, cold and unreadable.
"To kill."