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Chapter 13 - Chapter 12:The Pulse That Remembers

The rain didn't fall in drops anymore.

It shimmered — streaks of light folding over the rooftops like threads of memory.

Eren stood before the ruined observatory, its glass dome fractured into a hundred mirrored eyes. Every surface caught the city's pulse — soft, rhythmic, alive — and reflected it back at him. It was dizzying, as though he were staring at a thousand versions of himself: one bleeding, one burning, one almost whole.

Kael stood beside him, his gray eyes unreadable under the fractured light. The drizzle slicked his dark hair back, glinting silver at the edges. "This place isn't safe," he said quietly. "But it's honest."

Eren didn't move. His amber-hazel eyes flickered faintly as the Pulse shimmered through his veins — visible now, faint lines of violet and gold crawling up his forearms. "It's like it's watching me."

"It is," Kael murmured. "The Observer made it to remember what the city forgets."

They entered.

The air inside was heavy with static, every breath charged. Shards of glass lined the floor like stars fallen from the ceiling. In the center of the room stood a single mirror, undamaged, rimmed in light that pulsed faintly with every beat of Eren's heart.

Lyra lingered at the doorway — her green eyes sharp, wary. The Silence followed her silently, his face half-lit by the shifting glow. Neither spoke. The air demanded reverence.

Eren stepped closer to the mirror. His reflection flickered between versions of himself — boy, man, stranger, ruin. "What is this showing me?"

Kael's reflection did not change. He looked the same — steady, unflinching, shadowed by something too deep to name.

"The truth doesn't show you what you want," Kael said. "It shows you what's left."

Eren reached out.

The mirror rippled, and light swallowed his hand.

For a heartbeat, everything vanished.

Then — he was standing in another Vareth. One made of glass and memory. The towers were whole, the streets alive with color. He could hear laughter, music — the pulse of a city that hadn't yet forgotten how to feel.

And there, at the edge of a balcony high above it all, stood the woman from his vision.

Her silver hair glowed softly, her eyes reflecting the world below. She turned, and though she was made of light and shimmer, her gaze met his with piercing clarity.

"Eren Vail," she said — her voice echoing in his chest. "You've finally come back."

Eren's pulse faltered. "Who are you?"

"I am the memory that built the Pulse," she said. "I am what the city once was — before you fractured it."

Eren took a step back. "Before I— what?"

But the vision was already collapsing. The golden light trembled.

The city below began to glitch, twisting into shapes that didn't belong to reality. Screams echoed from places that no longer existed.

He reached for her — but her form scattered into light.

"Remember," her fading voice whispered. "You were the first echo, Eren. The Pulse didn't choose you — it was born from you."

Then everything shattered.

The real world slammed back into him. He fell to his knees before the mirror, gasping, skin trembling with violet fire. Kael was beside him in an instant, his hand gripping Eren's shoulder.

"What did you see?" Kael demanded, though his voice softened at the edges.

Eren's breath hitched. "It said… the Pulse… it came from me."

Silence.

Even the rain seemed to still.

Kael's expression was unreadable. "That's not possible."

Lyra stepped forward, eyes wide. "If that's true… then the city isn't just connected to him. It's dependent on him."

The Silence exhaled slowly. "Which means if Eren breaks—"

"—the city dies," Kael finished.

Eren pressed a trembling hand against his chest. The Pulse throbbed faintly under his skin, almost like it understood what they'd said.

His voice was quiet, almost detached. "So I'm the city's lifeline… or its curse."

Kael's hand tightened briefly, grounding him. "You're not a curse, Eren."

Eren's eyes lifted, meeting Kael's — gray meeting gold. "Then what am I to you?"

Kael hesitated. The light flickered across his face, softening him in a way that Eren almost didn't recognize. "You're the reason I still hear the silence."

Something fragile passed between them — like a note suspended between heartbeats, waiting to fall.

Then Lyra turned sharply. "We're not alone."

From the shadows behind the cracked observatory wall, movement stirred — slow, deliberate. A faint, distorted hum echoed through the space, like a voice trying to imitate a heartbeat.

The Silence drew his blade — a ripple of translucent sound cutting the air. "Watch the mirrors," he hissed. "They're not reflecting us anymore."

Eren looked — and his reflection was smiling back at him.

But he wasn't.

The mirror flickered, and a dark silhouette stepped through the glass — a figure shaped like Eren, but shadowed, hollow-eyed, veins burning crimson instead of gold.

Kael moved in front of him instantly, his gray eyes sharp with warning.

"It's not real," he said.

But Eren could feel it — the same rhythm as his own heart, the same breath, the same pain.

It spoke — his own voice twisted and cold.

"You woke it. Now you'll drown in it."

The mirror world screamed open again — light and dark colliding, rain hissing against unseen flames. Kael's hand closed around Eren's, the air between them trembling with electricity.

"Hold on," Kael said, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Don't let it take you."

But even as Eren tried, he could feel it — the Pulse pulling him, whispering, come home, come home, come home.

And for the first time, he didn't know if he wanted to resist.

** ** ** ** **

The mirror remembers more than Eren was ready to see — and what it showed him isn't just the past, but a warning of what's coming.

As the Pulse begins to stir, the line between reflection and reality will start to blur.

In the next chapter, truths begin to surface — and someone from Kael's past might finally step into the light.

If you felt the heartbeat in this chapter, you'll feel the silence next.

Question for readers:

What do you think the Observer meant when she said "the Pulse was born from you"?

Drop your theories — I'm watching them closely

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