The Fall That Never Ends
There was no impact.
No wind.
No gravity.
Just a sensation of down that didn't correspond to any physical direction.
Cael tried to breathe—
failed—
then realized he didn't need to.
Light streamed past him in ribbons—
not colors, but memories wearing the shape of color.
He reached out instinctively.
His hand passed through a streak of blue-white light—
and the sound of Lyra's laughter echoed behind his ears.
Not the Lyra who stood with him in Zephyr.
A younger one.
Hair shorter.
Uniform different.
Eyes just as bright.
A memory he didn't know he had.
The light snapped away.
Cael's chest tightened.
"…Lyra?"
His voice didn't travel.
It folded into the shifting void as if swallowed by fabric.
Then—
Something caught his wrist.
Hard.
Real.
---
The Other Cael
Cael slammed against a surface that hadn't existed a moment earlier.
He wheezed, regaining breath he wasn't supposed to have lost.
A hand kept him pinned.
A hand wearing his own glove.
The figure leaned down until their faces were inches apart.
Same build.
Same eyes.
Same pulseband—cracked through the center.
But this Cael's expression was carved from ice.
"This again," the other said, voice dripping contempt. "Another reset. Another sanitized version of me dumped into the Vein."
Cael froze.
"…You're—"
"Save it," the other spat. "You're the replacement."
He shoved Cael backward.
Not physically—
conceptually.
The space rippled.
A floor materialized beneath Cael's feet—
a black plane of resonant crystal stretching into nothingness.
The other Cael stood at the edge of the reflection-pool void.
Arms crossed.
Gaze like a blade.
"You're the one they kept," he said. "The one who forgot."
Cael's pulse fluttered.
"My memories weren't voluntary—"
"Oh, you gave them up," the other snapped. "You begged for it. You asked the Vein to cut you into pieces so you wouldn't have to face what you did."
The words hit like strikes across the ribs.
Cael shook his head. "That's not possible. I didn't—"
"You did."
The reflection-pool beneath them shifted—
forming scenes out of shadow and resonance.
A battlefield beneath a violet sky.
Cael—older, harder—standing among fallen Eclipsers.
Lyra—reaching for him—before light tore them apart.
Cael staggered back.
"What—what is this?"
"The part you threw away," the other said. "And the part I stayed behind to hold."
---
The Singularity Core
The void brightened.
Shards of Cael's memories floated upward—
school drills, academy training, team missions,
and moments with Lyra that Cael had never lived.
But the other Cael had.
The tension in Cael's pulseband became a physical ache.
The other stepped closer.
"You think you're the real one? The one worthy of Lyra's Link?"
Cael's voice dropped, steady despite the ringing in his ears.
"I don't think that. I just know I'm trying."
The other scoffed bitterly.
"You're weak.
You hesitate.
You doubt yourself into nothing.
And the Echo smells that doubt like blood."
He tapped the cracked pulseband over his wrist.
"This is what doubt does. It fractures you. It fractures the world around you."
Cael swallowed hard.
"Who… exactly are you?"
For the first time, the other Cael's expression shifted.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Grief.
"I'm the Cael who stayed behind," he whispered. "The one who didn't get out. The one who held the Echo inside the Vein while you were cut free."
Cael's breath caught.
"…That can't be true."
"It doesn't matter if you believe it," the other said quietly. "You came here to take back what I protected."
Then the world shook.
A resonance shockwave tore across the plane.
Both Caels staggered.
A voice echoed through the void—
not Lyra's.
Not Seraphine's.
Not human.
> Echo Drayen-fragment detected. Singularity event unstable. Host approaching collapse threshold.
The other Cael sighed.
"That's my cue. They're coming for you."
Cael's heart slammed against his ribs.
"Who?"
"Everything in the Outer Vein that feeds on broken resonance."
The void quivered.
Lights flickered.
Structures began forming—
spires of obsidian.
Rings of floating shards.
An ever-expanding cage.
The other Cael raised a hand.
The structures stopped mid-formation.
But the effort made him stagger.
Cael stepped forward instinctively to help him.
The other shoved him back.
"Don't. You can't stabilize this place. You're clean—emptied out. The Vein doesn't listen to you anymore."
Cael clenched his jaw.
"If you're me… then you know I'm not walking away without trying."
The other Cael laughed bitterly.
"You're consistent, I'll give you that."
Another ripple cracked through the space.
> Singularity integrity dropping.
Echo-core merging imminent.
The other Cael met his eyes.
And the rage was gone.
Only resolve remained.
"You want the truth?" he said. "You want the memories you lost? Then take them."
He grabbed Cael's hand.
A jolt ripped through Cael's arm—
not pain,
but recognition.
Dozens of memories shot through him—
Lyra slamming him against a railing during training.
A mission gone wrong on Sector 7.
A forbidden experiment involving the Echo.
A promise whispered in a Resonance Chamber.
A collapse.
A scream.
A choice.
Cut the Link.
Lyra falling.
His pulseband shattering.
The Vein swallowing him whole.
Cael stumbled.
The other held him upright.
"Those are yours," he said. "Not enough to drown you. Just enough to show you what's coming."
Cael gasped for air.
"You… stayed behind to contain it?"
"To keep the Echo from tearing through Zephyr," the other said. "And to keep you alive long enough to fix the mess I made."
Cael stared at him, realization dawning.
"You're not my enemy."
The other Cael exhaled, almost relieved.
"Finally. Someone gets it."
The void trembled violently.
The cage resumed forming.
> Singularity collapse in 10… 9…
The other placed a hand on Cael's shoulder.
"Listen. You can't stay here. You need to merge what you are now with what you were. Take the Anchor. Take Lyra. Take the mission. And finish what I couldn't."
Cael's voice cracked.
"What happens to you?"
The other smiled.
A small, sad, impossibly familiar smile.
"I go back where I belong."
The void split open beneath him.
Cael reached out—
The other shoved him away—
and fell.
> …3… 2… 1
Light swallowed Cael whole.
---
The Voice That Cuts Through
Through the collapsing light—
A voice reached him.
Warm.
Steady.
Terrified.
"Cael—Cael, answer me!"
Lyra.
He lunged toward the sound—
or the memory of the sound—
or the promise inside the sound—
and the world snapped back into place.