The first Echo reached them before Lyra could blink.
Its limbs moved in a blur of silver and blue fire, metal claws slicing through the air. Kael met it head-on, his blade flashing once — clean, merciless. Sparks erupted. The Echo fell in two smoking halves before its scream even faded.
Then the others came.
Blue lights surged across the vale — a dozen, maybe more — weaving between the ruins like hungry stars. Lyra's breath hitched. There are too many!
Keep your distance, Kael said sharply. Focus your power on the ground. Break their footing.
Lyra's palms blazed gold. The air trembled, and she slammed her hands to the earth. A shockwave rippled outward, cracking the ash-covered ground. The leading Echo stumbled, then Kael was there — a shadow and a flash of steel — cutting through it before it could rise.
Lyra stared, stunned. He moved like no human should — too fast, too deliberate, every strike perfect. There was no hesitation, no anger, no fear. Only precision.
The fight painted the ruins in gold and blue light. Metal clashed, the aether stream nearby pulsed violently, and the scent of burning filled the air.
Lyra raised her hand again, aiming at an approaching Echo. Fall, damn you! she shouted.
A beam of golden flame erupted, striking the creature square in the chest. It exploded in a burst of molten shards. Lyra gasped — power still humming through her veins. It felt wild, intoxicating, terrifying.
Lyra! Kael's voice snapped her focus back. He grabbed her arm just as another Echo's claw swiped past where her neck had been a heartbeat ago.
You have to control it, he said fiercely. You can't just burn everything.
Then maybe you should stop giving me reasons to!
Kael's jaw tightened, but he didn't respond. He turned, slicing through another Echo with almost painful grace. Every movement cost him something — she could see it now. Each strike seemed to drain the faint light that pulsed beneath his skin, like he was burning himself away.
The last of the creatures advanced — taller than the rest, its body carved with strange runes. When it spoke, its voice was layered, metallic, and human at once.
Kael Thorne. Return to the Core. Emotion is corruption.
Kael's face hardened. Then consider me corrupted.
The Echo lunged. Their blades met with a flash so bright Lyra had to shield her eyes. The ground shook from the force. Kael stumbled back — the first time she'd seen him falter.
The creature struck again. Kael blocked once, twice — then its claw slashed across his shoulder, cutting deep. Sparks and something darker — not blood, not exactly — spilled out.
Kael! Lyra screamed.
He ignored the wound, twisting his blade and driving it up through the creature's chest. The Echo convulsed, blue fire flickering out. When it fell, silence followed — the heavy, stunned kind that only comes after violence.
Lyra ran to him. You're hurt—
I'll heal.
That's not— She stopped, seeing the wound knit itself closed before her eyes, the faint light under his skin dimming as it did.
He swayed slightly. Lyra caught his arm. You're lying.
Kael didn't deny it. We need to move.
They'll come again, she said, voice shaking.
I know.
Then tell me the truth! She pulled back, anger and fear tangling in her chest. What are you, Kael? You said you were a Soulbinder, but this—she gestured to the glowing wound, the fading blue fire around him. This isn't human.
He looked at her, and for the first time, she saw it clearly — the faint circuitry beneath his skin, the almost invisible runes that glowed when he breathed. Not a machine. Not entirely human either.
I was the Council's first experiment, he said quietly. The prototype for what they called the perfect protector. They took what made me human and replaced it with obedience.
Lyra's heart broke a little at the calm in his voice. And you escaped.
I malfunctioned, he said simply. I remembered who I was supposed to protect.
Who?
He met her gaze. You.
The words hit harder than any explosion. Lyra stared, unable to speak.
I don't understand, she whispered.
You're not meant to, Kael said. Not yet.
The wind shifted, carrying the scent of burnt metal and something softer — the faint warmth of her own magic. Lyra stepped closer, eyes locked on his. Then make me understand.
For a heartbeat, he didn't move. Then he reached out, brushing his fingers lightly against her wrist. His touch was cold, almost electric.
Every Soulbinder is tied to someone, he said softly. Bound by essence. I was created from the memory of a protector who once loved the one he was bound to. When the Council wiped that memory, they erased the emotion — but the bond never truly dies.
Lyra's breath caught. You mean—
Kael pulled his hand back, the distance between them returning like a wall. You were never supposed to exist, Lyra. But you're proof that something survived.
She shook her head, trying to process it all. That's impossible.
He almost smiled. So am I.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The fire hissed quietly, the sky above them shifting from black to silver as the moon broke through the haze. Lyra could still feel the echo of his words in her chest — you were never supposed to exist.
She looked up at him, voice barely a whisper. Then why protect me?
Kael's expression softened, something human flickering behind his eyes. "Because even if I can't feel it… I remember what love was supposed to mean."
The silence that followed wasn't empty. It was charged, trembling, alive.
Lyra stepped closer, her voice almost breaking. Then maybe I can remind you.
Kael didn't answer. But the faint light under his skin pulsed — once, like a heartbeat.