The forest clearing held the scent of ozone and ash.
Echo knelt beside Mira, his hands trembling as he pressed a poultice to her greyed, withering arm. The Corrupted Scout was gone, but its poison lingered — a tangible residue of wrongness that resisted both Mira's herbal knowledge and Leyla's moon-energy.
Kiera stood watch, her usual composure replaced by stark alertness. "We cannot stay here," she said, her ears twitching at every forest sound. "That thing's death-cry was a beacon. More will come."
"She can't travel like this," Leyla hissed, her silver claws flexing in helpless agitation.
Mira's breathing was shallow. "The corruption… it's not just physical. It's eating at my connection to… to space itself." Her voice wavered with a fear Echo had never heard in her before. Her World-Walker bloodline was under attack from within.
Echo closed his eyes. His Error-Sight turned inward, scanning Mira's energy system. He saw it — thin, violet tendrils worming through her meridians, severing the delicate threads that allowed her to sense spatial folds.
His own energy, the strange spark of his anomaly nature, stirred in response. Without fully understanding how, he pushed a pulse of it through their bond, not to awaken, but to cleanse. It wasn't healing—it was overwriting. Where his energy touched the violet corruption, the corruption simply… ceased to exist, as if it were a bug in a code being deleted.
Mira gasped, color returning to her skin. The withering receded, leaving only faint scars. She looked at Echo with awe and a trace of terror. "What… are you?"
Before he could answer, the air above the clearing warped.
With a sound like a thunderclap contained in silk, space tore open. No portal—just a localized distortion, and through it descended the giant eagle they had seen days before. On its back sat a rider clad in feathered armor that seemed woven from storm clouds and twilight.
The eagle landed without a sound. The rider dismounted, and the distortion sealed behind them. They were tall, their features hidden behind a helmet shaped like a hawk's skull, but the power radiating from them was palpable—dense, ancient, and utterly territorial.
Beast Lord's Emissary.
Leyla dropped into a defensive crouch. Kiera took a careful step back, bowing her head just slightly—a gesture of respect, not submission.
The Emissary's voice was genderless, echoing as if spoken from the heart of a mountain. "The Lord of Claws and Roots has watched. He has seen the corruption defile his world. He has felt the anomaly's resonance."
The helmet's gaze turned to Echo. "You carry the scent of creation and of ending. The Ordered Multiverse and the Corrupted whisper your name in their endless war. This world is not their battleground."
Echo stood, facing the Emissary. "I didn't choose to bring the war here. I'm trying to understand it. To survive it."
"Survival is a beast's first law," the Emissary replied. "But your survival draws the eye of cosmic locusts. The Beast Lord will not interfere in a war beyond his forests… yet. But know this: if your presence brings the Corrupted Legion in force to consume this world, you will not face them alone. You will face the Lord's wrath first."
It was a warning, and a bargain. Keep your war away from my home.
The Emissary mounted the eagle. "The mark upon you is gone, but the memory of it remains. They will trace its echo. Move. Or make your stand."
With another silent tear in the air, eagle and rider were gone.
The tension in the clearing broke, leaving them all trembling.
"We need to use the shrine," Echo said, his voice firm. "Now. Before they trace us here."
Mira stood, testing her arm. "The Crossroads. It's the only place neutral enough to breathe, learn, and plan."
Kiera nodded. "I will secure your departure from this world. But I cannot follow—not yet. My network here is needed." She handed Echo a small, lacquered fox figurine. "Show this at the Silk-Petal Pavilion in the Crossroads. They will give you shelter and information."
Echo took it. "Thank you, Kiera."
Her sharp smile returned. "We have a partnership. Just remember your promise. Awaken me fully when you return."
He nodded. To Leyla and Mira, he said, "Gather what you need. We leave for the shrine in one hour."
As they hurried back to Whisperwood, a new notification shimmered in Echo's vision, not from his Bond System, but from something deeper, older—as if the universe itself were updating his quest log:
[ System Notice: Hidden War - Stage 1 Activated ]
[ Primary Objective: Uncover the truth of your origin before Corrupted forces locate you. ]
[ Secondary Objective: Seek the "Archives of Origin" within the Crossroads. ]
[ Warning: Corrupted Legion detection risk - HIGH ]
[ Time to estimated detection: 48-72 hours ]
Echo's jaw tightened.
Forty-eight hours.
Two days to escape the Beast World, reach the Crossroads, and find answers before an infinite army of corruption hunted him down.
The clock was ticking.