Kael sat in his cell.
He didn't cry anymore. Not since seeing the Core.
Not since realizing he was more prisoner than person.
But when the guards dragged in the new Echo, bleeding and unconscious, and threw her into the cell next to his, something stirred.
---
She woke two days later.
Her wrists were burned from soulwire.
Her hair was short, uneven, like someone had chopped it off in a panic. But her eyes—soft grey, storm-colored—were calm in a way Kael hadn't seen in anyone down here.
And when she finally turned to look at him, she smiled.
Not because she was happy.
Because she wanted to be.
"Nice to meet you," she said hoarsely. "Name's Lira. You?"
Kael blinked. "...Kael."
She nodded. "That's a good name. Sounds sharp."
He didn't answer.
But for the first time in days, he wasn't alone.
---
Over the next few days, they talked.
Not about escape. Not yet.
About what the guards said when they didn't think anyone was listening. About the labyrinth inside the lab, the deeper floors no one came back from. About what it meant to dream in color when the rest of the world was grey.
Kael learned that Lira had been caught months ago.
She'd survived three extractions. She shouldn't be alive.
But she was different.
"They want me for something," she whispered once. "Not just the Echo. They said I'm compatible."
Kael didn't know what that meant.
But it scared him.
---
One night, when the walls hummed with low ritual magic and the Core pulsed louder than usual, Lira leaned close to him through the bars.
"Do you still remember who you were?" she asked.
"No," Kael whispered. "Not really."
She nodded. "Good. Maybe it means you still get to choose who you become."
He almost smiled.
Almost.
---
Meanwhile, in a forgotten fortress, Serida paced the war room with Ashbourne.
She pointed at the map. "We hit Theta in two weeks. The outer glyph towers can be drained with ash-oil. But the inside—"
"Will be a slaughter if we don't have a distraction," Ashbourne said.
"We'll make one."
Serida's hands shook slightly.
Not from fear.
From fury.
"They don't get to take him. Not Kael."
Ashbourne's voice lowered. "Then we burn the whole foundation to the ground."
---
Back in the cell, Kael watched Lira sleep.
And for the first time since Grythvault…
He felt hope.
Small.
But alive.