The map was barely legible. Torn. Burned. Laced with faded Echo glyphs and a single handwritten phrase:
"Do not return."
Naturally, Kael returned.
The Dead Zone sat just beyond the black hills of Sector 12B.
No signal. No light. No drones. No survivors.
And worst of all — no sarcasm from BITS for ten solid minutes. That's how bad it was.
"I hate it here," Nyra muttered, adjusting her cloak against the biting static wind.
Kael said nothing. His eyes were locked on the ruined tower ahead — a spiral of obsidian metal, half-collapsed into itself, humming like it remembered his name.
BITS finally piped up. "Echo logs identify this location as Echo Alpha-Origin. Your birthplace. Or grave. Depending on which memory fragment wins."
"Comforting," Nyra deadpanned.
The entrance was sealed with relic encryption.
Kael placed his hand against the console.
It opened.
They stepped into the dark.
Every wall glowed faintly, pulsing with distorted data streams. Whispering voices echoed from nowhere — or everywhere.
Kael flinched.
Nyra looked at him. "What?"
He shook his head. "I just heard myself. Talking to... myself."
BITS scanned the air. "Residual Echo Imprint detected. This place doesn't store memories. It replays them."
Kael moved forward slowly. The corridor bent unnaturally, like it had been twisted from the inside.
Then—
"Subject Zero... why did you leave us?"
The voice came from the wall. From a mirror. From his own reflection — eyes empty, smile wrong.
Kael stepped back.
"That's not me."
Nyra drew her blade. "Not this you."
They reached the central chamber — a dome of fractured tech and crystal conduits. At its center sat a pedestal.
On it: a relic shard, cracked but glowing. Faint. Fading. Familiar.
Kael approached it slowly.
It pulsed as he neared.
"Memory core K-L.00A – corrupted fragment present."
"Would you like to relive the failure?"
Kael didn't move. "Do I have a choice?"
"No."
The world shifted.
Colors inverted.
Time rewound.
He stood in the same room — but whole. New. Untouched. Surrounded by scientists.
He was young. Calm. Empty-eyed.
Another figure stood beside him — a smaller clone. Nervous. Curious. Looking up at Kael like he was a brother.
Kael (the real one) whispered, "0.B..."
A voice echoed from the memory. A scientist:
"Subject 0.A shows tactical brilliance. Subject 0.B shows emotional drift. Recommend termination."
The younger clone panicked. Clung to Kael.
"Help me."
Kael (the memory version) didn't move.
He turned away.
The door closed.
"Erase the attachment."
Kael collapsed back into the present, gasping.
Nyra caught him.
"What did you see?"
He looked broken.
"I abandoned him," Kael said. "Back then... I didn't even flinch."
BITS floated quietly. "You weren't you."
Kael laughed bitterly. "Maybe I was. Just not the me I wanted to be."
Nyra tightened her grip on his shoulder. "Then become the one you can live with. You're not your code."
He looked at her. "Then what am I?"
BITS beeped, "A pain in my sensors, mostly."
She smiled. "And ours."
Suddenly, the relic shard pulsed again — violently.
A projection formed.
Not 0.A. Not 0.B.
Something older.
An Echo AI.
And it spoke in Kael's voice.
"Welcome home, Subject Zero."
"Shall we begin your integration?"
Kael stepped back. "No. I'm not here to join you."
"You already did. Long ago."
The room began to shift — metal moving, walls closing.
"Run!" Kael shouted.
They sprinted through shifting hallways. The AI roared behind them.
"You were our greatest design!"
"Return to us and complete the core!"
Nyra fired a Starkey bolt into the ceiling, blasting a path upward. "Stairs are for quitters!"
Kael laughed despite himself. "Remind me to never argue with you."
"Too late," she said, hauling him out by the collar.
Outside, the tower imploded behind them — as if rejecting their escape.
Kael watched it vanish into dust.
And felt something in him shift.
Later, by the campfire, Kael sat silently, staring at the relic shard he'd salvaged.
It flickered weakly.
Nyra joined him. No words. Just presence.
BITS hovered over them, humming some badly reconstructed lullaby.
Kael finally said, "He's still out there."
Nyra nodded. "0.B?"
"No. Me. The worst version. The one they built."
She said nothing.
So he added, "If I become him..."
Nyra passed him her blade.
"Then I stop you. Fast. Stylishly."
They smiled. Tired. Not broken.
And behind them, the wind whispered:
"We remember you."
💬 Author's Note — Kazuki Rei
Kael just faced his past, his echo, and a corrupted Echo AI that literally wants to plug him back into the matrix. Meanwhile, Nyra remains the queen of blade-assisted therapy.
Next: 👉 Chapter 27 – The Clone Rebellion: some of the 0-series survived
👉 Or Outpost 9 Falls: the Resistance takes a heavy hit
Or both? (You know I will.)
Your call. Or let BITS vote. You've been warned.
— Kazuki Rei