Location: Temporary Shelter – Edge of the Vault Ruins
Kael sat against the crumbling wall, clutching his ribs.
The wound Aeyra gave him hadn't stopped bleeding—not normally.
It bled memory. Pieces of who he was kept slipping away—old combat instincts, forgotten smells, faces he wasn't sure were real anymore.
The Seed wasn't helping.
It was reacting.
Flaring.
Angry.
Yanis watched him, her hands trembling.
> "You're fading," she said quietly.
> "She used Sundivide," Kael muttered. "That blade doesn't cut flesh. It cuts anchors."
> "Anchors?"
> "The parts of me that keep me me."
---
Later – Yanis Alone in the Chamber
Yanis wandered deeper into the broken crypts of the Seedroot Vault, hoping for a moment of silence.
Instead, she found a mirror.
But it didn't show her reflection.
It showed herself—but different.
Shorter hair. Older eyes. A scar that wasn't there.
The image stepped forward.
> "You don't belong here."
> "What is this?" Yanis asked.
Another version appeared. Pale. Hollow-eyed. Markings of the Choir branded into her skin.
> "One of us failed. One of us was taken. Are you the one who survived?"
More versions appeared.
Some crying.
Some armored.
One dead.
The mirror cracked.
> "This is a convergence," said a voice behind her.
It was the girl in red.
> "Your mind is reaching across the fold. The bond is making you bleed into yourself. Into the others."
Yanis gritted her teeth.
> "Why now?"
> "Because Aeyra was right," the girl said. "You are the Echo. But even I didn't know how deep the Echo went."
---
Back with Kael
He blinked, disoriented.
> [Memory Drift Detected – Core Personality Layer: 81%]
[WARNING: Self-Anchor Degradation Critical]
Then—
A vision slammed into him.
He stood at the edge of a glass throne. His hands were soaked in black light. At his feet—Yanis, dead.
And behind her—a fourteenth fragment, pulsing.
A hidden one.
One he himself had buried.
The girl in red's voice whispered through his skull.
> "You wanted to forget that one. Even I couldn't see it until now."
> "But if she dies… it will awaken on its own."
---
Final Scene – Yanis Awakens
Yanis gasped, falling backward out of the mirror-world.
She clutched her head.
> "I saw versions of me… dying. Winning. Becoming something monstrous."
Kael, pale but standing, helped her up.
> "We don't have much time."
> "Why?"
Kael's eyes glowed with something new.
Not rage.
Not Seed-force.
Guilt.
> "Because the fragment I buried... is starting to wake up."
"And it was never meant to be found."