POV: Audrina Crowell
Location: Sector 13A
Time: 02:04 Local
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"Before fire becomes a weapon, it is first a memory that refuses to cool."
— Psalm Tag 88-A, Eidolon Locket Memory Chain (Unsanctioned Echo)
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Mob POV— A Dreamfelt Life
Sasha Marden was a third-tier syrup loader at Aurum BakeStack. She wasn't important. She wasn't even certified for recursion insurance. But she dreamed anyway.
She dreamed of ash falling like feathered snow. Of armor suspended in midair — each piece orbiting a woman formed from light and defiance. A cape of fire. A blade shaped like silence. A face blurred by intensity and heat.
Sasha didn't know her name. But her soul screamed it.
"Audrina!"
Then the world shattered.
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Audrina's Apartment, Sector 13A
Audrina Crowell lay flat on her bed, arms at her sides, locket pressed beneath her pillow. Her eyes were closed, but her mind refused to rest. She didn't want this to be random. Not again.
Tonight was a test. A ritual.
Not chance. Not chaos. She needed control. Something real to map her descent into the veil.
The flame was circling. She felt it. It had been for weeks.
The dream took shape — not conjured, not built. Remembered. she stood on scorched marble. Ash spiraled upward, not down. Her armor — unfamiliar, but unmistakably hers — bore vow-script etched in fading silver across the chestplate. A cape hung from her shoulders, heavy but still.
In her right hand: Her fingers wrapped around a sword.
Or maybe it was a memory shaped like a blade.
Or maybe it was herself — twisted into fire.
Her cape didn't flow.
It waited.
At her feet lay fallen Knights — each one bearing her crest. Their auras bled golden static, vanishing into the stone like forgotten prayers.
Ahead — just past the last dying knight — stood a door.
Freestanding. Flickering. Unreal.
Beyond it stood herself.
The version of her that waited behind the door — the Watcher — was older. Sharper. Her eyes glowed like a statue trapped in fire.
She spoke first.
"The vow doesn't empower you."
"It remembers you. Until you forget yourself."
Audrina didn't speak.
But she felt the pulse at her throat — the locket — begin to burn.
Then another voice — closer, yet somehow behind her — whispered low:
"Hold your line… or someone else will have to die in your name."
The locket's glow turned violent—violet fire arced across her armor.
[RECURSION THREAD TENSION: RISING]
[ENTITY SYNC: INCOMPLETE // SHADOW VOW LINKING]
The dream burned. So did her ribs.
Audrina woke gasping. Cold sweat soaked her sheets. Her lungs seized like she'd been pulled from deep water. Her palm ached. She looked down.
There — Etched into her skin — as if scorched by light — was a sigil. Not decorative. Crested.
The exact one from the dream.A vow mark. But older than her.
Her locket clicked once. Then again. Violet. The pulse settled in her wrist like a warning. Or a welcome.
Her HUD flashed a split-second alert:
[ANCHOR TETHER: UNKNOWN // FLAMELINE SYNC: PENDING]
Somewhere, another log blinked to life. Not hers. Not seen.
A low chime buzzed at the edge of her desk.Her precinct line — a delayed civic cache upload.
She blinked, pulled up the file.Three entries. All from Sector 9-South.
Children. All flagged for thread interference.All marked "resolved"… before any responder logs were filed.
Her locket vibrated once — not a warning.A recognition.
Audrina's jaw clenched
She moved fast. Silent. She opened the drawer, pulled out her emergency notepad, and wrote quickly in blackout code
•Eidolon triggered.
•Flame was personal.
•Knight wore my shadow.
•Watcher with my face.
•Locket glowed purple. Not red.
She stared at the words for a moment, then walked to the stove and set the page aflame.
The paper curled slowly. Blackened. The flame devoured it with patience. Like a truth with teeth.
She stood at the sink. Turned on the light. Faced the mirror.
Her reflection blinked.
Before she did.
For one impossible moment, her eyes glowed violet.And in the mirror's depths — just past the glass — stood a Knight in her stance.
Sword down. Cape aflame. Armor bleeding light.
Her breath caught. The Knight didn't mimic.It waited. Like it had seen her before — but from the other side of a mirror.Not reflection. Not prophecy.Recognition.
She spun around.
Nothing.
Turned back to the mirror.
Normal again.
MIRAGE chirped from her HUD.
[RECURSION FEEDBACK FLAG: CLASS B]
[ENTITY TRACE: SYNCED ANOMALY DETECTED]
[NOTE: EIDOLON LOCKET RECORDING PHASESHIFTED IDENTITY]
She didn't panic. Didn't even frown.
Audrina washed her hands. Folded her towel. Then, from a hidden flap behind the mirror, she pulled out one last scrap of paper.
And wrote a single line:
The vow already knows me.
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[MIRAGE INTERNAL LOG – CLASSIFIED]
Flag: Delta-Aura
Subject: Crowell.A
Note: Locket recursion signature shows undocumented knightline.
Recommendation: OBSERVE. DO NOT CONFRONT.
[Related anomaly trace logged under SUBJECT_11 — CLASS INHERITANCE UNRESOLVED][Trace flag connected: FLAMEBOUND/INCOMPLETE][Local audit node bypassed]
[Report closed before filed]
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