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Chapter 5 - Echobreaker’s Burden

The world returned in fragments.

Light. Cold. The smell of ash.

Kieran Vale groaned as he opened his eyes, blinking into the half-light of predawn. His back pressed against rough stone, his hands bloodied but no longer trembling. His muscles ached in places he didn't know existed, and his heartbeat—steady but heavy—felt louder than the wind rustling through the burned leaves around him.

Above, the twin moons had begun to descend.

The sky bled slowly from black to violet.

He was outside again. The Gate of Awakening was gone, as though swallowed back into the land that birthed it.

[Codex Interface – Online]

[Level: 7][Strength: 6][Agility: 7][Stamina: 6][Magic: 9]

[Skills:– Bloodweave (Lv. 3)– Blood Echo (Lv. 1)– Sanguine Surge (Passive)– Blood Bind (Lv. 1)]

[Title: Echobreaker]– Grants resistance to mental confusion effects.– Boosts Codex affinity growth by 10%.

[Codex Evolution Path Fragment: 1/7 – Crimson Ascendant]

He read through the panel again, but the numbers didn't matter as much as the feeling.

He'd killed himself. Or rather, the better version of himself. More skilled, more honed, more lethal.

And yet, that was the price of growth here.

Not victory. Sacrifice.

"You survived."

The voice, light and familiar, drew him forward before he even looked.

Riven Amari sat a short distance away, wrapped in a torn jacket and cradling a broken metal rod she had clearly been using as a weapon. Her clothes were dusty, streaked with soot and dried blood—but her posture was solid. Alert. Ready.

He sat up straighter. "How long was I out?"

"About five hours," she replied. "I found you near the edge of the old courtyard. The stone was glowing… and then it cracked, and you fell out of nowhere."

She gestured toward a scorch mark on the ground. "You scared the hell out of me."

He looked at her—really looked at her—and saw the strain in her shoulders. The kind of fatigue you only earned from surviving things most people didn't. Things that never left you the same.

"You okay?" he asked.

Riven gave him a dry smile. "You're the one bleeding from eight places and asking me that?"

"…Yeah, well. I didn't fight any mutants while unconscious, so you probably had the rougher shift."

"I didn't say I was okay," she muttered.

They sat in silence for a while, the occasional caw of a distant crow the only sound between them.

Eventually, Riven asked, "What happened in there?"

Kieran looked down at his hands.

"I fought myself."

Riven raised an eyebrow. "That's... metaphorical, right?"

"No," he said. "I mean me. Stronger. Smarter. Faster. Same face. Same voice. Except he didn't hesitate. He didn't flinch. He fought like someone who knew the world owed him nothing, and he was going to take everything anyway."

Riven was quiet for a while. "And you beat him?"

"Barely." His voice was low. "And I'm not sure I should have."

Riven frowned. "You think he deserved it more?"

"I think… he was willing to become what I'm afraid of turning into."

The wind picked up, tugging at the grass and dead leaves around them.

Riven leaned back against a broken tree trunk and said, "I watched my roommate get torn apart two nights ago. She froze. Literally couldn't move. I told her to run. She didn't. You know what I realized?"

"What?"

"I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I just… turned and kept running. That scared me more than anything else." She looked at him, eyes hard. "But if you want to live in this world, Kieran, you can't keep mourning the version of yourself that would've died in the last one."

He looked at her for a long time before answering.

"I'm not mourning him. I'm burying him."

[Codex Update: Mind-State Recognition Achieved][Codex Resonance: +1% Synchronization]

[Insight: Mental resistance has improved.]

Kieran blinked the message away.

"I need to get stronger."

Riven stood. "Then let's start walking. I scouted ahead earlier. There's a service station half a mile up the road—still intact. No power, but some supplies. Might be a place to rest or regroup."

Kieran rose with a quiet groan. "You sure you want to stick with me? This whole Codex thing gets weirder by the hour."

Riven gave a light snort. "I just watched you bleed out a weapon from your palm and take down a mutant clone of yourself. I think I'm safer near you than anyone else I've met so far."

"Selene would disagree."

Riven stiffened. "That woman with the golden eyes? Yeah. She gives me the creeps."

"She's not here anymore. But I doubt she's done with us."

They started walking, each footstep crunching against cracked pavement and scorched leaves. The sun hadn't yet risen. The Bloodmoon lingered above the horizon like an open wound in the sky.

As they reached the service station, Kieran pushed the door open cautiously.

It creaked but didn't fall apart. The inside was dim, but intact. Shelves had been ransacked in places, but canned goods remained. A water jug. Even a few medical kits tucked behind the counter.

They made quick work of what was usable.

Riven patched his shoulder with a bandage while Kieran chewed down a tasteless energy bar. The Codex didn't care for flavor.

"You know," she said as she taped the gauze down, "most guys wouldn't be this calm after everything."

He glanced at her. "You've seen what's outside. Being calm is the only thing keeping me from going insane."

A small smile ghosted across her lips.

[Codex Sync – Passive Observation: Emotional Anchor Detected]

[Note: Emotional links may influence stat growth, skill unlocking, and Codex behavior.]

[Anchor Status: Stabilizing.]

Kieran read the notification, then looked at her again—differently this time.

Whatever this "anchor" was, the Codex saw her as important.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

But he didn't mind it.

Outside, the wind began to shift again—warmer this time.

And for the first time since the world had ended, the faint light of a new day started to break across the distant mountains.

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