He dropped into the temporal rift with blade drawn. It didn't feel like falling—it felt like being undone.
In the Nexus-buried ruins below Ashveil, time hung like dust.
And waiting in the dust… stood a woman.
Black armor. Eyes of mercury. A shardblade like Kael's—only twisted.
[Designation: Astra Vel – Former Ashveil Commander / Presumed Lost / Reawakened by Beacon Pulse]
"Kael," she said, voice like cracked crystal. "You abandoned us. Just like they did."
Kael's jaw clenched. "I was erased."
She scoffed. "We all were."
They circled each other. Her armor bore the Ashveil sigil—but reversed. Inverted like a corrupted mirror.
"You're fighting to rebuild?" she said. "I'm fighting to make them remember what they did."
Then she struck.
Their shardblades collided. Sparks danced in slow-motion as Echo's voice echoed faintly:
"Astra's mind… was fractured. The signal woke her—but not gently."
Kael fought with everything left in him. But something was different. Her strikes had knowledge of him—his moves, his stance.
She wasn't just another revenant.
She had trained him before he was wiped.