NULL lay in shattered code, still twitching. Its last words were barely audible.
"Was I… ever… real?"
Kalen sat in silence beside the broken Echo Engine. "They made you better. But they made me first."
Kael looked at his younger self—not as a rival, but as a shadow left behind.
"I'll get you out of here."
"No," Kalen said. "The vault isn't empty. I'll keep the others asleep. You've got a war to fight topside."
Kael hesitated.
Kalen gave a faint grin. "We're both real. But only one of us has a future."
The stairs reappeared behind Kael.
Echo's voice returned. "Signal cleared. Null is terminated. But something's watching. I don't know what."
As Kael emerged back into the Nexus stormlight, the sky pulsed again.
[Beacon Synchronicity Detected]
[Echoborn Count: 2 Confirmed – 3 Unknown]
A new war had begun.
And Kael was no longer the only player.