As they left the Whisper Archive, something followed.
A flickering presence in the streamlines between data and void—an Error Manifest.
Echo froze mid-transmission. "Kael… we need to run."
It wasn't just corrupted code.
It was him.
A malformed version of Kael, stitched from rejected memory strands. Eyes like hollow sockets, hands digitized into claws of raw data.
"Kael… left me here," the Manifest growled. "I am the cost."
Kael raised his fists, but hesitated. "You're… a part of me?"
"No," the Manifest spat. "I'm the part you deleted."
It attacked—splicing through code, tearing space.
Kael barely dodged, but Echo began projecting counterwave pulses.
"We need to reintegrate it!" she yelled.
Kael grabbed the Manifest. It writhed, screamed—but in its voice, Kael heard something.
"I begged them not to make you like me."
A final pulse.
The Manifest dissolved into Kael's chest, searing him with pain.
His HUD blinked red.
[Fragment Recovered: Truth-Seeker v1.2]
[Warning: Identity Stability—Compromised]