The night stretched endlessly above the shattered city. Paris, once alive with laughter and light, now slept under a sky heavy with ash. The aftermath of Adrian's awakening had left a scar on the world — an invisible mark that even the wind seemed to avoid.
Adrian sat at the edge of a broken rooftop, the city lights flickering below him like dying embers. His coat, torn and darkened by blood, fluttered in the faint breeze. His eyes glowed faintly—an unnatural silver hue, neither human nor heroic.He could still feel it. The voice."Do you understand now, vessel?"
The words echoed in his mind, colder than the night air. The Heroic Echo. The entity that had reached out to him through the depths of the System. It had given him strength, yes—but it had also carved something out of him. Something human.
He clenched his fist, staring at the faint sigil burning in his palm—a swirling crest that pulsed with unstable energy.
Heroic Resonance Detected: Class—Unstable.Warning: Synchronization Level—93%. Critical Threshold Approaching.
The message appeared briefly in his vision before fading. He exhaled sharply. "Critical threshold… huh," he muttered. "Guess that's what losing your mind looks like."
Below, the city's guardians—the Heroic Division—were already cleaning up what they called "The Catacombs Incident." Their leader, a man known as Captain Varen, had declared Adrian an unregistered anomaly.They would hunt him soon.He could feel it.
Meanwhile — The Fallen Order
Deep beneath the abandoned metro lines, Clara sat before a cracked mirror, staring at her reflection.Her once-golden hair was streaked with soot and blood. The spark in her eyes had hardened into steel.
Around her, others gathered—those abandoned by the Heroic Academy, labeled as failures or outcasts. Some bore marks of failed contracts, others had lost limbs or powers. Together, they called themselves The Fallen Order.
Clara spoke, her voice firm but low."Adrian is alive."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. A few gasped, others whispered his name like a ghost story."I saw it in the resonance field," she continued. "His energy signature—it's… changing. He's not human anymore."
A scarred man leaned forward. "You mean he's one of them now?"
Clara shook her head slowly. "No. He's something new. Something the System doesn't understand."
The silence that followed was heavy.Finally, she stood."If the world refuses to see the truth, then we'll show them. The Heroic System is a lie. And Adrian… might be the key to breaking it."
Return to Adrian
Hours passed. The streets below grew quiet, but Adrian couldn't rest. His veins burned with energy, his heartbeat syncing to a rhythm that wasn't his own. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw flashes—battlefields drenched in light, voices chanting in languages long forgotten, and a throne of fire.
The Echo spoke again, whispering through the static of his mind.
"You were never meant to serve their world. You were meant to destroy it."
Adrian's jaw tightened. "And what if I don't want that?"
"Then you will die. Like all the others who carried my flame."
A violent surge of energy exploded from his hand, cracking the stone beneath him. He stood, breathing hard. His shadow stretched unnaturally far across the rooftop, twisting, almost alive.
New Skill Unlocked — Heroic Echo ManifestationAllows projection of ancestral spirit fragments. Warning: risk of corruption 78%.
"Great," Adrian muttered. "So now I'm haunted and cursed."
But as he looked down at the city—his city—he couldn't shake a strange feeling. It wasn't fear. It wasn't even anger.It was purpose.
For the first time in years, Adrian felt like he mattered.
He turned away from the edge of the roof. His next step was clear. He had to find out what the System really was—and why it chose him.
Later That Night
The faint glow of candlelight filled a dusty library, its air thick with the smell of old paper and magic residue.An old man sat at a desk, flipping through ancient records—the only surviving scholar of the Heroic Era.
When he turned a page, a chill swept through the room.There, burned into the parchment, were the same markings that glowed in Adrian's hand.
The man's eyes widened. "It can't be… The Echo survived…"
He hurriedly scrawled a note and sealed it with wax. The message was simple, but urgent.
To the Council of Heroic Ascension — The Rejected One has awakened.
Adrian — Dawn
As the first light of dawn crept over the horizon, Adrian stood atop a ruined cathedral.The city was silent.For a brief moment, he let himself breathe.
"I used to think being a hero meant saving people," he whispered. "But maybe… it means destroying the lies they live under."
His reflection shimmered faintly in the stained glass window. For a second, he saw another version of himself staring back—eyes glowing gold instead of silver, expression calm and resolute.The two reflections blinked in unison.
And then, the whisper returned."Embrace me fully, Adrian. Become the Hero they fear."
He didn't respond. He just smiled faintly.
"Maybe I already am."
The morning wind carried the sound of sirens in the distance. The hunt had begun.
Adrian turned his back to the rising sun, stepping down from the cathedral ruins. His coat billowed behind him like a shadow.
The world had a new enemy.And he had a purpose again.