1. The Storm Before the Hall
Zephyr Headquarters wasn't designed for panic.
It was designed for war.
Still—something about how the corridors sounded now was worse than battle.
No shouted orders.
No alarms.
Only the sound of steps, fast and urgent, like everyone was afraid to speak.
Cael and Lyra were escorted by two Eclipser Sentinels—white mantle armor, visors dimmed, their movements clipped and mechanical as though their suits were buffering emotional input.
Jax met them at the elevator.
He looked like a man who wanted to punch God and settle the paperwork later.
"You two are trending," he grunted.
Lyra blinked. "Trending?"
Jax jerked a thumb at the Pulseband display panel.
> ANCHOR PAIR: RESTRICTED PRIORITY ACCESS —
SYNC SPREAD: 16% // GLOBAL LOCK INITIATED
Global lock.
Cael felt his pulseband tighten like a cuff.
"And the other sync?" he asked quietly.
Jax didn't answer with words.
He flicked his wrist.
Another feed appeared:
> ANIMA EXO-01 —
SIGNATURE ACCEPTANCE: 27%
Cael's stomach lurched.
Lyra didn't gasp. She didn't blink. Her jaw simply set, like a blade finding its sheath.
That terrified him more.
---
2. The Council Dome
The Dome rose above the city like a star embedded in glass.
A hollow sphere of white hexagonal panels, ringed by anchor pylons that thrummed faintly—Aether energy fed directly from Earth's Veins.
When the doors parted, it was like walking into a cathedral of power.
Council members weren't seated; they floated.
Suspended on resonance platforms, their cloaks braided with silver fibers and mirrored sigils. Each one governed a different branch of the Eclipser Corps.
Strategos Nyron, voice of the military.
Magistrix Aurel, judge of Vein Ethics.
Archivist Delta, keeper of Resonance Memory.
And at their center:
Commandant Aureline Zephyr.
Arden's superior. The person even Arden bowed to.
Her eyes were pale like frost on steel—colder than duty, colder than law.
"Anchors," Aureline said.
"Step forward."
The platforms rotated, forming a crescent around them.
Lyra felt Cael tense. He didn't fear enemies. He feared the parts of himself he didn't understand.
She squeezed his hand once, then let go.
They bowed.
---
3. The Interrogation Begins
Aurel spoke first.
"You claim the Echo—this Anima Exo-01—is not an external being but a derivative of the Anchor candidate."
Cael straightened.
His voice was steady.
But a tremor curled beneath every word.
"It isn't a claim. It's memory. Mine."
Strategos Nyron leaned forward, armor shifting.
"Memories extracted by hostile fragments are not admissible without cross-verification."
Lyra's pulseband lit beside Cael's.
"They weren't extracted," she said.
"They were returned."
Aurel's eyes narrowed.
"And you, Vance, are qualified to assess resonance reintegration?"
Lyra didn't flinch.
"I'm the other half of the Link."
It was the first time she said it in front of authority.
Silence fractured.
Archivist Delta spoke, voice like paper being sharpened.
"The Echo's movement across Precursor coordinates has activated systems predating human colonies. Lost Vein Protocols. If this thing believes itself to be Cael Drayen… then the planet does too."
Aureline finally lifted a hand.
"Explain."
Cael breathed once.
"When the Collapse happened… I survived. The Echo didn't. Or so we thought."
His eyes slid to the floor.
"But something was torn out of me. A resonance anchor. Part of my soul, if you want to call it that."
Lyra took over.
"That piece woke up. It built itself a body from the fragments left in the Breach. It became… him."
Nyron's face hardened.
"So the enemy is your discarded self."
Cael shook his head.
"No.
He is the part of me that never healed."
---
4. The Council Reacts
A ripple of voices erupted—algorithmic murmurs projecting through the chamber.
—self-generated Echo constructs are unprecedented—
—symbiotic anchoring breach—
—genetic resonance inheritance—
—this violates the Seraph protocols—
Aureline raised one hand.
The hall went silent.
"You expect us to accept that a sentient Vault ghost reconstructed itself into a person?"
Cael didn't blink.
"No.
I expect you to accept that the Echo believes he is a better version of me."
That landed like a blade.
Lyra's pulseband vibrated at her wrist.
She whispered, barely audible:
"He thinks he's saving the world in your place."
Aureline stared at them in unreadable calm.
"And how do you intend to stop him?"
Cael didn't know the answer.
But his body—his pulseband—did.
"I have to remember more."
The council recoiled as though he'd slapped them.
Aurel hissed, "Memory integration is unstable—"
Nyron slammed his fist into his panel.
"It breaks soldiers—"
Archivist Delta spoke like a knife: "It kills Anchors."
Cael raised his voice.
"It kills me only if I don't reclaim it.
If I let him define who I am—then I'm already dead."
---
5. The Council's Verdict
Aureline finally stood.
Her mantle unfurled behind her like a solar flare.
"Cael Drayen."
He met her eyes.
"You will undergo forced memory reactivation.
Within controlled parameters.
Under the supervision of Magistrix Aurel and Archivist Delta."
The others erupted.
"Suicide."
"Illegal."
"Protocol violation."
"Unstable—"
Aureline snapped:
"It is war."
She turned to Lyra.
"And you, Vance… are his conduit."
Lyra stiffened.
"You will remain bonded at all times. If he fractures—"
Lyra's voice sliced through the sentence:
"I'll be the one who pulls him back."
Not bravado. Not loyalty.
Truth.
Aureline nodded once.
"Then the Council's ruling stands."
The platforms lowered.
The session ended.
Just three words, spoken like a sentence of fate:
> "Begin immediately."
---
6. The Corridor of Long Shadows
When the chamber doors shut, the silence hit harder than the verdict itself.
Cael leaned on the pillar, breathing shallow.
"Forced activation…"
He whispered,
"It nearly killed me last time."
Lyra pressed two fingers to his pulseband.
"Last time you were broken. This time you're recovering."
He met her eyes.
"You say that like it's hope."
"It is."
A pause.
"It has to be."
---
7. The Council Isn't Alone
In the observation tier above, unseen by the Anchors, two additional figures had watched the entire hearing.
One leaned on a cane made of meteor ore.
Her voice was dry as dead leaves.
"Zephyr has forgotten what happened in the first Collapse."
The other was unarmored, unbothered.
A ghost who refused to disappear.
"Our candidate hasn't," he replied.
"Not anymore."
Their gazes lowered to Cael and Lyra far below.
The woman whispered:
> "The Echo walks the Earth to reclaim a crown that never existed."
"The boy walks to remember why he refused it."
The man folded his arms.
"And when the two meet—"
He smiled.
"—the world will remember which one was real."
---
END OF CHAPTER 106 — "Council of the Breach"