1. The Echo That Didn't Leave
Cael had been awake for exactly fifteen minutes when he realized two things:
1. His body was fine.
2. His Echo was still here.
Not inside the Breach.
Not sealed in memory.
Here. In the real world.
The air flickered beside the monitor, distortion cracking like static—
and out stepped the Echo, arms crossed, looking thoroughly annoyed.
"Wonderful," he muttered. "You two finally completed the link. Do you know what that means?"
Lyra, sitting on the edge of Cael's bed, stiffened. "That your attitude is going to get worse?"
The Echo ignored her.
"It means the Breach can see you now. Both of you. Clearly. And it's responding."
Cael frowned. "Responding how?"
The Echo pointed out the window.
"You might want to take a look."
---
2. The Sky That Shouldn't Pulse
Sector C's glass window was normally reinforced, tinted, and virtually bulletproof. Tonight, none of that mattered.
Because the sky wasn't behaving like a sky.
The sky-scar—normally a thin silver fracture—was now a living wound, swirling with violet, gold, and a deep, stormlike black that hadn't been there before. Pulses rippled outward in perfect sync with Cael's heartbeat.
Lyra's, too.
Cael's chest tightened. "It's mirroring us."
"No," the Echo corrected sharply.
"It's searching for you."
Lyra stepped closer to the glass. "Is it… reacting to the reestablished resonance?"
"Partially."
The Echo's voice was flat. Unnervingly so.
"But mostly? It's remembering you."
Cael's pulse froze.
"What does that mean?"
The Echo glanced at him—expression softening just for a fraction of a second, something like pity crossing his features.
"It remembers your name, Cael. All of it. Even the part you've forgotten."
A chill slid across Cael's spine.
"…There's more?"
The Echo didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
The sky itself answered.
A low, humming bass tremor rolled through the entire Garden—soft but unmistakable, like the start of a song so ancient the world had forgotten how to hear it.
Jax burst into the hallway, breathless.
"Uh, Cael? Lyra? I don't want to interrupt your romantic trauma bonding, but the sky is doing a… a thing. A terrifying glowing thing. Commander wants you in the War Chamber yesterday."
Lyra and Cael exchanged a single look.
Time to move.
---
3. War Chamber Briefing — And the Visitor
The War Chamber lights flickered as they entered, screens already pulling data from the expanding sky-scar. Holograms mapped pulsing resonance lines and unpredictable energy curves.
Commander Arden Lyss stood at the center platform, arms locked behind her back, jaw tight.
"Drayen. Vance. Report."
Cael gave the short version.
Lyra gave the precise version.
The Echo gave the terrifying version.
"The Breach is activating. And it's not random. It wants Cael."
Arden processed this without blinking. "Why him specifically?"
Cael opened his mouth—
but the Echo answered first.
"Because he is the one it couldn't consume."
Lyra grabbed Cael's arm.
"What does that mean? The Breach attacked your mind, but you resisted—"
"No."
The Echo stepped forward.
"You don't understand. Cael didn't resist it. The Breach rejected him."
The room froze.
Even the holograms seemed to pause.
Arden's eyes narrowed. "Explain. Now."
The Echo looked at Cael.
"Ready for the truth?"
Cael took a long breath.
"No."
"Too bad."
The Echo raised his hand.
And the War Chamber lights died—
No warning. No smoke. No alarm.
Just instant, absolute darkness.
A moment later, a new light appeared.
A tall silhouette at the far end of the chamber.
A distortion.
A shape made of colorless static.
Like something forced into a human outline.
Not a monster.
Not a person.
A presence that should not exist in physical space.
It stepped forward, soundless.
Jax whispered:
"…Oh hell no."
Arden drew her blade.
"What is that?"
The Echo inhaled slowly.
"That," he said grimly, "is a Breach Herald."
Cael stiffened. "A what?"
"They appear when the Breach chooses a target. They don't attack. They announce."
The Herald lifted its head.
And spoke with a voice like a thousand overlapping whispers:
"CAEL DRAYEN.
THE BREACH REMEMBERS YOU."
The resonance wave hit them like wind.
Lyra grabbed Cael's hand. Cael didn't pull away.
The Herald continued:
"THE TIME OF RETURN APPROACHES.
THE LOST NAME CALLS FOR ITS OTHER HALF."
Cael's voice cracked.
"…Lost… name?"
The Herald extended an arm toward him—slowly, mechanically—then pointed skyward.
Above the Garden, the sky-scar split again, widening, black threadlines crawling like cracks across the heavens.
The Echo cursed under his breath.
"Fantastic. It's starting."
Arden kept her blade raised. "Starting what?"
The Echo answered with deadly calm:
"The Breach has begun phase two."
His eyes hardened.
"It's coming through."
---
4. The Vision Cael Shouldn't See
The Herald dissolved—its form breaking apart into floating static that seeped into the floor, vanishing.
The lights flickered back on.
Alarms erupted across the Garden—red emergency sigils flashing across every monitor.
But Cael didn't see any of that.
Because the moment the Herald touched his mind, a vision hit him like lightning.
Not a memory.
Not a dream.
A truth he had never been allowed to remember.
A crumbling throne.
A shattered emblem of intertwined rings.
A child screaming—a child with silver eyes.
A hand reaching for him through the Breach—
a hand he once reached for back.
And a whisper:
"Your name… is not Cael."
Cael dropped to one knee, gripping his head.
Lyra was beside him instantly.
"Cael! Cael—look at me!"
His breath shook.
His vision swirled.
But he managed to choke out:
"It's not just remembering me…
It wants me back."
Lyra cupped his face, forcing his eyes up to hers.
"I'm not letting it take you."
"You can't stop it," he whispered. "We're linked now. It will drag you with me."
"Then let it try," Lyra said fiercely.
"Because if it wants you… it answers to both of us."
Their Pulsebands pulsed—
a synchronized golden flare.
The Echo stumbled slightly.
"Oh fantastic. Perfect. Your link is overclocking. Again. If you two keep doing this, you're going to—"
A deafening boom shook the Garden.
Everyone turned.
A new rupture tore open across the sky—
massive, spiraling, unstable.
Jax stared at it with horror.
"…Guys? That's not a crack. That's a doorway."
Arden snapped into command mode.
"All units to formation. Lock down the city. Prepare anti-resonance cannons. Drayen and Vance—front line."
Lyra squeezed Cael's hand.
"You with me?"
Cael rose slowly.
Eyes no longer confused.
Eyes steady.
Resolute.
Ready.
"Always."
---
5. The Breach Reaches Down
The sky rippled.
A colossal arm—shaped from swirling, colorless energy—pressed against the edges of the rupture, like a sleeper pushing aside a curtain.
Arden whispered:
"…This is an invasion."
The Echo exhaled sharply.
"No.
This is a retrieval."
Lyra stepped forward, pulse blazing.
"So what do we do?"
The Echo looked at Cael.
And for the first time, he smiled—sadly.
"We do what we've always done."
He lifted his hand.
"And we fight the part of you that never should have existed."
Cael's heartbeat thudded.
Not fear.
Recognition.
As if something ancient inside him whispered:
At last.
Lyra drew her weapon.
Cael activated his pulseblade.
And together, facing the opening sky, they stepped forward—
toward the breach that had finally decided to come for him.
---
End of Chapter 110