POV: Jin
The crack in the boundary was small. Barely visible. A hairline fracture running across the air like a thin silver scar. But to Jin, it was deafening.
Boundaries did not crack. Not unless something behind the echo had already awakened.
And it was too soon.
He stepped closer to the edge of the shrine, the chain tightening across his chest with a metallic hiss that vibrated in response to the threat. Symbols along the metal flickered with pale light, sharp and urgent.
"Jin," Yerin whispered, voice trembling. "What does that sound mean?"
"It means the echo is no longer acting alone."
Behind him, Raine's grip on Yerin's hand tightened. Jin felt it even without turning. Human fear had a way of thickening the air, making the world feel smaller and louder. He could sense Raine's pulse from where he stood.
But Yerin's fear felt different. Focused. Heavy with the weight of something she didn't yet understand.
The echo pressed against the boundary again, not attacking… searching. Probing. A ripple of shadow spread across the invisible barrier, inspecting the crack it had made.
Then it stilled.
Waiting.
Listening.
Jin's jaw clenched. "It knows she is here."
"And it can't get in?" Raine asked.
"Not in its current form," Jin said. "But it will not stay in this form for long."
Yerin stepped forward, despite Raine's hand on her arm. "Why is it doing this? Why won't it leave?"
Jin turned to her fully.
The morning light hit her face, softening the exhaustion beneath her eyes. She looked fragile—too fragile for the weight trying to crush her—but she also held a steadiness that tugged at something deep in him. Something old. Something that had survived centuries only to hurt when it remembered her soul's presence.
"It wants what was taken from it," Jin said. "The first you… fought it. You sealed part of it away. It has spent two hundred years waiting for you to be reborn."
Yerin swallowed hard. "So it wants revenge."
"It wants to finish what it started."
Raine pulled her closer. "Then we get out of here. Now. We can't just stand here while something—whatever that thing is—tries to break in."
Jin shook his head. "If she leaves the boundary before sunrise, it will catch her before she reaches the road."
Raine's voice cracked with disbelief. "So what? We just sit here and wait for it to break through?"
Jin stepped toward them, his gaze sharp. "You do not wait. You stay behind me."
The chain responded, coiling faintly as if preparing itself. A soft glow pulsed along its length, reacting to the echo's shift. Jin's senses sharpened—something deeper in the forest stirred.
The echo twisted, rising into a thin pillar of darkness. Its form elongated, stretching upward like smoke drawn by unseen fingers. A faint sound emanated from it… a whisper, layered and broken, like multiple voices speaking through water.
Yerin flinched. "What is it saying?"
"Nothing you can understand," Jin said. "And nothing you want to."
The whispering grew louder but still unintelligible, a fragmented chorus of longing and hatred. The shadows around it thickened, drawing tight toward the crack in the boundary like gravity pulling at loose threads.
Raine stepped back involuntarily. "It's getting stronger."
"No," Jin said quietly. "Something else is giving it strength."
The whispering cut off abruptly.
Then—
A hum.
Low. Resonant.
A vibration that trembled through Jin's bones.
The echo shifted, its darkness thinning and sharpening at the edges. It was changing shape. Preparing.
The chain constricted across Jin's chest hard enough to bruise, forcing him into stillness. It wasn't just reacting… it was warning.
"Move back," Jin said.
Yerin obeyed immediately. Raine followed, pulling her behind one of the shrine pillars, his arm around her protectively.
The crack in the boundary widened with a faint tearing sound.
Barely an inch.
But that was enough.
The echo surged forward, slamming against the boundary with a force so sharp the air rippled. Light flared from the invisible barrier, bright and blinding, scattering against the shadow like sparks hitting water.
Yerin gasped. Raine shielded her eyes.
Jin didn't move.
The shadow writhed violently, pressing against the crack. Its form twisted, bending in directions no living thing should bend. The whispering voices returned—louder now, layered with hunger and rage.
"Jin," Yerin breathed, "can you stop it?"
"Yes."
But the way he said it was not reassurance. It was acceptance. A simple fact.
Because if he didn't stop it here, the next form it took would rip through the city like disease through blood.
He stepped forward, the chain glowing brighter with each movement. Light traced the etched symbols, pale blue fire curling along the metal.
The echo shrieked without sound, recoiling—but only for a moment.
Then something else answered it.
From deep within the forest.
A second vibration.
Stronger.
Darker.
Older.
Yerin felt it like a cold hand sliding down her spine. Raine grabbed her arm as if that alone could protect her.
"What was that?" Raine whispered.
Jin's expression hardened.
"The echo is only the shadow," he said. "The true form is waking."
The forest trembled.
Leaves shook without wind.
Branches groaned.
The ground beneath the shrine vibrated faintly.
Yerin's breath hitched. "Jin… how much stronger is the real one?"
He looked at her.
Really looked.
His voice was softer when he answered. Almost gentle.
"Strong enough to end you if the chain breaks."
Raine stepped in front of her. "Then don't let it break."
Jin didn't respond.
Because he knew something they didn't:
The crack in the boundary wasn't caused by the echo.
It was caused by the bond awakening too early.
The connection between Yerin and the chain had destabilized the old protection, weakening it in places it shouldn't have weakened.
And now the darkness outside knew exactly where to strike.
The echo gathered itself for another hit.
The forest behind it pulsed with that deeper presence.
The boundary flickered once.
Too early.
Too weak.
And Jin stepped forward, the chain burning bright across his skin.
"Stay behind me," he said.
The morning sun had not yet risen.
And the first nightmare of Yerin's past life had finally found her again.