[Echo Pressure Rising]
[Danger: Emotional resonance detected in proximity to Subject: NIRA]
"Two memories clashing in one timeline… may cause collapse."
Cael didn't raise his hands.
Didn't flinch.
Didn't run.
He just looked at her — this girl who knew his name, his ruin, and something that even he didn't.
"You're shaking," he said softly.
Nira's spear trembled in her grip. Not out of fear. Out of memory.
Out of rage trying to fight affection.
"I should kill you," she said through clenched teeth. "I saw what you became.
I remember what you did."
Cael took a step forward.
She didn't move.
"I don't remember that version of me. I don't even remember you. But whatever I did…"
His voice broke slightly.
"…I'm sorry."
A pause.
She narrowed her eyes. "You think sorry matters to the thousands you burned?"
Cael said nothing.
[Echo Thread Activated — Unstable Memory Ping]
Fragment Recovered:
"Why did you betray them?"
"Because they trusted the System. And I trusted the truth."
"You killed everyone to rewrite the rules."
"No… I killed to break them."
The words echoed in Cael's skull.
He didn't know if they were his.
But they felt real.
His hands trembled.
"I don't know who that Cael was. But I know this one hasn't made those choices yet."
Nira's grip tightened.
The spear pulsed Veinlight.
"I don't know if I can believe that."
[System Alert: Proximity to known threat— NIRA]
[Probability of memory collapse: 46%]
[Recommended Action: Isolate or neutralize]
"Ignore."
Cael stepped even closer.
"You said I used to be something terrible. Fine.
But you came after me. Not the System.
That means… somewhere inside you, you still want me to be better."
That broke something.
Nira's eyes shimmered — anger fading for just a heartbeat.
"I hated you," she whispered. "But before that…
I think I loved you. And that's the part that scares me most."
---
Before either could speak again, the sky fractured.
A wave of black data-cracks split the clouds, and a shadow dropped into the realm — this time not mechanical, not purge unit… but human.
A man in obsidian robes.
His eyes stitched shut.
His aura — void, alive, wrong.
[System-Class Hunter: ARCHIVIST]
[Specialty: Echo Erasure, Memory Collapse, Timeline Burn]
"Target: Cael Vox. Priority: Absolute."
Nira spun around, readying her spear.
But the hunter's voice didn't come from his mouth.
It came from everywhere.
"Two anomalies found in forgotten layer.
Erase both. Seal the Vein. Burn the thread."
Cael stood beside Nira.
Not running.
Not forgetting.
This version of him had made a choice.
To stand.
---