The wind was howling by the time they made camp.
They'd taken shelter in a burned-out exo-hub, half-buried in frost. The structure's outer walls were warped by past energy discharges, its roof barely intact. Kael rigged a field generator to stabilize the temperature, while Selis sealed the entry with an old collapsible shield plate. The faint hum of recycled air began to fill the space, a poor substitute for warmth.
Arix sat apart.
Not because he needed distance.
But because the fragment inside him was still pulsing.
> [System Alert: Core Sync In Progress – Subconscious Integration Phase]
[Mental Drift: Stable. System Oversight Engaged.]
His fingers twitched. Every now and then, violet sparks danced between them, faint but undeniable. It was like the shard wasn't just resting inside him—it was listening. Every beat of his heart felt slightly delayed, as if the pulse of the fragment was trying to replace his own.
Calyx approached quietly. She crouched beside him, her coat brushing the frost-coated floor.
"You good?"
"I don't know yet."
"You don't seem hurt."
"I'm not. But something's… rewiring."
He held up his hand. The sparks flickered again—then vanished.
Calyx didn't flinch.
"You're adapting," she said. "I've seen it before. But never this fast."
"Is that a good thing?"
She tilted her head. "Ask me after your next fight."
Kael called from across the shelter. "We've got activity. Low-range movement pings—north ridge."
Thorne grabbed his hammer. "We dealing or running?"
Calyx didn't hesitate. "We hold. Set perimeter sensors."
Selis handed Arix a neural suppressant patch. "If things spike—use that. Slows system bleed if the fragment goes volatile."
He nodded but didn't take it yet.
Instead, he reached inward.
> [System Query Detected – Internal Echo Channeling Initiated]
The Rift responded.
Suddenly, he was standing somewhere else.
Not physically—mentally.
A space of light and shadow, suspended above a chasm of swirling violet energy. Symbols drifted through the air—glyphs half-remembered, half-invented. The silence here wasn't quiet. It listened.
At the center of the void stood a humanoid figure, cloaked in Riftlight.
The Conduit.
A voice echoed from it—not male or female, not old or young. Just present.
"You've touched the pulse. You stand between worlds. But choice remains."
Three glyphs spun in front of him:
Breaker. Shardmind. Echo-Knight.
Each floated with a faint hum. Each glowed a different shade—red for Breaker, blue for Shardmind, violet for Echo-Knight.
Arix hesitated. He could feel his mind pulling toward one. The hybrid path. A little of everything. A path meant to adapt, not dominate.
He reached toward the third.
> [Hybrid Class Path Selected: Echo-Knight]
[System Authorization Granted – Tier 1 Path Unlocked]
The vision fractured.
He gasped awake.
Calyx was still beside him, watching. "That looked intense."
"I chose," he whispered.
> [New Class Path: Echo-Knight]
[Initial Ability Set Forming... Standby]
Arix flexed his hands. He could feel something settling in his limbs. A new kind of reflex. Like the system was anticipating danger before he did.
Across the room, Kael's voice cut through the comms. "Contacts confirmed—two Obsidian scouts, armed and scanning. They're getting closer."
Thorne stood and rotated his shoulders. "Let's crush their skulls before they call friends."
Calyx nodded to Selis. "Hold the line at the entry. No sound. We don't want to draw more."
Arix stood, Riftlight glowing faintly beneath his skin. "Let me take point."
"You sure?" Calyx asked.
He nodded. "I need to test this."
> [Combat Readiness: Enhanced. Tier 1 Perks Available: Rift Pulse | Echo Slide | Adaptive Guard]
The cold air outside bit instantly as the hatch opened. Snow swirled in narrow gusts across the broken concrete. Arix crept forward, following Kael's hand signals toward the ridge. The scouts were close now—he could feel their movement through the shard, like a vibration in his spine.
Two Obsidian soldiers in bone-black armor stood scanning the horizon with echo-field lanterns.
Arix didn't hesitate. He activated Echo Slide.
The system shifted around him. Time distorted. His body slipped forward in a burst of motion, almost like teleportation. He reappeared beside the first scout, blade already in hand.
One clean strike to the throat. Silent.
The second turned—too late.
> [Rift Pulse Activated – 5m radius]
[Enemy Armor Integrity: -37%]
The pulse staggered the scout. Arix's follow-up slash shattered the man's visor, driving him backward into the snow.
Kael dropped from the ledge behind them and finished the second with a clean round to the head.
"Efficient," he muttered. "You're learning fast."
Arix turned back toward the camp. "I think this class was made for me."
> [Echo-Knight Sync: 11%]
[New Passive: Void Reflection – Chance to absorb energy-based damage and redirect]
When they returned, Calyx met him at the entrance.
"No alarms?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No time."
She stared at him a moment longer than she needed to. Then gave a quiet nod.
"You're one of us now," she said.
He didn't reply.
But he didn't need to.
Later, when the others had fallen into rest cycles, Arix sat awake by the shielded entrance. The fragment hummed quietly in his chest, no longer intrusive—but always present. Like a companion, or a guardian, or a debt he didn't understand.
He thought about the Conduit's voice, about standing above that violet abyss. About the paths he didn't take.
> [Echo Memory: Logged | Divergence Alignment Increasing...]
The snow fell in soft spirals beyond the shield wall.
And for the first time, Arix didn't feel cold at all.