The world had forgotten how to be quiet.
By the second day within the Core's boundary, even silence came with sound—low pulsing beneath the soil, whispers on the edge of wind, shadows that moved just slow enough to make you question whether they ever moved at all.
The team traveled single file now.
Kael took point, visor scanning for Rift irregularities. Arix followed close behind, the shard in his chest pulsing with a rhythm that matched neither his heartbeat nor the earth beneath them. Selis remained in the rear cradle, her readings stable but her expression tight. Calyx stayed at Arix's side, limping, watching everything.
> [Distance to Core Perimeter: 5.1 km]
[Atmospheric Integrity: 32%]
The landscape had changed again. Trees no longer grew upward. Their trunks bent sideways, corkscrewed, roots pulsing with dull violet light. The sky was too low here, the clouds heavy with static. Now and then, lightning flashed without sound, and the wind carried the scent of ozone and metal.
As they reached the mouth of a collapsed transit tunnel, Arix halted.
The air here felt thick—not just humid or heavy, but saturated with presence. He placed a hand on the wall. It was warm.
Too warm.
> [Warning: Reactive Memory Field Detected – Thread Density: Elevated]
He turned to the others. "This tunnel leads through the final kilometer. We either go through it, or we go over the mountain above. That'll add two days minimum."
Selis grimaced. "We don't have two days."
Calyx nodded. "We go through."
The tunnel's mouth yawned open like a beast mid-breath. Light flickered deep within—artificial and wrong. They stepped into it as a group, weapons drawn, senses sharpened.
Inside, the walls whispered.
Literally.
Fragments of conversation—half-remembered arguments, laughter, screams. Arix heard Thorne's voice. Kael's. His own. But none of them were real.
> [Cognitive Thread Degradation – Maintain Anchor Focus]
"Focus on your breath," Arix said quietly. "And on each other. Don't get pulled in."
They passed flickering lights and broken terminals that sparked with static. Half-formed figures stood in doorways that no longer existed. Shadows lingered in corners where walls should be.
Then the lights failed completely.
And something else began to move.
---
The darkness wasn't total. Arix activated a faint illumination field from his wrist, just enough to outline the walls.
That was when they saw it.
Marks. Scratches, etched deeply into the tunnel's walls.
Words.
Thousands of them.
Written by hand. Carved in haste. Repeated phrases.
"It watches." "Do not lie to yourself." "You are already chosen."
Calyx exhaled sharply. "These weren't made by Aberrants."
"No," Arix said. "These were made by people."
The tunnel narrowed. The further they went, the worse the markings became—less coherent, more erratic. Scribbles turned to gouges. The air grew colder. The shard pulsed rapidly.
> [Proximity Warning: Active Defense Signature Detected – Unknown Source]
Kael raised his weapon. "Movement. Multiple echoes. Five meters out."
Selis activated the cradle's shielding. "Defensive stance."
Arix stopped walking. "Let it come."
Shapes stepped from the walls.
They weren't Aberrants. They weren't Echo-walkers either.
These were something new.
Their forms flickered between armor and shadow, their faces blank except for a burning brand over the left eye—an inverted sigil that matched the shard's interface glyphs.
> [Echo Reversal Entities Detected – Classification: Reclaimers]
One stepped forward. Its voice was a chorus.
"You carry the original sin."
"I carry the truth," Arix replied.
"You are deviation."
"I'm choice."
They attacked.
---
The tunnel exploded into light.
Calyx fired first, her pulse rifle ripping through the nearest Reclaimer. It split in half—and then reformed. Kael's grenade caught two mid-charge, scattering their cohesion but not destroying them.
Arix moved forward, blade in hand, shard blazing. The lead Reclaimer met him with inhuman speed. They clashed, echo for echo, blow for blow.
> [Adaptive Combat Mode Engaged – Core Stability: 83%]
Selis worked fast, disabling distortions in the tunnel's field to keep them grounded in reality. One Reclaimer slipped through Kael's defenses and lunged toward her—only to be knocked back by a hardlight shield blast Kael redirected just in time.
"They're phasing!" he shouted. "You can't kill them—just delay!"
"Then we run," Calyx yelled. "Go!"
Arix ducked beneath a sweeping strike and slammed his blade through the creature's core. The thing shrieked—one voice splintering into hundreds. It shattered into raw data and flickered out.
They ran.
Through the corridor, through fields of glitched light and broken air. Every few meters, a Reclaimer emerged. Every time, they fought—or dodged.
One of them caught Calyx's shoulder. She staggered, almost dropped her rifle. Arix spun and cut it down.
"Move!" he barked.
They burst into a chamber of old-world architecture—Obsidian servers and clean steel, long since corrupted. The Reclaimers didn't follow.
Arix collapsed to one knee.
> [Core Perimeter Breached – 1.4 km Remaining]
[Thread Stability: Minimal]
Kael helped Selis set the cradle down. Calyx slumped against the wall, breathing hard.
"What the hell were those?" she asked.
Arix looked at his blade.
"They were... us," he said. "Failed choices. Versions that obeyed."
Silence fell.
They were too close now.
Too deep to turn back.
And something ahead was waiting for them to finish the path.
Or become another whisper in the wall.