They emerged into the light—but it wasn't sunlight.
It was Riftlight.
The tunnel's end opened onto a broken ridge, a high outcrop overlooking what remained of the Core's surface shell. The world below wasn't a crater—it was an inverted wound. A sink of twisted stone and fractured metal, swirling with Rift-born storm and anchored by a black spire that pulsed like a heartbeat.
> [Proximity Alert: Primary Core Visual Acquired]
[Thread Density: Critical]
Kael let out a low breath. "We made it."
"No," Arix said. "We found it. That's different."
Selis, pale and wrapped in gel mesh, stirred. Her voice was weak, but sharp. "How the hell do we get down there?"
Calyx limped forward. "There's a slope to the northeast. Covered in debris, but passable. Maybe."
The wind howled through the ridge. They were high enough to see the full stretch of the corrupted valley, and what they saw made their skin crawl. Entire landscapes warped and flowed like liquid. Rocks didn't obey gravity. Static rolled across the air in pulses.
Arix stared down at the spire, feeling the shard vibrate in his chest with increasing urgency. Not fear—anticipation. Recognition.
> [System Sync Imminent – Core Interface Approaching]
"It's responding to me," Arix murmured. "It's... alive."
Calyx turned toward him. "Or it thinks you're alive because of it."
They stood for a long moment in silence.
Then the wind shifted.
A tremor passed beneath their feet—subtle at first, then deeper. A low vibration, like a voice humming from beneath the world.
Kael dropped to one knee, checking ground stability. "Something's coming."
The sky tore open.
Above the Core, the Rift split wide. A storm, thick and violet-black, spiraled out in every direction. From within it came shapes—limbs of light and shadow, bending in ways no organic body should. Their screams came like static, like laughter, like things remembered and things feared.
Reclaimers.
Aberrants.
And something else.
Something vast.
A giant stepped from the storm, wrapped in Rift armor, towering nearly twenty meters. Its arms were jagged and asymmetrical, its core exposed, glowing like a dying star. A blade longer than a gunship hung from its back, and its head—smooth and mirror-like—reflected the storm above.
When it opened its mouth, the sound that emerged was familiar.
Arix's voice.
"You shouldn't have come."
> [WARNING: Echo Apex Signature Detected – Classification: Mirrorborn]
Kael raised his weapon slowly, disbelief tightening his grip.
"What the hell is that?"
Calyx stared, jaw clenched. "It's you, Arix. Or what you could've been."
Selis pulled herself upright in the cradle. "If that thing's your shadow... what's it guarding?"
Arix didn't answer.
The Mirrorborn raised one arm, and the Reclaimers began to descend the slope in waves—twisting, howling, synchronized like a single thought across a thousand broken minds.
> [Enemy Units: 50+ Detected]
[Defensive Viability: Low]
[Suggested Action: Delay or Divert]
Kael cursed under his breath. "We can't fight them head-on. We're not ready."
"We might not get another chance," Arix said. "This is it. The Core knows we're here."
Calyx looked at the slope. "Then we dig in. Use terrain. We've held worse ground."
Selis coughed. "Barely."
Kael nodded. "Alright. I'll set traps. Charge fields and mines. Selis, I need drone support. Arix, you hold the front."
He looked to Calyx. "Can you cover our flanks?"
Calyx drew her rifle. "Try me."
They spread out fast. Kael triggered two proximity mines into the crater wall. Selis launched a single recon drone into the storm. Calyx took the far ridge, her position high and steady. Arix stood center, blade drawn, eyes locked on the oncoming wave.
His shard pulsed.
> [Core Signal Synchronizing – Alignment: Incomplete]
[Echo Reinforcement: Awaiting Trigger]
He didn't know what that meant.
But he knew the fight was coming.
The first Reclaimer reached the ridge—and Arix met it with a downward slash that cleaved it in two. Behind it, more poured forward.
Kael opened fire, his rifle barking like thunder. Selis's drone dropped a pulse charge that staggered a cluster of enemies. Calyx landed precision shots, dropping targets just before they closed.
Still, they came.
A Reclaimer nearly reached the cradle, but Kael intercepted it, shielding Selis with his own body.
Arix was everywhere—moving like a shadow, his shard guiding him.
Still, the Mirrorborn did not move.
It stood on the ridge beyond, watching.
Waiting.
Judging.
Then it stepped forward.
The earth groaned beneath its weight.
Arix turned toward it.
Their eyes met—though the Mirrorborn had no eyes. Just a reflective surface that showed Arix not as he was, but as something more. Something monstrous. Something perfect.
"You can't win," the Mirrorborn said in his voice. "Because you haven't decided what you are."
Arix stood tall, breath ragged.
"I'm not here to be you," he said.
The Mirrorborn raised its blade.
> [Engagement Level: Catastrophic]
[Survival Probability: < 27%]
And as it descended the ridge, ready to end them all—
the ground behind Arix erupted.
A hammer struck down from the sky.
Forged in Riftlight. Reforged by memory.
It landed with a thunderous impact, cracking the ground and sending the Reclaimers into chaos.
Arix turned.
It was Thorne's hammer.
But no longer the same.
Its head glowed with violet veins, its shaft wrapped in charred steel and cloth.
Etched on its side: Thorne's Echo.
Arix reached for it.
And the storm screamed.