Elian sat still for a long time after the echo vanished.
Not because he was tired.
But because of the silence it left behind.
It wasn't emptiness — it was clearing. Like fog lifting after a lifetime of static. That thing had been him, in ways he hadn't understood until it was gone. Not a twin. Not a clone.
A wound.
And now, the pressure in his chest felt lighter.
Almost like breathing in his own thoughts for the first time.
[Thread Resonance Rising…]
[Stability: 19% → 26%]
[Core Progress: 61/100 → 74/100]
The numbers appeared, distant but reassuring.
Progress.
It wasn't strength. Not yet. But it was direction.
Elian rose to his feet, joints aching, throat dry. The mirror in the center of the room had gone dark — its surface now dull stone. The chamber had no exit.
Until the wall behind him peeled open.
Not with hinges. Not with gears.
It unzipped.
Stone unraveling like cloth, folding back to reveal a narrow hallway of thread-lined walls. Each thread glowed faintly — red, silver, or black. They pulsed in no rhythm he could understand.
Elian stepped through.
The hallway was warm. Not comforting — more like a fever. The threads occasionally brushed against his arms, and when they did… images whispered past his mind.
A girl crying behind a locked door.
A blade dropped into water.
Someone laughing in the rain — someone with his face.
None of it was real.
None of it was now.
[Passive Insight Active]
[You are walking through potential.]
Elian paused.
"Potential?"
No answer.
The hallway ended at a raised platform. On it sat something small — a box made of bone-white material, etched with fractal symbols that bent when he looked too long.
One side of it pulsed faintly.
A thread curled around it — silver, thin, and slightly frayed.
He didn't know why… but he reached out and touched it.
[System Thread Interface Accessed.]
[Trait Unlocked: Threadsense I]
[Effect: You can perceive lingering intentions tied to forgotten systems.]
The room tilted.
Just for a moment.
Then… balance.
Elian blinked slowly.
Somewhere beneath his skin, something had clicked.
Not power.
Not skill.
But understanding.
And it terrified him more than anything else so far.
He wasn't just surviving.
He was starting to interface.
With the system.
With the world.
With whatever was beneath it.