Cael didn't eat the fruit.
He just stared at it, then at the girl—Nyra, though she hadn't offered her name yet. She stood with arms crossed, one hand close to the dagger at her side, watching him like a puzzle she hadn't decided whether to solve or break.
"You never said why you're here," he said.
"I did." She glanced around the ruins. "I'm looking for someone."
"Someone like me."
She smiled, thin and humorless. "You ask a lot of questions for someone with ash in his lungs and no System class."
Cael flinched. "You scanned me?"
"No. Your eyes gave you away." She stepped forward. "That distant look? Like you're always half-listening to something no one else can hear? That's Unseen-touch. I've seen it before."
He said nothing. She was fishing—but for what?
"You know what the Wastes are hiding, don't you?" she pressed.
He tilted his head, pretending to be dumb. "Yeah. Starving rats and old bones."
"Try again."
Then it happened—a whisper, low and guttural, rising from the cracks in the stone like breath from a corpse:
"Names... forgotten… locked away…"
The world stilled. Even the wind died.
Nyra's eyes flicked toward the sound—no, toward the feel of it. The kind of weight that pressed on your ribs like a hand from the grave.
"You heard that too," Cael said.
"I hear a lot of things," she replied, voice tight.
And that was when the earth moved.
It started with a tremor, soft and rhythmic—like footsteps too heavy for flesh. Then the shadows at the far end of the ruin stirred, and something rose from the dust.
A figure. No—a construct. Human-shaped but wrong. Built from broken armor, bone, and ash, its head twisted backward, its limbs bound with chain. A single Veil sigil glowed across its chest, pulsing like a heartbeat.
> [SYSTEM WARNING]
???: Woken Echo
Threat Level: Unknown
Combat Recommended: No
"Back," Nyra snapped, drawing her dagger. The blade shimmered with light for a second—then dimmed. "It's not a Wraith. It's worse."
Cael didn't need convincing. He ran, ducking behind a shattered wall as the Echo let out a low, hollow moan.
"I thought you weren't Veil-marked," he hissed as she took position beside him.
"I'm not," she growled. "But I've survived worse than this."
"You sure?"
Nyra smiled again, this time with real fire in her eyes.
"Watch me."