Silence.
The ground lay scattered with fragments of stone, and the wind carried trails of dust through the still air. Everything felt… off. Like a memory that had bled into reality.
Aren stood motionless in the heart of it all—at a place he thought only existed in dreams.
But this time, it was real.
He slowly tightened his grip on his rod, his eyes narrowing as an uneasy pressure gnawed at his chest.
Aren (thinking):
"This place… this feeling… something's wrong."
Then, a faint voice echoed in his ears—distant, like it had traveled through time itself to reach him.
Echo (voice, low and resonant):
"You are not the first, Aren… and you won't be the last."
Aren spun around, but no one was there. Only wind.
Yet for a moment—his body reacted as if something had touched a piece of his forgotten past.
Just then, Aika appeared. She noticed the faraway look in his eyes—too distant, too quiet.
Aika (concerned):
"What's wrong? You've been... different these past few days."
Aren (quietly):
"I don't know. It feels like… something inside me is shifting. Like someone's rewriting parts of me I didn't even know existed."
Tomo's lights flickered as his systems scanned Aren silently.
Tomo:
"Brainwave fluctuations detected. Possible memory interference."
Aika's expression tensed. She took a deep breath and spoke without hesitation.
Aika:
"Someone touched you… from the inside. And it wasn't something normal."
---
The Mirror
They reached an ancient structure, half-buried in earth and time. It resembled a forgotten temple. The air around it was thick—like time itself had abandoned the place.
At its center stood a massive, gleaming mirror-like object. But it wasn't a mirror. Not really.
It shimmered unnaturally, as if reflecting something that shouldn't exist.
Tomo (alarmed):
"This mirror… its frequency doesn't match any known time zone. It's outside the timeline."
Aren stepped closer, cautiously.
He looked into the glass.
And for a fleeting second—his reflection was not his own.
The face. The eyes. They were his… but twisted. Changed. Wrong.
Then, a voice seeped through the mirror—distorted and slow, like broken glass dragging against time.
Echo (from the mirror):
"I am you… but not the version they want. I'm the one they'll never forget."
Aren's eyes locked onto the reflection.
Aren (through clenched teeth):
"Who are you? What do you want from me?"
Echo (calm, with a faint smile):
"I'm what you become… when you're tired of proving yourself to a world that never listens."
Suddenly, cracks began to splinter across the mirror's surface.
The ground trembled violently.
Tomo's lights flared with panic.
Tomo (rapid-fire alert):
"Warning! Reality destabilizing! Time glitch detected!"
Aika (shouting):
"Aren! What did he do?!"
Aren (furious):
"This Echo… he's not just my reflection. He's something else. Something broken."
The mirror shattered—its shards dissolving into the air as if they were never real to begin with.
---
The Glitch
Above them, the sky twisted. Stars blinked in and out of existence, some vanishing entirely. The heavens rippled like melting glass.
Tomo:
"Time fabric collapsing… a major force has been activated."
Aika (breathless):
"This doesn't feel like Spiral… This is something else. Maybe even…"
Aren's voice cut through, deep and certain.
Aren:
"Echo."
---
The scene faded into darkness.
Everything stopped.
And in that silence—
A new story began to write itself.
A new pain stood waiting in their path.
---
Chapter 8 – End