Chapter 106: Ashes of the Echo

The air in the Command Atrium of the newly established P.R.I.M.E. Nexus tasted of raw data and metal—a hybrid of synthetic evolution and ancestral memory. Glass-like walls pulsed with ambient energy, constantly recalibrating to harmonize frequencies from all timelines stitched into convergence.

Evryn stood before the central console, the nodes of the multiverse rotating slowly above her in a 3D projection. A web of light, thread-thin and unsteady, blinked with soft blue pulses—except one. One thread pulsed red.

Zone D-13.

An untouched anomaly pocket.

She pointed. “That’s where we begin.”

Kai stepped beside her, already dressed in his NexGear armor—a sleeker, upgraded design forged with fragmental alloy capable of adapting to any known reality’s physics.

“I’ve prepped the breach transport. Portal’s calibrated. We hit the edge of D-13 in under six minutes,” he said. “Aurex is monitoring from command. Elara’s syncing with the Phantom Line to track ripple signatures.”

Evryn didn’t look away from the projection. “And the Shard?”

Kai’s jaw tensed. “Nothing since the breach. He’s either hiding or already manipulating new fractures.”

Evryn’s voice lowered. “He’s waiting. Testing our resolve.”

Kai placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s show him we don’t hesitate.”

The Breach Drop

The descent into D-13 felt like sliding through liquid static. Reality bent, compressed, and reassembled with each second. Evryn’s breathing steadied, her senses adjusting automatically. Her enhanced neural matrix filtered the chaos, anchoring her to herself even as the space between time shifted.

They landed in what looked like the ruins of a cathedral—but not one from any Earth.

The walls were scorched with the language of forgotten worlds, and the air hummed with latent memories. Time here had collapsed in layers, like ash over a forgotten fire.

“This isn’t a natural echo,” Kai whispered, scanning. “It’s been... remade.”

Evryn knelt, fingers grazing the floor. A trail of shimmering dust pulsed beneath her hand.

“It’s a memory loop,” she said. “Someone—or something—is keeping this place alive.”

Elara’s voice crackled through their comms. “You’re in a containment shell. A memory caught in an eternal relapse.”

Kai frowned. “Relapsing memory? From what?”

Evryn didn’t answer.

Because she already knew.

The stained-glass window above them flickered. It didn’t reflect the room—they saw themselves. But younger. And dead.

Kai’s eyes widened. “That’s—us. From when we—”

“Died in Timeline-0423,” Evryn whispered.

A soft voice echoed from the shadows.

“You left so many pieces behind.”

A figure emerged, cloaked in shadows, wearing Evryn’s face—but hollowed, haunted. Her movements were graceful, precise, but twisted with a sorrow she had never known.

Evryn stared. “You’re one of the echoes.”

The figure smiled faintly. “I’m what you would’ve been… had you not chosen hope over revenge. I am Ashryn. Born from ash, forged in grief.”

Kai raised his weapon instinctively.

“No need,” Ashryn said, waving a hand. “I didn’t bring you here to fight. I brought you here to warn you.”

Evryn didn’t lower her stance. “Why would an echo warn me?”

“Because the Shard doesn’t just want the scattered Core,” Ashryn said, stepping closer. “He wants to reshape the convergence. Tear apart your harmony and reintroduce the war of variants. You stabilized the storm, Evryn. He wants it unraveled.”

Evryn’s mind raced. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because even an echo knows the weight of choice,” Ashryn replied. “And we remember pain clearer than most.”

Suddenly, Elara’s voice surged over comms—distorted and panicked.

“Multiple breaches! Not one echo—dozens! They’re pouring into sectors C through H! They’re—evaporating the threads!”

Evryn’s head snapped up. “Pull us out!”

Kai activated the recall. The portal sputtered—then blinked out.

“No signal,” he growled. “We’re locked.”

Ashryn took a step back. “The Shard has seen your light, Evryn. Now he wants your darkness.”

A quake split the cathedral. Energy surged up from the foundations—dozens of phantom figures emerging through the broken timelines. Each bore the face of someone Evryn had once lost—versions of Kai, of herself, of allies and enemies—all wearing the fractured grin of the Shard.

“Echoes of war,” Ashryn said. “The price of the merge.”

Evryn surged forward, igniting her chronoblade. Kai followed, flanking her as the first wave of echoes attacked. Steel clashed with memory, energy tore through illusions. Ashryn fought beside them, using twisted remnants of Evryn’s own skills—dark, brutal, efficient.

It was like fighting guilt itself.

Kai was knocked back, but Elara’s voice broke through once more, strained but clear.

“I can pull you out—but only if one of you anchors the zone! Someone has to remain!”

“No,” Kai barked. “We go together.”

Ashryn turned to Evryn. “I can anchor. This was always my cage.”

Evryn hesitated. “Why would you sacrifice yourself?”

Ashryn smiled softly. “Because maybe I wasn’t meant to destroy the future. Maybe I was meant to protect it.”

The portal surged open—flickering and unstable.

Kai pulled Evryn back. “We need to go. Now!”

Ashryn stood tall as phantom figures closed in.

“You were the flame,” she whispered. “Let me be the ember.”

The portal snapped shut as they leapt through.

Back at the Nexus

Evryn dropped to her knees. The breach sealed behind them—but at a cost.

Ashryn was gone.

Elara stood by, her Phantom Line still glowing violently.

“That wasn’t the last,” she said. “More echoes are forming. Every choice you made left a scar. The Shard is digging them all up.”

Evryn stood slowly.

“Then we seal the Phantom Line. One thread at a time.”

Kai nodded. “No more shadows. No more fragments.”

Aurex stepped in. “A message just appeared across all known nodes. It’s a challenge.”

He played the transmission.

The Shard’s voice echoed through the room.

“One of you scattered the flame. One of you split the void. Now, watch as your truth consumes you.”

Coordinates blinked into place.

A location outside time.

The final anomaly.

Evryn stared.

Then spoke.

“Prep the jump. We end this.”