The Awakening of the Nightmare

The tanks were just the beginning.

As the facility trembled, hidden mechanisms deep within the walls began to shift. A massive door at the far end of the chamber hissed as pressurized locks disengaged.

Mia's stomach twisted. "What did you do?"

Elias didn't answer.

Because the door was opening.

And whatever was behind it… wasn't just another experiment.

Noah grabbed Mia's arm. "We need to go. Now."

But Mia couldn't move.

She could feel it.

A presence beyond the door.

Not an Echo. Not a construct.

Something ancient.

Something that shouldn't exist.

Then, a single voice—distorted, layered, almost inhuman—whispered from the darkness.

"…Mia."

The door opened completely.

And the nightmare stepped forward.

The chamber trembled as the final door fully slid open. A thick, unnatural mist seeped out, carrying a metallic scent—like rusted iron and something… older.

Mia's breath hitched.

The presence was overwhelming. It wasn't just powerful—it was wrong. Like something that didn't belong in this world had forced its way through.

The figure inside finally stepped forward.

At first glance, it looked human. A tall man, dressed in what seemed like remnants of a uniform from another time—faded insignias on his sleeve, the fabric torn and decayed. But his face…

It wasn't right.

His skin shimmered, shifting between real and something else entirely, like he was caught between two worlds. His eyes were completely blank, just like the failed constructs. But unlike them, he wasn't unstable.

He was in control.

His gaze landed directly on Mia.

And then he spoke.

"...You're not ready."

The voice sent a wave of cold through Mia's body. It wasn't just a sound—it echoed, layered with something ancient, something unnatural.

Noah raised his weapon. "Who the hell is that?"

Elias didn't answer.

But Seraph did.

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"That's not just a construct. That's an Echo Reborn."

Mia's mind raced.

Echoes weren't meant to be reborn. They existed in the Hollow Veil as remnants of past lives—fragments of lost memories and lingering emotions. Echo abilities allowed people to interact with them, to draw strength from them.

But this… this was different.

This was an Echo pulled fully into the physical world. Not a construct. Not an illusion. A true resurrection.

Elias finally spoke.

"This is the result of my work." His voice was eerily calm. "A complete Echo Rebirth. No instability, no half-existence."

Jonah clenched his jaw. "You're playing god, Voss."

Elias ignored him. His eyes remained locked on the reborn figure.

"Do you remember your name?" he asked.

The figure tilted its head slightly, as if considering the question. Then, finally, he answered.

"…I was Elias Voss."

The room went silent.

Mia's blood turned ice cold.

No. That wasn't possible.

The real Elias Voss—the one standing in front of them—showed no reaction. He simply nodded.

"I thought as much."

Liam took a step back. "This is a joke, right? There can't be two of you."

Elias—both of him—remained still.

Seraph, for the first time, looked genuinely shaken. "You weren't just experimenting on Echoes. You were experimenting on yourself."

Elias Voss, the scientist, finally turned to face them.

"I told you before," he said, his voice measured, "the Nexus is incomplete. The true power of Echoes isn't just about accessing the past. It's about rewriting it."

Mia's mind reeled. "You mean… you used Echo energy to recreate a past version of yourself?"

The reborn Elias Voss spoke again.

"No." His expression was unreadable. "I'm not just a version of him. I am who he was meant to be."

A cold realization hit Mia.

This wasn't just a memory given form.

This was a divergence. A paradox.

Elias Voss had somehow split his existence into two. One who remained in the present, and one who had been reborn from his own past self.

And now they were standing face to face.

The reborn Elias took another step forward.

"This world is broken," he said. "The Nexus has been trying to correct it, but you… you're standing in the way."

Mia instinctively raised her hand, feeling her Echo abilities pulse. "What are you talking about?"

The reborn Elias didn't answer. Instead, he reached out.

The air around him shattered.

A ripple of energy spread outward, distorting reality itself. The walls of the chamber flickered, shifting between past and present, as if time itself was being rewritten in fragments.

Noah cursed. "He's collapsing the damn space around us!"

Elias—the original one—narrowed his eyes.

"I expected resistance," he murmured. Then, louder: "If you value your lives, leave now."

Mia's heart pounded.

Something about this was different from every battle they had fought before.

This wasn't just an enemy.

This was a living paradox.

And if they didn't stop him, reality itself might start to break.

The air cracked like shattered glass. Reality itself rippled as the reborn Elias Voss extended his hand further, distorting the space around them. The once-solid floor beneath Mia's feet flickered—one moment it was cold metal, the next it was a ruined stone temple, and then an empty void.

Seraph swore under her breath. "He's destabilizing the timeline. If this keeps up—"

"We'll be erased," Elias—the original—finished for her. His voice remained calm, but there was a sharp edge beneath it. "This paradox shouldn't exist. And yet, here he is."

Mia felt her Echo abilities surge, reacting instinctively to the chaos. The reborn Elias was using the Nexus in a way no one else had before. He wasn't just manipulating Echo energy—he was reconstructing time itself.

And worse, he was succeeding.

Jonah gritted his teeth. "Someone better explain—fast—how the hell there are two of you."

Elias, the original, didn't look at him. His eyes were fixed on his reborn counterpart.

"I told you before—the Nexus isn't just about accessing past memories. It's about rewriting them." He took a step forward. "What you're seeing isn't a clone, or a ghost. It's me. Or rather, the version of me that the Nexus decided was 'correct.'"

Mia's stomach twisted. "Meaning…?"

The reborn Elias turned his blank gaze toward her. "He is the mistake," he said simply, pointing at the original. "I am what was meant to be."

A pulse of energy spread outward, and suddenly Mia saw everything.

The Hollow Veil. The fractured timelines. The forgotten paths that could have been.

And at the center of it all—Elias Voss.

Not one man, but two opposing versions of the same existence.

The Nexus had judged them.

And only one was supposed to remain.