Chapter:13 Echoes of The Past

Elias sat in his quarters, staring at the dull gray walls. The hum of the underground facility buzzed faintly in the background, but his mind was elsewhere. Questions gnawed at him, shadows creeping into the corners of his thoughts. Across from him, Jenna sat with her arms crossed, her expression tight with concern.

"You should rest," she said, her voice soft but firm.

Elias exhaled sharply, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "I can't. Not after what happened in the lab."

Jenna leaned forward, her eyes searching his. "We'll figure this out. Together."

Before he could respond, a knock echoed through the small room. Elias hesitated, then rose to answer. The door slid open with a hiss, revealing Captain Grant and Dr. Lane standing side by side. Their faces were unreadable.

"We have something to show you," Grant said, his tone grave.

Elias and Jenna exchanged a glance before following them through the facility's dimly lit corridors. The metallic walls gleamed under the fluorescent lights, the air thick with the scent of sterilized steel and machine oil. The deeper they went, the quieter it became, until the only sound was the rhythmic thud of their footsteps.

They stopped at a reinforced steel door, secured with biometric locks. Grant pressed his palm against the scanner. A green light flashed, and the door slid open with a deep, mechanical hiss.

Inside, the room was cold, the air heavy with something unseen. A containment pod stood at the center, its glass surface fogged from within. Suspended in the chamber was an Echo—but unlike any Elias had seen before.

Its form was almost human, its body flickering between solidity and nothingness like a mirage. It wasn't a mindless husk, not a twisted shadow of what once was. This was different. It had shape. Purpose.

Elias took a slow step forward, his breath catching in his throat. "Who… what is that?"

Dr. Lane hesitated. "We don't know for sure. But he has been here since the early days of the Collapse. Unlike the others, this one has never tried to escape. He just… waits."

The figure inside stirred. Slowly, its head turned, and glowing pale eyes locked onto Elias.

Then, a voice—soft as a whisper, yet loud enough to echo inside Elias's skull.

"You have come."

Jenna sucked in a breath. Grant's hand hovered over his holstered weapon. Dr. Lane's fingers tightened around her clipboard, knuckles white.

Elias swallowed. "Who are you?"

The Echo didn't blink. "I am what remains."

A strange pressure settled in Elias's chest, a feeling just beyond his grasp. "Do you know me?"

The Echo's form flickered. Then, in a voice that seemed to reach through time itself, it spoke again.

"You are the bridge."

Dr. Lane stiffened. "The bridge? Between what?"

The Echo's image rippled, as if caught between two realities. "Between what was… and what will be."

A shiver ran down Elias's spine. He had no idea why, but deep inside, something told him this Echo wasn't like the others. It wasn't lost. It wasn't broken. It understood.

Grant stepped forward, his voice edged with urgency. "How do we stop the Collapse?"

The Echo turned to him. "It is not something to stop. It is something to complete."

Grant's expression darkened. "What does that mean?"

The Echo flickered again. "Elias knows."

Silence. Then, slowly, all eyes turned to him. His heartbeat pounded in his ears. And then—

A memory surfaced. Not a dream. Not a vision. A truth buried so deep within him that it had been lost until now. Images flooded his mind. A world before the Collapse. People vanishing, their souls fading into echoes. A choice—one he couldn't remember making.

Jenna touched his arm. "Elias?"

He barely heard her. The pieces were falling into place, forming a picture too terrible to comprehend.

Elias wasn't just connected to the Echoes.

He was the reason they existed.