Echoes of the Forgotten

The weight of what had just happened pressed heavily on Idris. His chest still rose and fell unevenly, his mind caught between the sensation of time slipping through his fingers and the terror of knowing the Echo had felt him.

And it was coming.

The hooded woman, calm as ever, observed him with a knowing look. "You have taken the first step," she said, her voice quiet but unwavering. "But the path ahead is not survival—it is mastery. And time is not your ally."

Idris clenched his fists, still feeling the echoes of the power he had just wielded. He had rewound the Echo. He had done something impossible. And yet, he had no idea how he had done it.

Elise folded her arms, shooting a glance at Nyla and Rook. "So what now? If ECHO-01 is our best shot at stopping this thing, then we need to move fast."

Rook, who had been eerily silent, finally spoke. "That station is locked in a temporal drift. Getting there won't be as simple as jumping to its coordinates." He turned his gaze to the hooded woman. "You said it was built by people who understood time's true nature. Who were they?"

A flicker of something passed through the woman's glowing eyes. "Not who. What."

The answer sent a chill through the room.

Before Idris could press for more, the chamber around them shifted. The symbols etched into the walls flickered, pulsing erratically, and the air itself seemed to hum with an unnatural vibration.

Something was coming.

The hooded woman stiffened. "It knows where you are."

A sharp pulse of dread went through Idris's chest.

"The Echo?" Nyla asked, already reaching for her weapon.

The woman nodded. "It never stops hunting."

And then—

The walls of the chamber rippled.

It wasn't like before. This wasn't the timeweaving Idris had experienced. This was different—an intrusion. A force breaking through the fabric of reality itself.

A low, vibrating hum filled the air.

Not a sound.

A presence.

Then—

The entire chamber collapsed.

The Void Between Time

Idris fell.

Not through space. Not through air.

He was falling through time itself.

His body felt weightless, his vision swimming with distorted images—fragments of moments that didn't belong to him. A burning city. A child screaming. A hand reaching for something just out of reach.

Was this real?

He clenched his jaw, trying to focus.

Shapes twisted around him—specters of the past and future, overlapping in an infinite spiral. He could feel something pulling at him, trying to unravel him from existence.

Then—

A hand grabbed his wrist.

The world snapped back.

Idris gasped, stumbling forward as his feet found solid ground.

He wasn't in the chamber anymore.

He stood in the middle of a ruin.

Massive, broken structures stretched endlessly in every direction, their surfaces carved with the same symbols he had seen in the chamber. The air smelled of dust and something else—something ancient.

Elise and Nyla landed beside him, barely keeping their balance. Rook appeared moments later, rolling to his feet with ease.

And then—

The hooded woman stepped forward, completely unshaken.

"What… what was that?" Idris asked, still catching his breath.

She studied him. "A glimpse into what waits beyond time."

Idris turned in a slow circle, taking in their surroundings. "Where are we?"

Rook's gaze darkened. "I think a better question is when are we."

The hooded woman nodded approvingly. "Smart. This place exists outside the normal flow of time. A remnant of what was lost." She gestured around them. "This is the last stronghold of the Sa'Khel."

Idris's breath caught in his throat. "You mean… this was their city?"

"Not just a city," the woman said. "It was a sanctuary. A place where time could be woven, unraveled, and rewritten. The last stand against the Echo."

Elise took a cautious step forward, eyeing the ruins with unease. "If this place was so powerful, why is it destroyed?"

The hooded woman's expression darkened. "Because the Echo found it."

Silence fell over them.

Nyla knelt, brushing dust from a piece of shattered metal embedded in the ground. The same glowing symbols covered its surface, pulsing faintly. "These symbols… they're still active."

Idris crouched beside her, running his fingers over the strange markings. As soon as he touched them—

A pulse of energy shot through his mind.

Images. Voices.

A council of figures in flowing robes.

A machine, pulsing with raw, temporal energy.

A desperate attempt to seal something away—

And then, the overwhelming sense of failure.

Idris jerked back, his pulse hammering. He looked up at the hooded woman. "They tried to stop it."

She nodded. "And they paid the price."

Elise glanced around warily. "If the Echo destroyed this place, what's stopping it from doing it again?"

"The Echo doesn't move freely here," the woman said. "This place is out of time. It is neither past nor future—it simply is."

Idris exhaled sharply. "So this is where we learn?"

The woman nodded. "You asked how to win. The answer lies here."

Rook folded his arms. "Then let's not waste time."

The hooded woman turned toward a crumbling archway. "Follow me."

As they moved deeper into the ruins, Idris couldn't shake the feeling that something else was here.

Watching.

Waiting.

And whatever it was—

It wasn't friendly.