Echo’s Reflection

The shadow stood motionless, its smirk stretching with an unnatural stillness, like a reflection that had learned to move on its own.

The air in the outpost ruins thickened, the rune-scarred walls flickering with a faint, residual glow. The scorch mark where the rift had seethed was now a wound left to fester, etched into the cracked concrete. Liam's breath caught, his chest still aching with the phantom pull of the lost rift, a wound that pulsed with every heartbeat. The Echo thrummed against his chest, a single, resonant beat that sent a shiver down his spine, as if responding to the shadow's presence. He felt a pull—deep, instinctual—a warning that surged through his mind, whispering of synchronization, of something trying to align with him.

Elise reacted first. "Liam, move!" Her voice cut through the silence, sharp and urgent, as she hurled her dagger at the shadow, the blade spinning with deadly precision. It struck true—but phased through the figure, dispersing into void-like static with a crackle, the dagger reforming on the other side and clattering to the ground. The shadow didn't flinch, its smirk widening, its hollow eyes fixed on Liam.

The figure spoke, its voice a distorted, fragmented version of Liam's own, each word a jagged echo. "Not whole… but waking." The words sent a chill through him, a mix of his own tone and something older, something that echoed from the rift he'd opened, a remnant of the Sovereign's Legacy.

Liam clenched the Resonator, its violet glow sparking to life, arcs of energy crackling along his arm. He forced a grin, but his pulse thundered in his ears. Was he fighting an enemy—or his own fate? "Let's see what you've got, then." His voice was low, edged with defiance, but his body tensed, bracing for the inevitable. The shadow lunged, its blade a distorted mirror of Shadowfang. Their weapons met with a keening resonance, not just metal against metal, but something deeper—like the very air rebelled against their clash. Sparks flew, yet the embers refused to fall, suspended in a slow-motion ripple of fractured space—as if time itself struggled to decide what should come next. Reality itself seemed to shudder.

The duel was unlike anything Liam had faced. The shadow fought exactly like him, but faster—anticipating his every move, adapting in real-time, its strikes a perfect mirror of his own style, yet laced with an otherworldly edge. Each swing distorted reality, causing localized fractures in space—cracks of violet and black spiderwebbing through the air, the ground beneath them buckling with each impact. Liam parried a blow, but the force sent a tremor through his arm, the Resonator's hum growing unstable. He was fighting his own potential, a version of himself that moved with ruthless precision, untethered by doubt or fatigue.

**[Sync Unstable – Echo Disruption]** His System HUD glitched, the alert flashing across his vision, red text flickering as the shadow pressed its assault. Liam ducked a strike, rolling to the side, but the shadow was already there, its blade slashing down, forcing him to block with Shadowfang. The impact reverberated through him, a jolt that made his teeth ache.

Mara charged forward, her fists clenched, aiming to flank the shadow. "Liam, we've got your back!" Varik followed, pulling a scavenged EMP grenade from his coat, his usual smirk replaced by a grim determination. But the battle warped space around them—fractures rippling outward, forming a barrier of distorted reality that pushed them back, their shouts muffled as if underwater. They were locked out, unable to intervene.

The shadow landed a decisive strike, its blade cutting across Liam's chest—not deep, but the pain was wrong. It didn't just burn—it reverberated, unmaking him from the inside out, as if the strike had carved through more than flesh. His own heartbeat faltered in response, the Echo screaming through his veins. He gasped, stumbling back, clutching the Resonator as violet energy surged uncontrollably, the Echo in his chest burning with a fierce heat. A deep realization hit him: this wasn't a normal opponent. This was an imprint of his Sovereign Echo—his power made manifest, a trial born from the rift he'd opened, testing him, forcing him to face what he could become.

He couldn't fight it on instinct alone. Instead of striking, Liam let go of resistance. He mirrored the shadow—not just its stance, but its intent. The shift was instant, the space between them vanishing. Two selves. No space between them. His heartbeat and the shadow's steps fell into perfect rhythm—not two fighting forces, but a single motion pulling in opposite directions. For the first time, he understood—this wasn't just an enemy. It was a key. A threshold. One he had always feared to cross.

**[Echo Alignment Detected – Integration Threshold Reached]** The System HUD flickered, the alert glowing violet, and the shadow froze, its blade still raised, its smirk shifting to something unreadable—recognition, perhaps, or resignation. A final pulse erupted, a wave of violet energy that shattered the shadow into fragments, each piece glowing with an ethereal light before sinking into Liam's chest, merging with the Echo. The heat in his chest burned hotter, a searing pain laced with a flood of fragmented memories—battlefields drenched in violet, a voice whispering his name, a legacy he didn't yet understand.

**[Sovereign Echo Progression – 42%]** The alert flashed, the sync jump hitting him like a tidal wave, his vision blurring as the burning in his chest peaked, then faded to a dull ache. Liam gasped, clutching his chest where the resonance lingered, his knees buckling as he sank to the ground, pale and trembling.

The air cleared, the fractures in reality dissipating with a faint crackle. Elise rushed to his side, her dagger forgotten, her hands gripping his shoulders. "Liam, what the hell was that? Talk to me!" Her voice was sharp, shaken, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and frustration.

Mara approached more cautiously, her arms still crossed, her expression grim. "That wasn't just some anomaly, Liam. The Dominion saw this—they'll escalate now. Whatever you're becoming, they won't let it stand." Her tone was a warning, her gaze flicking to the scorch mark, then back to him.

Varik, uncharacteristically serious, kicked a piece of debris aside, his voice low. "If you're syncing with your own anomaly, you're not far from triggering something worse. Something even the Dominion can't predict." He paused, then forced a grin. "Not that I'm complaining about the show, but maybe let's not do that again?"

Liam didn't respond immediately, his breath still ragged, the resonance in his chest a constant hum, a reminder of the shadow's words—"Still incomplete." The Sovereign Echo wasn't just power—it was a living force, evolving with him, and he was only beginning to understand its cost. The fragments that had merged with him left echoes of memory, fleeting images of a past he didn't recognize, but they were gone before he could grasp them.

Before they could fully regroup, a sharp crackle broke the silence—a Dominion distress call, its signal cutting through the ruins. A holographic projection flickered to life above the scorch mark, its blue-green light casting jagged shadows across the concrete. The Overseer's voice played back through the comms, cold and deliberate. "Correction incomplete. Escalation authorized. Executing Order 77." The projection dissolved, but the weight of the words lingered, a promise of inbound reinforcements, a wave of Dominion forces closing in.

Liam's grip on Shadowfang tightened, the fragments of the shadow stirring within him, their resonance a faint echo of something deeper. A whisper curled from the fragments, slithering through the air like a dying ember—"Still incomplete… but you're beginning to remember." Its voice was not just his own—it was what he could become, a sound that echoed from within, chilling him to his core.