The Vessel's Shadow

Kaelis's silence was a blade. It cut deeper than any confession.

"Who was she?" I demanded again, the gauntlet's violet light throbbing in time with my pulse. The vision of my ancestor—her sharp features, her rage—lingered like a ghost.

They turned toward the black lake, their golden-lit reflection rippling on the water. "Elyra Veyren. Your great-grandmother. The last true Catalyst before you."

The name settled like a stone in my gut. "You knew her."

"I loved her." Their voice fractured. "She believed the Sleeper could be controlled. That a Catalyst could channel its power without becoming its vessel. She was wrong."

The gauntlet hummed, its energy coiling tighter around my arm. "What happened to her?"

Kaelis's mechanical hand clenched. "The Sleeper devoured her. Turned her into a conduit. I… I ended it."

*Ended it.* The words hung between us, sharp and bloody.

"You killed her."

"To save her." Their golden eyes met mine. "And to save you. The Veyren bloodline is a thread the Sleeper clings to. It will use you, as it used her, unless you learn to *resist*."

The Sanctum shuddered, dust raining from the ceiling. Somewhere in the dark, metal groaned.

"What was the nursery?" I asked, changing tactics.

Kaelis stiffened. "What nursery?"

"Lira found it. Machines with my face. What are they?"

For the first time, fear flickered across their features. "Show me."

---

**The Garden of Echoes**

The chamber was hidden behind a waterfall of tangled roots, its entrance disguised as stone. Inside, rows of glass cylinders lined the walls, each filled with murky fluid. And inside each cylinder floated a body.

*My* body.

Or nearly. The figures had my build, my sharp jawline, but their skin was pallid, their eyes hollow and unblinking. Wires snaked into their skulls and chests, connecting them to a central machine humming with golden Aetherium.

Lira stood in the center, her dagger pressed to one of the cylinders. "Explain. Now."

Kaelis stepped forward, their light reflecting off the glass. "Copies. Failures. The Veiled Hand sought to replicate the Catalyst's bloodline, to create vessels strong enough to contain the Sleeper."

"Why do they look like *him*?" Lira hissed.

"Because the Veyrens were the first. The only bloodline the Sleeper ever fully… *claimed*." Kaelis turned to me. "Your ancestors volunteered. They believed it an honor."

The gauntlet burned. "You let them do this?"

"I tried to stop them." Kaelis's voice turned venomous. "But the Veiled Hand was obsessed. They thought the Sleeper's power could be harnessed. Instead, it corrupted them. Twisted them. These—" They gestured to the clones. "—are what remains of their hubris."

One of the clones twitched, its milky eyes snapping open.

Lira stumbled back. "They're alive?"

"No," Kaelis said. "But the Sleeper's influence lingers. It speaks through them."

The clone's mouth opened, and a voice that wasn't mine slithered out.

*"Jace… join us… break the chains…"*

The gauntlet erupted in violet light, searing my skin. I fell to my knees, the clones' voices overlapping in my skull.

*"Free us… free yourself…"*

Lira grabbed my arm. "We're leaving."

Kaelis blocked the exit. "You cannot run from this. The Sleeper's reach grows. It knows you're here."

The clones began to scream.

---

**The First Lesson**

We retreated to the heart chamber, the clones' wails echoing through the tunnels. Kaelis insisted on resuming my training, but their methods turned ruthless.

"Focus!" they barked as I struggled to channel the gauntlet's energy into a broken automaton. "The Sleeper preys on doubt. On fear. You must empty your mind."

"Easy for you to say," I snapped. "You're not the one with a gauntlet grafted to your arm and a room full of dead clones!"

The automaton exploded, shrapnel embedding in the walls.

Kaelis sighed. "Anger is a crutch. The Aetherium feeds on it."

Lira, sharpening her dagger nearby, snorted. "Maybe it's hungry for something else. Like the truth."

I glared at her. "You've been quiet all day. Now you're chatty?"

She shrugged. "Just pointing out that *someone*"—she nodded at Kaelis—"hasn't explained why these 'copies' have your face but *older*. Like they've been here for decades."

Kaelis stiffened. "Time means little to the Sleeper. It works in echoes."

"Convenient," Lira muttered.

The gauntlet pulsed, and another vision struck—a flash of Elyra Veyren, her hands fused to a gauntlet like mine, screaming as violet light consumed her.

*"You see?"* Kaelis's voice echoed in my mind. *"This is your fate if you do not learn control."*

I wrenched free of the vision, gasping. "Stay out of my head!"

"Then stay out of the past," they snapped.

---

**The Offering**

That night, I found Lira at the black lake, skipping stones across its glassy surface.

"You should hate me," I said, sitting beside her.

"I do," she said flatly. "But hate's useless here."

The gauntlet's light rippled on the water. "You think Kaelis is right? That I'm just a vessel?"

She threw a stone. It vanished without a splash. "I think you're a liability. But so am I. So we're stuck."

"Optimistic."

"Realistic." She nodded to the gauntlet. "That thing's changing you. I've seen it. Your eyes—they glow violet sometimes. When you're angry."

I flexed my fingers. "It's… harder to tell where it ends and I begin."

"Then cut it off."

"It's fused to my bones, Lira."

She stood, brushing dirt from her trousers. "Then stop pretending you want to."

Her words lingered long after she left.