Chapter 9: The Mirror of Many Lives
Mike stood in a room that wasn't his.
The walls were metal, old and scorched. A low hum filled the space like the breath of a sleeping beast. Lights blinked red on cracked terminals. Blood smeared the glass of a shattered visor lay beside his boot.
He didn't remember walking in.
He didn't remember waking up at all.
The air stank of ozone and ash. On the wall, scrawled in something too dark to be ink, were the words:
"You are the echo of many."
A scream tore through his skull. Not from the room. From his head.
A girl. A name. A face.
Jessie.
She was standing at the edge of the Hive—years ago, maybe decades. Crying. Begging.
Then gone.
Back in the Real World
Mike jolted awake in the training hall, face soaked in sweat, Eleanor kneeling beside him.
"Mike? Talk to me!"
He stared up at her. "I saw… her."
"Who?"
"Jessie. She was there. In the Hive."
Eleanor's face went pale.
"That's impossible. Jessie's—"
"I know what I saw."
He shoved himself up, trembling. The mark on his palm pulsed again—this time, brighter. Faster.
Like it was syncing to a frequency he didn't understand.
Lucas, Concerned
Later, Lucas found him sitting in the comms tower, staring out over the dark skyline of New Berlin.
"You've been off since Gravemarch," Lucas said, tossing him a sealed canteen. "Now you're seeing ghosts?"
Mike didn't look away.
"I don't think they're ghosts. I think… they're memories. But not mine."
Lucas sat beside him. "You're scaring me, Mike."
Mike finally turned.
"I think I've lived before, Lucas. I think I've died before."
Lucas blinked.
"…You're serious."
"I think Jessie was part of it. Maybe… maybe she still is."
The Archive Dive
Against Ysara's orders, Eleanor took Mike into the deep archive—a forbidden zone of the CPOA HQ.
Row after row of digital mindprint recordings, recovered from cult raids over the last century. Dangerous. Incomplete. Corrupted.
They found a section labeled "Shared Consciousness Phenomena – Category Hive." Only four entries.
Mike's hand hovered over one.
Entry #2: Subject ID: J-S13 – Echo Pattern Synced, 15 Years Ago.
He opened it.
The Vision
He wasn't Mike anymore.
He was standing beside Jessie—her eyes glowing violet, her fingers crackling with Hive energy.
They were surrounded by collapsing spires. Cultists ran from them in fear. Together, they lit the sky with fire and rage.
And then she turned to him and said:
"If I fall, promise me you'll forget."
And he replied,
"I always remember, Jess."
Then a blast.
Everything shattered.
Back in the Archive
Mike dropped the headset, stumbling back. Blood trickled from his nose.
Eleanor caught him. "Mike! Are you okay?"
He looked up at her, pupils dilated.
"She's not dead. They buried her memories… just like they tried to do to me."
Cult Awakening
At the edge of Sector Theta, the cult lit another fire.
A young girl stood before them, eyes vacant. A new voice spoke through her.
"He remembers. The thread is unraveling."
The robed man nodded. "Begin phase two. Bring her back."
They opened a stasis pod.
Inside, a woman floated in cryo-sleep.
Hair dark. Features sharp. Familiar.
Jessie.