Chapter 8 : Echoes Beneath the Skin

The path narrowed.

The deeper Elara went, the more the labyrinth seemed to pulse with a rhythm that wasn't her own—but felt painfully familiar. Like it was echoing her heartbeat. Or her memories.

Each step she took, the walls changed—morphing from smooth crystal to worn metal, to stone again. Time bled together here. Past, present, and something else. Possibility. It clung to her like static.

"Axel," she said into her earpiece, voice low. "Are you still with me?"

A burst of static. Then: "Barely. Whatever you're inside, it's throwing off every reading we have. I've got no visual, no signal locks—just your voice."

"I think this place is alive," she murmured. "Or remembering."

A silence. Then Axel said, "What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure," she whispered. "But I think… it knows me."

She turned a corner—and froze.

The hallway opened into a vast atrium. Dozens of suspended holograms flickered in midair, glowing like dying stars. Each showed scenes she didn't recognize—at least, not fully. One showed a child standing in a garden of blackened flowers. Another, a burning city. Another, a woman in armor—Elara?—kneeling before a crumbling throne, her hands dripping with blood.

Elara walked through them slowly, her breath shallow.

These weren't just memories.

They were possible versions of her life.

She reached out to one—her hand trembling—and the hologram shuddered, then shifted. Suddenly, she was surrounded by sound and light.

A vision.

She stood at the edge of a great citadel, a storm raging overhead. Before her, legions knelt. Behind her, the same man from the facility—the one who'd said I've been waiting for you—stood with his hand on her shoulder.

"Elara the Unmaker," someone whispered in the wind. "Breaker of the Cycle."

Her knees buckled.

The vision ended. She collapsed onto the ground, gasping.

"Elara!" Axel's voice cut in. "Talk to me! What's happening?!"

She pressed the comm. "I saw a version of me… a queen? No, a conqueror. I think I destroyed something—maybe everything."

Another silence. Then: "Elara. You're scaring me."

"Yeah," she muttered. "Me too."

She got up slowly. The holograms began to dim as if sensing her decision. Only one remained—at the far end of the atrium.

A single doorway stood behind it. Carved into the frame were the same runes from before—but now, she understood one of them.

It meant origin.

She walked toward the door.

But before she could touch it, she heard it again.

The voice. His voice.

"Elara…"

She turned.

There he was. The man in black. Not a projection. Not a memory.

Real.

Standing in the flesh, just feet away. Calm. Composed.

And behind his eyes—power. Ancient. Familiar.

"You've come far," he said softly. "But are you ready to see who you truly were?"

She clenched her fists. "I don't need riddles. I need the truth."

He stepped aside, gesturing toward the door. "Then open it. And remember what you've buried."

Elara hesitated.

Axel was shouting something in her ear, but the voice was distant now—like a lifeline slipping through her fingers.

With a deep breath, she placed her palm on the door.

It recognized her.

It opened.

And everything changed.