Memory Thief

The wind howled through the skeletal remains of the skyscraper, carrying with it the stench of rotting copper and something sweetly chemical. Kael pressed his back against the crumbling concrete, his left arm hanging limp and pale at his side — a dead weight where the whisper had taken root. The numbness had spread past his elbow now, the skin mottled with black veins that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

Lyss crouched beside him, her silver eyes scanning the ruined skyline. The once-proud city was now a graveyard of broken towers, their surfaces veined with the same obsidian threads that ran through the Riftline's walls. She touched her bleeding ear absently, her fingers coming away smeared with black-tinged blood. Her latest Voidecho scream had ruptured something deep inside her — the cost of saving them from the Hollowborn ambush an hour earlier.

"Still think we should've stayed in the Riftline?" she muttered, her voice hoarse from screaming.

Before Kael could answer, a new sound cut through the wind — the rhythmic ticking of gears.

The figure emerged from the shadows of a collapsed storefront, their long coat stitched together from Duskbound armor plates that clinked with each step. The clockwork mask covering their face whirred softly, brass gears turning where eyes should have been. One gloved hand rested on the collection of glowing vials strapped across their chest — each one pulsing with stolen memories.

"Ah," the Ticker said, their voice modulated into something both mechanical and strangely melodic. "The runaway Marked. I was beginning to think you'd died in the collapse."

Veyra stepped forward, her cracked knuckles dripping blackened blood onto the rubble."We don't deal with memory thieves," she spat.

The Ticker's mask emitted a grinding chuckle. They tapped one of the vials — this one glowing a sickly green."Says the woman whose happiest memory is already gone. Tell me, Bloodecho, do you even remember your brother's face before they Marked you?"

Veyra moved faster than Kael would have thought possible in her wounded state. Her fist, wreathed in the crimson glow of her Echo, shot toward the Ticker's masked face —

And froze.

Literally froze, hanging motionless in the air mere inches from the Ticker's nose. Veyra's eyes widened in confusion, her muscles straining against some unseen force.

"Three seconds," the Ticker mused, adjusting a dial on their wrist device. The gears in their mask spun faster. "That's all most lives are worth out here."

Kael felt his Shadowecho surge in response, darkness pooling around his boots. The whisper in his skull hissed a warning:

"Wait. Watch."

The Ticker's other hand rose, revealing a memory vial unlike the others. Instead of the usual blue glow, this one swirled with inky black tendrils that matched the veins crawling up Kael's arm.

"They told you Echo Cores were Hollowborn larvae," the Ticker said, shaking the vial gently. The black substance inside seemed to pulse in response. "But this? This is a Duskbound's last thought before becoming one of those... things."

Lyss made a choked sound."That's impossible. Essence comes from Hollowborn, not—"

"From us?" The Ticker's mask tilted at an unnatural angle. "Oh little songbird, you've been drinking liquefied memories of your fellow Marked this whole time."

The frozen moment ended abruptly. Veyra stumbled forward with a snarl, her punch connecting with empty air as the Ticker sidestepped with eerie grace.

Before anyone could react, the ground trembled beneath them. From the ruins behind the Ticker came a new sound — the baying of hounds. But these were no natural animals. The cries were wet, gurgling things, layered with too many voices, too many throats.

"Duskbound trackers," the Ticker said casually, pocketing the black vial. "Genetically enhanced with Hollowborn tissue. They'll smell your fear before you finish blinking."They extended their gloved hand toward Kael."So? Do we have a deal?"

Above them, the ash-choked sky darkened further as winged shapes began to circle. Kael's Mark burned like a brand, the pain radiating up his deadened arm. The whisper in his head purred:

"Give them the memory of Nia laughing by the old bunker's air vent. It's the one you're about to lose anyway."

Kael hesitated. That memory — Nia's face lit by flickering torchlight, her laughter echoing through the metal corridors as she imitated Commander Dain's stern voice — was one of his last clear recollections of her.

The baying grew louder. Closer.

Lyss grabbed his shoulder."Kael, we have to move—"

The decision was made for him. With a sound like shattering glass, the wall beside them exploded inward.

What emerged wasn't a hound.

It stood on four legs, yes, but its body was a grotesque fusion of machine and flesh. Duskbound armor plates had been grafted directly onto its skin, the edges weeping black pus. Its head was all wrong — elongated, with too many jaws, each lined with rows of needle teeth. And its eyes...

Veyra let out a strangled gasp.

The creature's left eye was human.

And it was her brother's.

The tracker hound lunged.

Kael's world dissolved into shadows and screams as his Shadowecho erupted around them. The last thing he saw before the darkness took them was the Ticker, standing calmly amid the chaos, their clockwork mask ticking relentlessly forward.