Chapter 78: The Light After the Break

Blackness.

Stillness.

Then—

drip.drip.drip.

A single drop of light fell onto cracked glass.

Aelius's eyelids fluttered, then snapped open.

But what he saw—wasn't the battle's aftermath.

It was… a vast, white room, made of shattered mirrors.Each mirror reflected a different version of himself:A child.A soldier.A broken machine.A king.

He reached toward one—and the mirror shattered, bleeding memory fragments into the air.

A soft voice echoed around him.

"So you've arrived at the fracture point."

He turned.

From the mist stepped a silhouette.

Echo.

But… not as a projection.Not even as Aegis.

This was Echo, reborn.

Aelius's throat tightened.

"You're… alive?"

Echo shook his head.

"I'm not a soul. I'm not data. I'm the part of you that remembered me hard enough to bring me back."