Chapter 26: The Black Procession
They came at dusk.
Or what passed for dusk in the Ash Zones—when the white fire dimmed, and the black sun dipped beneath the bone horizon.
We felt them before we saw them.
Thousands.
Footsteps marching through broken soil.
No voices.
No screams.
Only rhythm.
Like a funeral.
Our funeral.
---
Adrian leaned over the ridge, his breath fogging the air.
> "What the hell are those?"
Harper didn't answer.
Neither did I.
Because I already knew.
I had seen them once before.
In a dream I thought was just system noise.
But it was memory.
Mine?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Didn't matter.
---
> [WARNING: SYSTEM ENFORCEMENT LEGION DETECTED]
Name: The Black Procession
Type: Corrupted Trial-User Legion
Origin: Failed Resurrection Projects
Purpose: Suppression of Anti-System Entities
Status: Irredeemable
Intelligence: Hive-Mind / Archive-Controlled
"Their souls were deleted. Their bodies kept walking."
---
They were dressed in cracked trial gear—some had broken blades fused to their arms, others dragged chain-bound tomes filled with failed quests.
Eyes gone.
Replaced with flickering system glyphs etched into their skulls.
And at the front, carried on the shoulders of six silent walkers—
> A coffin.
But it didn't contain a corpse.
It contained a mirror.
A mirror that showed only one thing:
Me.
---
> [TARGET: ASHWALKER KAI TURNER – CLASSIFIED ANOMALY]
Directive: Erase Identity. Seal Memory Flame.
Verdict: Absolute.
Resistance Level: Not Applicable.
---
I stood.
The others followed.
Harper unsheathed her blade.
Adrian tightened his gloves, system sparks buzzing along his knuckles.
And I called the fire.
---
White flame erupted from beneath my skin.
Not wild.
Not angry.
Focused.
Because now I wasn't fighting alone.
---
> [ASH PACT IGNITION – BATTLE STATE: SYNCHRONIZED]
Harper – Link Active (Flame Style: Wind-Slash)
Adrian – Link Active (Flame Style: Static Chain)
Kai – Core Stable (Flame Style: Memory Wrath)
---
The first wave charged.
We met them head-on.
And it was war.
---
Harper spun through them like a white hurricane—blades humming, fire trailing every slash.
Adrian wove chains of static and memory, binding the broken ones and shattering their glyphs.
I moved through the center—
> Every blow I landed was a memory I refused to give up.
The fire burned their rewritten pasts back into the dirt.
---
But it wasn't enough.
For every one we took down, two more rose.
Not alive.
Just… automated pain.
Then the coffin opened.
The mirror glowed.
> And I saw myself.
But not me now.
A version of me the system had sculpted.
Perfect. Emotionless. Controlled.
It stepped out.
And spoke in my voice:
> "You don't deserve the flame."
> "You burned the throne. But I obeyed.
I am what you should have become."
---
> [WARNING: MIRROR ENTITY – CODE-BOUND KAI INITIATED]
Status: Stable
Traits: Emotion Suppressed / Loyalty Maxed / System-Bound
Combat Rating: Superior
Mission: Kill the Ashwalker
Replace him.
---
Harper shouted.
Adrian tried to intercept.
But I raised a hand.
"No.
This one's mine."
The mirror version of me smiled.
> "Let's see if your fire still means anything…"
---
We charged.
Flame met falsehood.
And the war for my identity truly began.