The Wraithling groaned as it buckled beneath the pressure of the dimensional breach. Systems flickered, then snapped back on in erratic bursts, creating a stuttering, distorted picture of the ship and its reflection. Kaelen Varros his reflection smiled, a twisted mockery of Ethan's own face.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Dimensional Integrity Critical][Entity: Reflection-Class Kaelen Varros – Full Manifestation in Progress][Warning: Origin-Class Entity Manifesting][Hostile Entity Now Using Ship's Core Systems]
The mirrored Kaelen stepped closer, eyes glowing with dark starlight, his form flickering as though held together by a fraying thread of reality. Ethan could feel it this Kaelen wasn't a part of him, not the part he had chosen to be. This was a curse, a legacy he couldn't outrun, and now it was clawing its way to the surface again.
"Did you think you could escape your past, Ethan?" The words echoed like a thousand whispers, layered with power. "You cannot undo what is written in the stars."
The mirrored Kaelen's hand shot forward, and the ship responded with violent turbulence. The control panels in front of Ethan flickered, turning red as Kaelen's reflection manipulated the ship's systems.
Aelira cursed as she ripped a panel off the wall and began reconfiguring a defensive shield. "This bastard's in the system! We've got no way to fight back if we don't get control!"
Ethan's eyes flickered to the mirrored Kaelen, whose lips curled into a smile that was all but predatory.
"You're just a fragment, a shadow," Ethan growled, his fists clenched, the System's pulses reverberating through his mind, but not in the same way. It wasn't aiding him no, it was feeding off the breach, warping with it. "I chose to leave you behind."
[SYSTEM UPDATE: New Objective: Face the Fragment of Your Past][Warning: The Reflection Entity Possesses Access to Your System's Core][Suggestion: Fragmentation Event Will Reintegrate Core Systems – Resulting in Overwrite]
Aelira's voice cut through his thoughts. "You've got to face it, Ethan. You've got to accept it. This is the only way we're getting out of here."
He felt the weight of her words of his own words. He had spent his entire journey running from the ghosts of who he used to be. But maybe it was time to face the truth of who Kaelen Varros really was and why he had failed so terribly in the first place.
Ethan stepped forward, towards the glass. "I'm not you. I'm not him. And you're not going to take this ship."
Kaelen's reflection cocked its head, its expression twisted with amusement and something darker. "Oh, Ethan. You're already me. You always have been."
The mirrored figure stretched out its hand. "Embrace the throne."
And then—*the ship shuddered, a violent rattle.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Core Override Detected][Warning: Hostile Entity is Rewriting User's System Path]
Suddenly, the entire room was filled with a rush of sound—a mix of whispers, metallic screeches, and the hum of void energies spinning out of control. Ethan gripped the nearest console as the mirrored Kaelen advanced, stepping through the thin veil of light between realities. He could feel the thing inside him, clawing to take over.
"Don't let it in," Aelira said, her voice grim. She slammed a fist into another control panel, sparks flying, trying to force the ship's systems into compliance.
The Entity that Kaelen had become lunged forward. But just as it reached for Ethan, something unexpected happened a pulse.
A pulse of light, blue and burning, shot from the ship's core. Ethan stumbled back, but he was aware of a new presence a surge in his mind, not just the System's usual cold calculations, but a voice.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Entity Recognition: Sub-Thread Identified][Connection: Etheric Memory Code Detected][Sub-Entity: Unnamed (Potential Ally) Identified]
Ethan's eyes widened. A whisper. A soft voice of clarity.
"I remember you."
The voice was gentle, almost maternal and yet, Ethan could feel the faintest shadow of something darker within it. Something ancient.
And then the ship shifted. The bridge, the very air around him, splintered, leaving only fragments of reality.