Three days passed.
Kieran trained, healed, learned.
The Hollow wasn't a sanctuary — it was a war camp. Every Drifter here had seen horrors. Some had the thousand-yard stare. Others, glowing scars from battles they shouldn't have survived. Everyone carried sigils — living abilities bound to their soul like branding iron tattoos.
Kieran's was different. He could feel it.
The Graveheart didn't hum like the others. It whispered.
And today, it pulsed.
---
[System Update: Echo Core — New Protocol Unlocked]
[Graveheart Mutation Tree Available]
[Mutation Path 1: Parasite] — Feed on allies and enemies alike. Grow faster, but lose control over time.
[Mutation Path 2: Warden] — Fortify your body and will. Become a wall. Become the last one standing.
[Mutation Path 3: Reaper] — Collect souls. Shape them. Rule them.]
[Warning: Choosing a path is irreversible.]
---
He stared at the choices.
All of them meant power. All of them came with a price.
But he didn't choose yet. He didn't need to — not until the Graveheart forced him to. And today, he had bigger problems.
The Warden had called him to the Hall. Again.
"You're going on a raid," the Warden said.
Kieran raised an eyebrow. "You trust me already?"
"I don't," he said. "But the Hollow needs fragments. And you need to see what's waiting outside."
---
The team was small.
Aika — the woman in bone-red armor. Fast. Quiet. Deadly.
Milo — younger than Kieran, with wild hair and explosive rune gauntlets.
Thorne — a bruiser built like a tank, wielding a tower shield with teeth.
"We go to the Spire's base," Aika briefed them. "There's a fragment bloom. We get in, grab what we can, get out before nightfall. If we don't…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Kieran didn't ask. The looks on their faces said enough.
---
They reached the Spire by mid-afternoon.
It was a wound in the world — a tower of black stone rising from the earth like a thorn piercing the sky. Dead trees surrounded it. The air stank of ozone and rot. The fragment bloom pulsed at its base — a cluster of violet crystals like frozen screams.
Milo reached for them.
That's when the ground opened.
Dozens of hands clawed out from the dirt — pale, skeletal, shrieking.
"Ambush!" Aika shouted. "It's a Lure Bloom!"
Too late.
The wraiths swarmed. Not Marauders. Worse. These were Silenceborn — feral remnants of failed Drifters. Their eyes glowed blue. Their claws dripped black mist.
Thorne raised his shield, roaring.
Kieran activated Shadow Bind, chaining one of the wraiths in place. He struck with Soul Lash, carving through another.
Milo screamed as one of the creatures dug into his chest.
Then—
Everything stopped.
The air thickened.
The wraiths froze.
And then, they knelt.
Something walked out from the Spire's shadow.
It wore Kieran's face.
---
Not exactly.
Its eyes were black pits. Its skin shimmered with mirrored reflections. Its smile was wrong — wide, cracked, inhuman.
"Found you," it said in his voice. "I've been waiting."
Kieran staggered back.
The Graveheart inside him screamed.
---
[Warning: Echo Core Detected — Origin Match: 98%]
[Designation: ???]
[Threat Level: Undefined]
[Graveheart Reaction: Hostile Split Detected]
---
The thing raised a hand.
The wraiths rose as one.
Kieran's blood turned to ice.
It wasn't just a battle anymore.
It was a message.
The silence shattered.
Wraiths surged forward like a wave, yet not a single one touched Kieran.
They formed a circle around him.
Not attacking.
Guarding.
Obeying.
The thing that wore his face took a step closer, eyes like oil-slicked glass. "You're early," it said. "Or maybe I'm late."
> [Graveheart Core: Distortion Detected]
[Warning: Entity Signature — 99.8% Match]
[Stability Breach Imminent]
Kieran stared into his own face—cold, amused, hungry.
"Who the hell are you?"
It smiled. "I'm the version of you that stopped pretending to be human."
Then it raised its hand.
The wraiths moved.
---
Aika screamed as a claw swiped her shoulder. Milo's blade shattered against another's hide. Thorne stood firm—but the numbers were rising.
Kieran stepped forward. Something inside him pulled tight.
Not fear. Not rage.
Something older.
His Graveheart flared—burning silver this time, not red.
> [Instinct Override: Catalyst Signature Reactivated]
[New Skill Unlocked: Veilwalker's Mark]
Mark enemies with your presence. Watch through their eyes. Burn them from within.
A symbol seared itself across his palm—a single, curved sigil that shimmered like ash in the wind.
He clenched his fist.
And wraiths stopped mid-charge, twitching violently before collapsing into dust.
The doppelgänger's smile faltered.
"…You shouldn't have that."
Kieran stepped forward again. "Neither should you."
> [Entity Attempting Retreat]
[Anchor? Y/N]
"Anchor."
Chains of shimmering ash burst from the ground, lashing around the doppelgänger's legs.
It screamed—not with pain, but fury.
"You're not ready for what comes next—!"
The air warped. Its body glitched.
And just like that, it vanished, the chains turning to dust.
---
The battle was over. For now.
Aika clutched her shoulder, blood running down her arm. "That thing… it looked like you."
Thorne helped Milo to his feet. "No. It was him. Or some kind of shadow."
Kieran didn't answer.
Because the Graveheart whispered again.
Not a system message.
Not code.
But a voice that sounded too much like his own.
> "That wasn't a reflection."
"That was your next death."