The healer approached without speaking. She wore grey robes, lined with chalk-white threads. Her Echo—a thin figure made of smoke—floated behind her. It didn't touch the ground.
She knelt beside Sen first.
Lian moved aside. Her hands were stiff. She hadn't let go of his arm since they arrived.
The healer ran two fingers along Sen's neck, then over the bandage on his stab wound.
"Heat's dropping," she said. "That's good."
Kaela watched. The healer pulled a folded set of runes from her sleeve and laid them across the wound. They sank into the bandage like ink into paper. Light pulsed once.
"He'll need a real surgeon. But this will hold him."
Kaela nodded.
Then the healer turned toward Sera.
"Your tether's unstable," she said.
Sera didn't respond.
"You've got burn residue around your ribs. Too much Echo pushback. You shouldn't be walking."
"I'm fine," Sera said.
"You're not."
Han looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't.
The healer clicked her tongue and placed a thin strip of metal across Sera's arm.
It shimmered. Read her Echo levels.
Then it cracked.
Kaela's hand went to her sword. The healer held up a hand.
"It's okay. Just not calibrated for her type."
"What does that mean?" Kaela asked.
The healer frowned. "It means she's running something ancient."
Sera shifted her weight. "I didn't ask to be scanned."
The healer met her eyes. "I didn't ask for your Echo to spike six meters from a sleeping camp."
Kaela stepped between them. "Enough."
The healer stood and walked off.
.
.
.
Later, someone passed out rations. Kaela took hers and sat near the edge of the light. The heat-cloak around Sen barely moved. He was asleep again. Lian rested next to him, finally dozing off.
Sera sat on the ground, cross-legged. Han sat across from her, chewing slowly.
The food was dry—flatbread and a bar of something that tasted like chalk and citrus. It filled the stomach. Nothing more.
No one really talked.
Too tired.
Too many things unspoken.
Kaela listened to the wind in the rocks. The mist outside the camp crackled sometimes—like it was remembering thunder.
Han finally broke the silence.
"What's your Echo called?"
Sera looked at him. "I don't know."
"It doesn't have a name?"
"Maybe it does. I just haven't asked."
He raised an eyebrow. "You scared of it?"
Sera looked down at her hands. The burn marks were still there, faint red lines along her fingers.
"I don't think it's scared of me," she said.
Momo crawled out of Han's hood again and settled on his leg.
Sera reached over. Momo sniffed her hand and crawled into her lap.
For a while, nobody said anything else.
After the food was gone, and the low camp sounds faded, Kaela sat with her back against a stone slab.
She didn't sleep.
Her body ached. Her arms felt heavy. Her Echo had gone silent—curled up in her mind like it was waiting.
She looked up at the stars, what little she could see through the mist.
Everything here felt thinner. Like time wasn't holding together properly.
She closed her eyes. Tried not to think about the mimic. Or the look on Toji's face when he saw her tails.
The wind picked up, sharp and damp.
She pulled her coat tighter around her.
Didn't speak.
Didn't sleep.
Just stayed.
—
Toji sat on a rock near the camp edge. The Mnemo-Eye hovered silently behind him. Its light was off. Just a shape now.
Han walked over, slow. He had two cups. Passed one to Toji. It wasn't warm, but it was liquid.
They both drank.
Neither spoke for a while.
Then Han said, "She's different."
Toji didn't ask who he meant.
"Kaela," Han said. "She moves like someone who doesn't want to be seen."
Toji kept his eyes on the mist. "That's not wrong."
"She trusts you."
"She used to."
Han took another sip. "You care."
Toji gave a short nod.
Han didn't press.
"And the other girl?" Han asked. "Sera?"
Toji sighed through his nose. "No file. No tether log. She shouldn't even be inside the Echo Field."
"But she is."
Toji looked toward her. She was asleep now, curled up with the heat-cloak. Momo tucked into her elbow.
"She's a threat," Toji said. "But so are we."
"You think it's her Echo acting on its own?"
"I think whatever it is… it's old. And it's looking for something."
Han tilted his head. "You think it's looking for her?"
Toji finished his drink and set the cup down.
"I think it already found her."
——
She didn't mean to sleep.
But somewhere between her breath and the cold, her eyes stayed shut.
She was standing in water.
It was black, but shallow. The surface didn't ripple. No sky above—just fog and tiny threads of white fire floating in the air.
One tail moved behind her. Just one. Not nine.
Then she heard the voice.
"You're holding back."
It wasn't loud. Just steady.
Kaela turned. A figure stood in the mist.
Not her. Not anyone she knew.
Just a shape with too many eyes. No mouth. Nine white tails moved behind it, slow as breath.
"She reminds you of you."
Kaela didn't answer.
"You think protecting her will fix what you couldn't fix before."
Still, silence.
"You're wrong."
Kaela looked down at her hands.
They were empty.
The voice faded.
But the heat stayed in her chest.
And the tails behind her grew brighter.
Then she woke up.
——
Sera didn't feel herself fall asleep.
One moment she was looking at the mist curling around the edge of camp.
The next—she was somewhere else.
She stood in a cavern. Not stone. Not earth. Something older. The walls were smooth and curved. Glowing veins ran through them. Like bones under skin.
The air was thick. Warm. Heavy.
She didn't move.
Then the ground pulsed.
And something large shifted in the dark.
Not footsteps.
Breath.
A long exhale. Hot. Wet. Slow.
Then she saw it.
Eyes.
Huge, gold. Slit pupils. Watching her.
They didn't blink.
She felt small. Not just in size. In memory.
The voice came. Not out loud. But inside her ribs.
"You're not ready."
Sera opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
"You asked for power. You didn't ask for the cost."
She stepped back.
The gold eyes moved forward.
Then the mouth.
Teeth the length of her arms. Smoke curling from the gaps.
A low rumble vibrated the floor.
"Say my name."
Sera shook her head. "I don't know it."
"You do."
She looked down at her hands.
Claws again.
Not human.
Not whole.
She looked up.
The dragon leaned forward.
"Say it."
And she whispered—
"Varakar."
⸻
She woke with a jolt.
The fire in her chest was back.
Steam hissed between her teeth.
Momo scrambled off her shoulder.
Kaela stirred across the camp. Didn't wake.
Sera curled into herself. Pulled the heat-cloak tighter.
The name still echoed in her head.
Varakar.
She didn't know what it meant.
But she knew it wasn't the last time she'd hear it.
——
Kaela was already awake when the sky began to pale. The mist hadn't lifted, but the air felt different. Colder. Like the field was shifting again.
She sat on a flat stone near the edge of camp, tying her boots.
Sera walked over, slow. She didn't say anything. Just stood there a second, holding the heat-cloak around her shoulders.
Kaela didn't look up. "You sleep at all?"
"Not really."
A pause.
Then: "You?"
"No."
Sera sat down a few feet away. Cross-legged. Her breath steamed a little. Less than yesterday.
Kaela checked the edge of her blade. No cracks.
Sera spoke again. "I saw it."
Kaela glanced over. "The Echo?"
Sera nodded. "It spoke to me. Said I knew its name."
"Do you?"
"I said a name. Don't know if it was mine or its."
Kaela stared ahead. "Sometimes they give us the name they want. Sometimes they take one from us."
"Is that what yours did?"
Kaela didn't answer right away.
"I remember the first time I saw her. But I knew she wasn't me. She was… what I could be, if I didn't hold back."
Sera didn't move. Just listened.
Kaela looked down at her fingers. There were faint white lines across the knuckles. Tether scarring. Most people missed it.
Kaela stood and sheathed the blade.
"You scared of it?"
"Yes," Sera said. Then after a second, "But I don't want to be."
Kaela nodded once. "Good."
She didn't say anything else.
Sera didn't need her to.
.
.
.
The forest was quieter today. The mist was thinner. Still clinging to the roots, but it moved less.
Kaela walked five steps ahead of Toji. She scanned the trail while he checked the treetops. Standard recon pattern.
They hadn't spoken since the morning brief.
They reached a clearing where part of the ground had collapsed. Mana-stone showed through the earth—pale green and cracked. It pulsed once, then faded.
Kaela crouched and touched the edge. "Still draining."
Toji stepped beside her. "Vein's bleeding sideways. Shouldn't be exposed here."
She stood. "Think someone did this?"
"Maybe."
She turned to move, but he stayed put.
"Kaela."
She looked back. "Yeah?"
"You know I trust you."
"Okay."
"I didn't mean what I said before. About you hiding the tails."
Kaela's shoulders tensed. "I don't care."
Toji stayed still for a beat while Kaela moved ahead. Then he stepped forward, not catching up yet, just closing the distance enough to be heard without raising his voice.
"I care," he said. "Not just because your just my classmate. Not just because you're strong. I care because you push too hard, and you don't say when it's costing you."
Kaela didn't turn around.
"I see the way you carry it. Like everything's just your weight to deal with. Like no one's allowed to help unless they've bled first."
Her boots crunched quietly on the loose gravel. She slowed, just enough to show she was listening.
"I need to know what you're holding back," Toji said. "Not for strategy. Because it's you."
Finally, Kaela stopped.
She looked at him over her shoulder. Not angry. Not distant. Just tired.
"You always talk like that?" she asked.
He didn't answer.
She gave a short breath through her nose.tears almost broke through . Almost.
Then she said, "You care. I know."
And she turned back around.
"Doesn't change anything."
He nodded once, more to himself than to her.
Then followed.
——
They followed a ridge trail uphill. The trees were tighter here, curved inward like ribs. The air was warmer. The glyphs Han drew with his gauntlet glowed faster than normal.
"Mana's thick," he said. "Could boost your Echo. Or melt your fingers off."
Sera raised her hand. Steam hissed off her skin.
"Still running hot," Han said.
"I can control it now."
"You sure?"
"No."
He snorted.
They reached a flat stretch. Overlooked a small ravine full of dark roots. Han dropped his pack and sat on a stone.
"Alright," he said. "Try calling it. Just the claws or the wings. Nothing big."
Sera nodded.
She stepped back. Took a breath.
Claws formed first. Then faint outlines of wings—semi-transparent. Her back ached. The pressure built but held.
Han watched.
"Good. Now drop it."
She did. Slowly.
Steam leaked out of her fingers.
Han gave a short nod. "Better than yesterday."
Sera turned away. Reached into the belt pouch laying on the ground.
She pulled out a small round silver disk—smooth, thin, with three glyph-lines across it. She clicked it once. It pulsed blue.
She walked over to Han and placed it gently on Momo's harness.
Han froze.
"No. Don't—"
Too late.
The glyph lit up.
Momo blinked awake. Sat up on Han's shoulder.
Then—
"Finally! Two days of silence, Han. Two! I had a whole thesis on memory beasts ready and you muted me!"
Han groaned. "Here we go."
Momo turned her little head toward Sera.
"And YOU—mysterious steam dragon girl—I like you. You're quiet. You have presence. You also smell faintly of cinnamon and ash. I approve."
Sera raised an eyebrow. "…Thanks?"
"You're welcome. Now, if you don't mind, please channel your Echo again. I want to test a theory about residual psychic link imprinting."
Han pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is why I took it off."
"Rude!" Momo squeaked. "Just because I don't shut up during battle doesn't mean I'm wrong."
Sera smirked—barely. But it was the first time her face softened.
She looked at Han. "You built this?"
Han sighed. "No. She was supposed to be a non-verbal mana-familiar. But… personality glitch."
"Not a glitch. A gift."
Sera looked down at Momo, then back at Han.
"I like her."
"Yeah," Han said. "She grows on you."
"Like mold!" Momo added cheerfully.