The sky bled violet when Ethan returned to the sealed subway terminal.
His fingers twitched, threads unconsciously forming spirals in the air around him. Ever since Spiral Echo awakened, it had become harder to not create. The line between thought and construct blurred a little more with each passing hour.
The Rift was sinking its teeth into him.
And he didn't mind.
Not anymore.
Varian was already waiting, pacing before a floating stone platform that shimmered with fractured sigils. His metal-sealed arm glinted under the flickering rune lights.
"Right on time," Varian said, not looking up. "Good. You'll need every second."
Ethan stepped closer. "You said we'd start serious training."
Varian nodded. "This is the Baptism."
"The what now?"
He pointed at the platform. "A stable dream-core chamber. We used to use them to break in recruits—before the Spiral War began. It reads your fear, your guilt, your regrets… and throws them back at you with teeth."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Sounds therapeutic."
"It's not."
Lila stepped out of the shadows then, arms crossed. "Don't go easy on him."
Varian smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Without another word, he slammed his hand on the sigil plate beside the floating platform.
> [Dreamrift Trial Initiated: Spiral Baptism – Echo Variant]
Dream-layer: Inner II / Adaptive Construct Field
Core Trigger: Candidate's Memory-Resonance Signature
Survive. Adapt. Overcome.
Ethan felt the shift immediately.
The world folded inward.
---
He was standing in the hospital hallway.
Again.
White lights buzzed overhead. The walls were smeared with blood and the sterile stench of antiseptic. At the end of the corridor, a door stood open.
He knew what was inside.
"Mia…" he whispered.
He stepped forward, boots echoing unnaturally. Every sound was louder than it should've been. Every breath distorted.
The door creaked wider.
Inside, the hospital room was dim, lit only by a weak pulse monitor that blinked slowly—too slowly.
A figure sat on the bed.
Not quite Mia.
She had no face. Just blank, stretched skin where features should've been. But the hair—the dark curls, the silver locket at her neck—it was hers.
She tilted her head.
Then screamed.
The room exploded into shifting madness. Walls twisted. The floor shattered. Ethan fell into the dark—
And landed in a field of ash.
> [Memory Construct Active: Fragment Echo – Guilt Class]
Hostile Entity Formed: "She Who Was"
Level: 6
Status: Unstable – Accelerating Breakdown
Emotional Alignment: Remorse / Regret
The creature rose from the ground—twisting, half-human, half-reflection. It had Mia's posture, Mia's silhouette—but her arms were too long, her ribs exposed, and her head split open into a mirror that reflected Ethan's screaming face.
And then it charged.
Ethan dove aside, threads forming instinctively.
> [Skill Activated: Thread of Will]
[Skill Activated: Shield of Memory]
He conjured the spiral shield just in time—the monster slammed into it, shattering two thread lines but failing to break through.
The shield shuddered with the emotional charge. Mia's distorted laughter echoed from the mirror-faced thing as it slammed against him again and again.
"Why didn't you follow me?"
"Why didn't you try?"
"Why did you let me die?"
Ethan gritted his teeth. "You're not her. You're just the part of me that hates myself."
He reached deeper into his core.
Spiral Echo surged.
> [Spiral Echo Triggered – Emotion Detected: Rage]
Mimicking: Thread of Will
Mutation: Combustion Thread Construct – Fused
New Construct Formed: Wrathwire
Type: Reactive Blade Lattice
Effect: Threads convert into kinetic chainsaw-like edges that erupt on impact with hostile memory energy. Duration: 8 seconds.
Cooldown: Initiated (3h)
The threads around him snapped—twisting into barbed red tendrils glowing with vibrating heat. They lashed out, slamming into the construct-thing with brutal precision.
One strike.
Two.
On the third, the creature screamed—a mirror shattering, bloodless—but final.
It collapsed into glass dust.
The world faded again.
> [Trial Stage One Complete]
Resonance Stability: 71%
Mental Integrity: Holding
Ethan fell to one knee, panting.
He could still feel the heat in the Wrathwire. Still see the thing's hollow face.
"Was that… me?"
---
The second trial began immediately.
This time, he wasn't in a hospital.
He was in a bedroom. Mia's bedroom.
Soft music played from an old radio. Rain tapped the window.
She sat at her desk, drawing. Her face whole. Her smile real.
But something was off.
The lines of her outline were blurry. Her hands kept drawing the same spiral over and over again—until the page bled ink.
Then she turned.
Her eyes were black spirals.
"You came back," she said. "But you're too late."
He stepped forward. "I don't care if this is a trap. I'm not leaving you again."
> [Fragment Construct Detected: Binding Echo]
Type: Passive Entrapment Field
Function: Lures Dreamweaver into resonance collapse. Survived only by emotional severance.
The room began to fade.
Ethan fell to his knees.
The spiral on Mia's page began spinning. Faster. Deeper.
He felt his body dissolving.
"Let go," the voice whispered. "Just give up. It's easier."
Ethan looked at the sketch.
And slowly reached out.
Not to destroy it.
But to weave into it.
He extended a thread from his palm. A silver filament. His thread.
And sewed it through the spiral.
> [New Skill Interaction: Thread of Will + Echo Field]
Fusion Result: Anchor Thread – Temporary Dream Stabilization
Status: Fragment Construct Disrupted
The spiral froze.
Mia's image smiled—sad, peaceful.
"I knew you'd come back for me," she whispered.
Then vanished in light.
---
Ethan awoke on the platform in the real world, drenched in sweat.
Varian stood above him. Lila crouched nearby with a water bottle and towel.
> [Trial Complete: Spiral Baptism Passed]
Level Up: 4
Skill Points Gained: +2
New Passive Acquired:
Dream-Tethered Core
Dream Energy Regen +15% / Resistance to Emotion-Based Echo Fields Increased
Varian exhaled. "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all."
Ethan stared at the palm of his hand. The spiral flicker had returned. Stronger now. More defined.
"I saw her," he murmured. "Not just a memory. A piece of her. Still trapped in the spiral."
Lila looked at Varian. "Then she's not gone."
Varian's expression darkened. "No. But if she's still inside… she's not alone. Lucien's using her as a lens. A resonance anchor."
Ethan stood.
He'd passed the trial.
He'd fought his own guilt.
But his resolve had only sharpened.
"I'm going to find her," he said. "Even if I have to dive through every layer of this damned Rift."
Varian cracked a grin. "Then you'd better get stronger. We're just getting started."