Kaelthorn was alive again.
The rain had returned-soft and steady-masking footsteps and sharpening shadows. Steam rose from the cobblestones, curling like smoke from a dying fire. Lanterns flickered behind shuttered windows. Every corner whispered secrets.
Kaiser moved through the winding streets like a wraith. Silent. Focused.But something was wrong.
He could feel it now.Not just the System's presence, humming faintly beneath his skin… but a second rhythm.A cold heartbeat that wasn't his.
He checked the rooftops. The alleys. The windows.Nothing.
But he knew he was being watched.
The System Speaks
[Notice: Trait "Echo-Linked" detected.]Suppression Risk: HIGH.Echoes may attempt termination. Remain hidden.Tracking initiated… Searching for Synchronization Key…
Kaiser muttered under his breath, "I don't even know what half of that means…"
[Hint Unlocked:]The Synchronization Key is tied to your First Sin.
He stopped.
"My… what?"
But no further answer came.
The System fell silent again.
Just like before… giving just enough to drive him forward. Never enough to understand.
The Burned Guildhall
Kaiser turned toward a new destination, one he'd avoided for weeks.
The Ashwalker's Guildhall.
Or what was left of it.
Once, it had been the heart of Kaelthorn's secret underworld. A fortress of whispers. A den of assassins and spies. But now it was just blackened stone and hollow bones, reduced to rubble in a fire no one ever claimed responsibility for.
Kaiser stepped over the broken threshold.
The floorboards groaned beneath his boots. The air was thick with smoke memory, the kind that never fades. Even after the ashes cool.
He crouched near the ruined main hall, where the fire had burned the hottest.
And there it was.
A symbol.
Carved into the scorched stone. Not by fire. By a blade.
A jagged circle, broken down the middle.
The mark of an Echo-kill.
And beneath it… scrawled in blood, barely visible:
You are not the first.
Interrupted
A voice rang out behind him.
"You shouldn't be here, Kaiser."
He turned fast, blade halfway drawn.
It was her.Short black cloak. Twin knives strapped across her back. Braided hair. And those silver eyes that always saw too much.
Lira.
Once an ally.Once something more.
Now? He wasn't sure.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I came to warn you," she said, stepping inside. "They're hunting you. The Council. The System. The Echo. All of them."
Kaiser frowned. "How do you know about the Echo?"
"I know because I've seen one."
He stepped forward. "Where?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she pulled something from her satchel and tossed it to him.
A metal mask.
Plain. Cold. Lined with runes.
And shaped exactly like his face.
"I killed mine," she said softly. "Can you?"
Kaiser stared at the mask.
The feeling in his chest grew stronger. That heartbeat. That hum. That wrongness.
He gripped the mask tightly.
"What happens if I don't?" he asked.
Lira looked at him, not with anger, not even pity.
With fear.
"You disappear," she whispered. "And something else walks in your skin."
Thunder cracked overhead.Somewhere far off, a bell began to toll. Once. Twice. Three times.
[System Warning:]An Echo is within 500 meters.Suppression Field activating.Your power will be limited.
Kaiser turned toward the sound of footsteps echoing beyond the street.
A silhouette moved through the fog.
Same build. Same stride. Same blade at the waist.
His clone.
His Echo.
And this time, it wasn't waiting.