They rested inside the ruined corridor.
Just for a moment.
The Reaper was gone.The glitch field had calmed.Astra's spiral sigil had dimmed to a low, steady hum.
But Kairo's mind?
Nowhere near calm.
He sat with his back to the wall, staring at the place where the Reaper had collapsed — where the glitch flower still bloomed.
Every few seconds, it shimmered.
Not with color.
With sound.
Tiny pulses of whispers.
Words just outside his ability to understand.
"They're not real," he whispered.
Astra looked over from where she sat sharpening her drift knife.
"What?"
He shook his head.
"Voices. Just… static."
Astra went still.
Then asked slowly:
"What kind of static?"
Kairo hesitated.
Closed his eyes.
Let the sound in.
It wasn't random anymore.
It was… organized.Layered.Almost like—
—a voice loop.
He heard:
"You failed.""You ran.""You saved her.""You broke it again.""Don't trust her.""We were supposed to die.""We didn't deserve to survive."
His eyes flew open.
His chest heaved.
Astra was standing now, watching him closely.
"Kairo—"
"I heard myself."
Her expression darkened.
"You've activated Loop Drift."
Kairo blinked.
"That's a thing?"
Astra nodded.
"Only happens to Echo-class Resonants. It's rare. Dangerous."
She crouched in front of him.
"You're hearing other versions of yourself. Their last thoughts. Their regrets."
"It means your resonance signature has breached memory containment."
Kairo tried to stand but staggered.
The whispers were growing stronger now.
Faster.
Louder.
His own voice — but older. Younger. Angrier. Hollow.
"Don't forget Astra.""Kill Skarn before he turns.""Elen dies in the tower.""There's no Layer-00.""You are the fracture."
He dropped to his knees.
Clutching his head.
"Make it stop!"
Astra moved fast.
Pulled her hand over his forehead and whispered something — not English, not code — just resonance syllables.
The sigil around his neck glowed bright.
And the voices slowed.
Muted.
But didn't disappear.
Kairo breathed hard.
Eyes wide.
"I'm still hearing them."
Astra nodded.
"You will. Forever now."
"You opened the loop."
Silence.
A different kind of silence.
Not the silence of peace.
The silence of knowing too much.
Kairo sat back against the wall.
Let his hand drift down to the flower.
Let his other hand grip the spiral sigil again.
"Why me?"
Astra didn't answer.
Because she didn't know.
Or didn't want to say.
Then he heard it.
Clear.
Just once.
A voice that chilled him.
Not a past version.
A future one.
"Astra dies because of you."
He looked up at her.
She was already watching him.
Expression unreadable.
"What did it say?" she asked.
Kairo hesitated.
Then said nothing.
Instead, he stood.
Still trembling.
Still himself.
Mostly.
"I need to learn how to control this."
Astra nodded.
"We'll start tomorrow."
They turned toward the exit.
The corridor ahead looked worse than before — fractured, half-rendered, echo-bleeding into other Layers.
It didn't matter.
They were already inside the fracture.
Now…they'd move forward anyway.
The flower behind them pulsed once more.
A new petal opened.
Inside its bloom, a faint voice whispered:
"You never leave this place."
But Kairo didn't look back.
Not this time.