A roar split the mountain, but it wasn't the sound of wind or storm.
It was the shattering of time itself.
Lucien threw himself over Hana as the sanctuary trembled, ancient stone fracturing like glass under invisible pressure. Ae-rin stood at the altar, arms raised in a warding gesture, golden glyphs burning into the walls around her.
The tear in the air, jagged and rippling, hovered like a wound in space. Through it, something watched. Not with eyes, but with memory.
"Don't look directly into it!" Ae-rin shouted over the chaos. "If you see your own past… it may drag you back!"
Lucien shut his eyes, tightening his grip on Hana. She clung to him, her breath shallow, and whispered his name
"Yul…"
That single word sparked fire in his chest. The Soul Beacon was still embedded in him, its pulse syncing with the fracture. Visions blurred past his mind's eye No-eul's laughter, Seonwu's blade, a battlefield strewn with ash.
Then, a voice.
"You sealed me once. Try again, and I will tear your soul from her hands."
Lucien's teeth clenched. "Not this time."
Argent Circle Command Hub – Hidden Complex, Seoul
Minjun stared at the data stream flashing crimson.
"Timeline rupture confirmed. Unauthorized Echo contact."
One of the analysts looked up, pale. "Sir, the Echo is active unscheduled. The girl wasn't stabilized. The host is syncing early!"
Shin Dae-hyun's voice crackled through the private line.
"Let it sync. I want to see what he does now that he remembers. Yul was always a wild card."
Minjun didn't respond immediately.
Then, flatly: "You're hoping he reawakens the Echo fully."
A pause.
"I'm hoping," Shin replied, "he doesn't destroy it before I can use it."
Present – Inner Chamber, Sanctuary of Echoes
Ae-rin's voice rang in three languages at once Korean, Latin, and the Old Tongue of the Seal as she traced a final sigil in the air. The walls pulsed, locking down the breach, but the tear remained a writhing shadow of memory and hunger.
Lucien pushed to his feet. "We can't stay here."
Ae-rin nodded, sweat lining her brow. "There's a secondary path through the under-vaults. But you must not let the Echo mark either of you."
Hana clutched Lucien's hand. Her fingers were ice. "I felt it. It was inside me for a moment."
Ae-rin looked grim. "It remembers you. And now… it may try to finish what it started in your past life."
Lucien didn't hesitate. "Then we end this. Tell me where to go."
But before Ae-rin could answer, a low whirring filled the chamber.
A sphere of light blinked to life behind them.
Lucien spun around, shielding Hana instinctively.
A projection a man in a tailored silver suit.
Shin Dae-hyun.
"Hello, Yul," Shin's voice drawled, his image flickering.
Lucien stepped forward. "You."
"I thought it was time we spoke… face to face. Or at least, soul to soul."
"You're controlling this breach," Ae-rin said coldly. "You want the Echo unsealed."
"I want the truth. I want power. The same thing Yul wanted a thousand years ago he just didn't know how to keep it."
Lucien's eyes burned. "I was never like you."
"No," Shin said calmly. "You were worse. You sacrificed everything. And for what? So she could live a life without you? How romantic. How wasteful."
Lucien stepped forward, but Shin raised a hand. "You're not ready. But you will be."
The projection vanished.
So did the tear.
But not the silence it left behind.
Lucien turned to Ae-rin. "Where is he?"
"Deep beneath Seoul. He's built a throne room for the Echo's rebirth."
Lucien nodded. "Then we burn it all down."
Flashback – 980 A.D., Temple Courtyard
No-eul ran barefoot across the stone floor, laughter echoing.
Yul stood by the gate, sword at his side, watching her like a man who knew time was short.
"You promised," she said, eyes bright. "That we'd leave after this war."
"I meant it."
She stepped closer, touching his hand.
"What if I forget you?"
"Then I'll find you in the next life."
She smiled.
And just as the sun broke the clouds
She vanished.
Present – Underground Passage, Beneath the Sanctuary
Lucien's grip tightened on the lantern as they navigated narrow halls chiseled into rock.
He could feel it now her presence. No-eul… Hana… both tied to him like red string around his soul.
Hana stumbled once, catching herself on his arm.
"Sorry. My head still feels like it's splitting in two."
He helped her upright, brushing snow from her hair. "We'll rest when we're safe."
"I'm not sure we ever will be again," she whispered.
But before Lucien could answer, something moved in the dark.
Not a tremor.
Not wind.
Whispers.
Ae-rin raised her hand. "We are not alone."
From the walls, shadows detached humanoid forms with burning violet eyes.
Lucien raised his blade. "What are they?"
"Echo Fragments," Ae-rin hissed. "They feed on broken memories."
One lunged.
Lucien spun, slashing through it but it didn't fall. It reformed, its shape flickering through versions of itself man, child, beast, soldier all screaming in one voice.
Hana shrieked, backing against the wall as another one reached for her.
Lucien moved fast faster than he should've been able to.
Yul's instincts.
He cut the creature down, drove it back with the lantern's flame, and turned toward Hana...
Only to see her frozen in place.
Eyes wide.
Locked on something only she could see.
A child's voice echoed from nowhere:
"You left me behind. Why?"
Lucien grabbed her. "Hana come back."
She blinked.
And whispered: "It's me. I was pregnant… in my past life."
Lucien's breath caught.
But before he could say anything, the tunnel shook.
Ae-rin's voice roared: "RUN!"
Stone cracked. The passage ahead collapsed. And from the shadows behind—a thousand eyes opened.
Not fragments.
The Echo itself.
Lucien turned.
Grabbed Hana.
And sprinted into the dark.