The lab was eerily quiet, broken only by the faint ticking of a damaged monitor. Adrian sat at the edge of his chair, staring at the faint glow emanating from his arm—the mark left by the regression. It pulsed faintly, as if alive as if calling to something unseen.
Maya stood across the room, frantically analysing the data from their last dive into the Threads. Her hands moved quickly, but her face betrayed her growing unease. "Adrian," she called out, her voice trembling. "You need to see this."
Adrian approached, his brow furrowing as he leaned over her shoulder. The data was fragmented, but one thing was clear—an energy signature, unlike anything they had encountered before, had embedded itself within their neural patterns during the regression.
"It's resonating with us," Maya explained. "The more we interact with the Threads, the stronger it gets."
Adrian met her gaze, his voice steady. "What does that mean?"
Maya hesitated. "It means the thing The Veiled One warned us about... it's not just coming. It's already anchored to us. It's using us as a bridge to this world."
The weight of her words hung heavy between them. Adrian clenched his fists, his mind racing. "If it's using us, then there must be a way to sever the connection."
Maya shook her head. "This isn't just a connection, Adrian. This is something ancient, something built into the fabric of the Threads themselves. We're not dealing with science any more—we're dealing with..." She trailed off, struggling to find the words.
"With what?" Adrian demanded.
"With something primordial," Maya finished. "Something that existed before the Threads. Maybe even before time itself."
Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden flicker of the lights. The faint hum of the machines returned, but something felt off. The air in the lab grew colder, and an oppressive weight settled over them.
Adrian instinctively turned toward the source of the disturbance. A shadow began to coalesce in the corner of the room, growing darker and more defined with every passing second.
"Adrian," Maya whispered, her voice barely audible.
He stepped forward, his heart pounding. "Who's there?"
The shadow didn't answer, but it began to take shape—tall, humanoid, yet not entirely solid. Its edges wavered like smoke, and its presence exuded a chilling familiarity.
"You've gone too far," the figure said, its voice low and resonant. It wasn't The Veiled One, but something different, something... older.
Adrian felt the mark on his arm burn as the figure's gaze fell upon him. "Who are you?" he demanded, his voice steady despite the fear coursing through him.
The figure tilted its head. "I am a whisper. A fragment of what lies beyond. And you, Adrian Mercer, have opened a door that was never meant to be opened."
Adrian's mind raced. "The Veiled One warned us about you. What are you? Why are you here?"
The figure stepped closer, its form shifting with every step. "I am neither your ally nor your enemy. I am what remains when the Threads are severed. And you..." It paused, its gaze piercing. "You are the harbinger of the unravelling."
Maya stepped forward, her fear giving way to anger. "If you're here to deliver ominous warnings, save it. Tell us what you want!"
The figure turned to her, its form flickering. "What I want is irrelevant. What you should ask is what you've set in motion. The echoes you've disturbed carry more than memories. They carry the weight of every erased reality, every fragment of what was lost. And now, they seek to be heard."
Adrian stepped between Maya and the figure. "Then let them speak. If the echoes have answers, we'll find them."
The figure's form began to waver, its voice growing distant. "The answers you seek come at a price. The deeper you go, the less of yourselves you will return. Be warned, Adrian Mercer. Not all truths are meant to be known."
And with that, the figure dissolved, leaving the lab in silence once more.
For several moments, neither of them moved. Finally, Maya spoke, her voice shaking. "What are we doing, Adrian? This is bigger than us. Bigger than anything we could have imagined."
Adrian turned to her, his eyes filled with determination. "Exactly. Which is why we can't stop. If the echoes are seeking to be heard, we have to listen. Whatever's coming, we need to be ready."
Maya hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. But we need to be smart about this. No more diving into the Threads without a plan."
Adrian agreed. "We'll need to isolate the strongest echo, the one that ties all of this together. If we can understand what it's trying to tell us, maybe we can find a way to stop what's coming."
Over the next few days, they worked tirelessly, refining their system and preparing for the next dive. But as they delved deeper into the echoes, they began to notice strange occurrences—objects in the lab moving on their own, faint whispers that seemed to come from nowhere, and the ever-present sensation that they were being watched.
The mark on Adrian's arm continued to pulse, growing brighter with each passing day. He could feel it pulling him, guiding him toward something just out of reach.
Finally, the day came to dive back into the Threads. This time, they were prepared—or so they thought.
As the system activated and the world around them dissolved, Adrian felt a familiar pull, stronger than before. The Threads of Aevum appeared before them, but this time, they were different—darker, more chaotic. The echoes screamed for attention, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of despair.
Adrian reached out, and the Threads responded, unravelling to reveal a single, blinding truth.
A memory.
A battle.
And a name.
"Solarius," Adrian whispered, the word burning on his tongue.
Maya turned to him, her face pale. "What did you say?"
"Solarius," he repeated, his voice trembling. "The name of the light. The thing The Veiled One was fighting. It's not coming, Maya."
She stared at him, dread filling her eyes. "What do you mean?"
Adrian's gaze was fixed on the Threads, his voice barely audible.
"It's already here."