Eren sat cross-legged on the forest floor, his mind still spinning from the strange encounter with the Echo. The memories it had forced him to relive felt more like fragments of someone else's life than his own. He shook his head, trying to focus. The forest had returned to its calm, but he knew better than to believe things were normal again.
The mist had dissipated, but the strange energy in the air remained, pressing against him like a weight he couldn't shake off. His scanner remained useless, only flashing vague warnings as the air around him hummed with unnatural vibrations.
"Focus, Eren," he muttered to himself. "There's something I'm missing."
He stood up slowly, brushing the dirt and moss from his pants, his mind racing with possibilities. The Echo's words echoed in his mind: "You are not who you think you are." What had it meant? Was it trying to tell him something about his past? Or was there something deeper at play here on the floor—something far beyond his understanding?
Suddenly, the world around him seemed to distort again. He gripped the hilt of his sword instinctively, his muscles tensing. The air became thick, almost unbearable, and his breath quickened. A distant sound, like a low hum, reached his ears. It was faint at first, but it grew louder and louder until it vibrated through his bones.
The ground trembled beneath his feet, and the trees began to bend. Not from the wind, but from some unseen force. The mist reappeared, swirling like a living thing. Eren's heart pounded in his chest. He had to act.
"System, read the environment," he ordered, though he knew the response would likely be just as vague as before. The system buzzed weakly, offering only fragmented data. Temporal anomaly… Unknown fluctuations… It was all it could give him.
Eren cursed under his breath, looking around. He had to keep moving. He had to figure out what was causing these disturbances. The last thing he wanted was to get trapped in another temporal loop or worse—another vision.
As he walked deeper into the forest, the humming sound intensified. The trees here seemed older, their bark thick and gnarled, and the roots twisted like vines, forming an almost unnatural pattern. The markings from before—symbols he couldn't decipher—had reappeared, glowing faintly as if waiting for him to understand their meaning.
With each step, the air grew colder, and the humming became louder, until it was a constant resonance vibrating through his entire body. He clenched his jaw, trying to keep his focus sharp.
He reached out, touching one of the symbols carved into a nearby tree. The moment his fingers made contact, a jolt of energy surged through him, and the forest around him seemed to pulse. He pulled back in shock, but before he could react, the mist parted, revealing a large stone structure ahead. It looked ancient, its surface covered in moss and lichen, but the way it shimmered in the light made it seem… alive.
He moved toward it, a feeling of urgency crawling up his spine. The stone door was cracked, just enough for him to slip through. It felt like the structure had been waiting for him, beckoning him forward. As soon as he entered, the air inside was thick with energy, and the humming sound grew deafening.
Inside, the walls were covered in more symbols—this time more intricate, more complex. Eren's scanner flashed with new data, trying to process it all. His eyes scanned the walls, piecing together the fragments. The markings, the humming, the structure itself—it all pointed to one thing.
"This… this is a gateway," he whispered to himself.
A sudden gust of wind swept through the chamber, extinguishing the torches that had been lit along the walls. In the darkness, a faint glow pulsed from the center of the room. Eren stepped closer, his heart racing as he approached the source of the light.
A pedestal stood in the middle of the chamber, with a small, glowing crystal resting upon it. The glow was soft, almost hypnotic, but as he reached for it, the humming intensified once more, a low, rumbling growl filling the air. The crystal seemed to call to him, but something deep inside told him that touching it could trigger something dangerous.
"Just a little closer," he whispered to himself, his fingers inches away from the crystal's smooth surface.
Before he could make contact, a voice echoed through the room—a voice not of the forest, but something far older, far more ancient.
"You seek answers, but answers come at a price."
Eren froze. The voice wasn't his own, nor the voice of the Echo. It was something different, something deeper. The ground trembled again, the vibrations sending a shockwave through the chamber. The crystal began to pulse rapidly, its glow growing brighter and brighter.
Eren's instincts kicked in. He needed to get out. Fast. He turned to leave, but the door had disappeared. The structure was no longer an open space; it was now a labyrinth of twisting corridors, each one darker and more oppressive than the last.
His heart raced. The hum grew louder, and the walls seemed to close in around him. The voice returned, louder this time, as if it were right behind him.
"No one leaves the Echo unscathed."
Eren gritted his teeth. There was no going back now. He had to fight through whatever this floor had in store for him—answers or not. With a quick motion, he drew his sword, prepared to face whatever darkness lay ahead.
The walls around him shifted, the labyrinth growing more complex with every step he took. The glow from the crystal still pulsed in the distance, a beacon of mystery and danger. Eren's mind raced, his body tensed, but one thing was certain—this floor would be his greatest challenge yet.
The question was, would he survive to unravel its mysteries?