The moment Idris reached for the Eidolon Core, the air around them shattered.
The hum of the Veil of Paradox turned into a deafening roar as the shadows around the chamber twisted and came alive. A crack spread across reality itself, and from its depths, it emerged—
The Echo.
A swirling mass of darkness, shifting like liquid, its form constantly warping. Tendrils of pure void extended from its center, pulsing with jagged streaks of red lightning. It had no face, no eyes—only a deep absence where its presence should have been, a wound in the fabric of existence.
The air turned suffocating.
Time bent.
Elise gritted her teeth. "We need to move—now!"
But it was already too late.
The Echo struck.
A tendril lashed out, aiming straight for Idris. He barely had time to react before something inside him pulled—a deep, instinctive reaction, as if his very blood knew what to do.
A force erupted around him, pushing the tendril back. The Echo screeched, the sound vibrating through every fiber of his being.
Idris stumbled, gasping. "What… was that?"
The spectral figure of the Sa'Khel flickered into existence beside him, its voice urgent. "The Echo knows what you are. It will not allow you to leave with the Core."
Nyla spun toward them. "What does that mean? We don't have time for riddles!"
The figure didn't turn. "It means that the Timekeeper's blood is the last thing standing between the Echo and the end of time itself."
The realization hit Idris like a cold wave. It's not just after the Core. It's after me.
The Echo shrieked again, and this time, it didn't hold back. The void surged forward, splitting into countless tendrils, all aiming to consume them.
"MOVE!" Rook shouted.
The team scattered.
Elise rolled to the side, firing energy rounds into the darkness. The shots disappeared the moment they touched the Echo, swallowed whole by the void.
Rook swung his blade, its edge crackling with energy. The strike connected—only for the Echo to absorb the impact, warping around it like liquid before lashing out with terrifying speed.
Nyla barely dodged, flipping over a crumbling platform as the chamber collapsed around them. "Weapons are useless against it!" she called out.
Idris's heart pounded. "Then what isn't?"
The Sa'Khel figure turned to him. "The Core."
Idris followed its gaze. The Eidolon Core still floated above the platform, pulsing with raw power.
The only weapon powerful enough to rewrite fate…
It was their only chance.
He clenched his fists. Then I have to get to it.
"Cover me!" he shouted, sprinting toward the Core.
The Echo screamed. The entire chamber trembled as it surged toward him, every tendril converging—
And then Elise jumped in its path.
She landed between Idris and the Echo, raising both arms. "Oh, no you don't—"
A blast of energy erupted from her gauntlets, forming a massive shockwave. It slowed the Echo—just barely.
"Go, Idris!" she yelled. "We'll hold it off!"
Rook and Nyla flanked the creature, keeping it occupied.
Idris didn't hesitate.
He sprinted forward, leaping onto the crumbling platforms as the Core pulsed with increasing energy. The closer he got, the heavier time itself became—his limbs dragging, seconds stretching unnaturally.
The Echo felt it too. It howled, surging toward him—
But he was already there.
Idris reached out—
And his fingers touched the Core.
The moment he made contact, the world exploded.
Light erupted outward, blasting through the chamber. The Echo screamed as the energy consumed it, tendrils retracting, its form collapsing in on itself.
Idris felt his entire body ignite with power. Visions flooded his mind—fractured timelines, forgotten histories, endless possibilities all converging at this single moment.
And in that moment, he understood.
The Echo was not just destruction. It was correction. A force meant to erase anomalies, to fix time itself—
But something had gone wrong.
The Timekeepers had interfered, creating a paradox so vast that the Echo could no longer distinguish what needed to be erased. It was stuck in an endless loop, devouring everything in its path to restore a balance that no longer existed.
And now…
It was coming undone.
The chamber trembled violently. The structures of the forgotten city collapsed as the Veil of Paradox ripped apart.
The others were shouting his name, but their voices were distant. Reality itself fractured—
And then, suddenly—
Stillness.
Idris opened his eyes.
He was no longer in the collapsing city. No longer in the Veil.
He stood in a vast expanse of white.
A void.
And across from him—
A figure.
Not the Echo.
Something else.
It looked human, but its form flickered between countless versions of itself—young, old, male, female, and everything in between. A shifting anomaly.
It tilted its head. "Interesting. You were not meant to reach the Core."
Idris tensed. "Who are you?"
The figure's form blurred. "I am the Architect. The one who built the Echo."
His breath caught. "You—"
The Architect stepped forward, studying him with ever-changing eyes. "The Echo was never meant to be a threat. It was meant to be a safeguard. But the Timekeepers changed everything."
Idris's pulse pounded. "Then why are you here? Why show yourself now?"
The Architect smiled—an expression that carried both amusement and sadness. "Because you have done what no one else has. You have touched the Core. And now… you must decide the fate of time itself."
The void around them shifted, countless timelines unfolding like pages in a book.
The Architect extended a hand. "Will you erase the Echo… or reshape it?"
Idris stared at the hand. The weight of the decision pressed against his chest.
Erase the Echo, and the threat would be gone forever—but so would everything connected to it, including the remnants of the Timekeepers.
Reshape it… and risk creating something new. Something unpredictable.
His mind raced.
There was no turning back now.
Idris took a deep breath—
And made his choice.