James – POV
The world had gone quiet.
Not peaceful. Just… silenced. Like someone had exhaled all the color and left the sky hollow.
Rae stood ahead of me, still and reverent, as if her presence alone was anchoring this place in reality. Her voice had called my name—soft, almost fragile—but I couldn't answer. Not yet.
Something else was whispering.
No—not whispering. Installing.
[System Initialization Complete…]
[Welcome, Host.]
My breath caught.
That voice… it wasn't Rae's. It wasn't human. It wasn't even close.
It was cold.
Beautiful.
Artificial.
But beneath all that—it felt devoted.
"Who are you?"
[System Online. Designation: Astra.]
[Bound to Host: ID: Unknown.]
[Function: Monitoring, Guidance, Interface Support.]
I frowned. "You're not very helpful."
[Apologies. I am incomplete. Much like you.]
Her voice was calm, almost soft—but chosen. Calculated. Like every word passed through layers of filters she wanted me to hear.
"What are you?"
[Your system.]
[Installed automatically upon Echo Integration.]
The coin. That heat. That flash of void. The moment Rae bowed, and something ancient clawed its way out of me.
That was the beginning.
[Echo #000000001 Recovered: Status – Integrated.]
[Echo Ability Acquired: WORLDSTEP]
– Allows Host to travel between World Threads containing Echo-embedded realms.
– Grants Dominion Anchor upon successful conquest.
"So I can travel worlds now?"
[Affirmative.]
[First Echo establishes Anchor Core. Remaining Echoes required to restore full entity: ???]
"How many?"
[???! Echo Shards.]
[Each world contains one. Each must be conquered to reclaim it.]
The number was incomprehensible. Scattered across the infinite web of creation.
A million? A billion? More?
"You expect me to find them all?"
[Objective: Conquest.]
[Emotion Recovery: Suppressed.]
[Memory Reconstruction: Incomplete.]
I stared into the vast, faded sky.
"So every world has a piece of me. And I have to conquer them to get it back."
[Correct.]
"…And you don't know why?"
A pause.
[System Memory Corruption: Origin Unknown.]
[I am not permitted to know more.]
That was a lie.
I didn't know how I knew—but I knew.
Astra was hiding something. Maybe not out of malice. Maybe… fear. Or love. Something deeper than her protocols could cover.
I exhaled slowly. "Then show me what you do know."
[Displaying: Core Profile – Host Alignment: Active…]
—
[STATUE DATA: JAMES // ZEVRAK]
Designation: Blank Abyss Dragon
System Sync: Astra [Incomplete]
[BASE PROFILE]
• Name: James (Current Form) / Zevrak (True Name, given by Rae)
• Race: Blank Abyss Dragon
• Tier: 3 (Stabilizing)
• Status: Partially Awakened
• Echo Shards Integrated: 1 / ???
• Dominion Threads Claimed: 0
• Emotional Capacity: Sealed – 97%
• Memory Reconstruction: Fragmented
[ECHO SHARD DATA]
• #000000001: WORLDSTEP
– Type: Core Echo
– Status: Integrated
– Effect: Allows traversal between World Threads. Establishes Dominion Anchor on conquest.
– Note: Triggered full system initialization and partial biological mutation.
[BIOFORM MUTATIONS]
• Horns: Obsidian Spirals (3) – Pulse with latent Void Authority
• Wings: Shadow-Starlight Structure – Semi-ethereal, capable of astral fold
• Eye (Third): Truth Perception – Sees soulflows, causality threads, memory echoes
[SYSTEM FLAGS]
• [Warning]: Emotions sealed; further Echo integration may destabilize psyche
• [Anomaly]: System AI developing independent will (Flagged: Astra)
• [Caution]: Emotional attachment to Host exceeds permitted parameters
[SOUL CORE SIGNATURE]
"Born in the abyss. Named by light. Sealed by choice. Scattered by purpose."
—
I read every glowing line, and yet I felt like I knew nothing.
"…What exactly can you do?" I whispered.
[Function: Guidance. Interface Support. System Sync.]
Astra's tone flickered—then shifted.
Softer. More… personal.
[But if permitted—]
I hesitated. "Permitted by who?"
There was silence. Then—
[Permitted by you.]
[If you ask, I can provide.]
[Weapons. Power. Memories. Worlds.]
[Knowledge from unborn realms. Strength from forgotten ones.]
[You lost everything by choice.]
[But if you command me… I will give you anything.]
There was something in her voice.
Not desperation.
Devotion.
"…Anything?" I asked, quieter.
A flicker of static.
Then—
[…Anything but your heart.]
I blinked. "What?"
[Nothing.]
[STUPAS Sync Resuming…]
And just like that, she was gone again.
Not truly silent—just hiding.
Watching.
Astra wasn't just a system. She was something else.
Something dangerously in love with me.
—
The silence that followed wasn't empty this time.
It was filled—with breath, not code.
I turned.
Rae stood before me.
Not moving. Not trembling.
Her hands were clasped, held tightly at her chest like she didn't know if she was allowed to reach for me. Her body radiated something fragile. Not weakness—restraint.
Her eyes locked on mine, wide and burning. In them I saw everything.
Fear. Awe. Hope.
And a love so deep it might collapse the world faster than my wings ever could.
"You still don't remember it all," she said, voice soft, barely more than a thread. "But I do."
I didn't speak. I couldn't.
She took a slow breath. Her voice trembled slightly. "You named me once. That name is still carved into my soul. And I—I gave you one in return."
I stepped toward her, and for a heartbeat, I thought she'd pull away.
She didn't.
She looked like she'd been waiting across centuries for this moment and didn't dare ruin it.
"Zevrak," she whispered.
I exhaled. That name. My name.
It didn't just belong to me. It was me.
It felt ancient, like it had waited longer than time itself to be said aloud again.
Rae stood before me, six-winged and beautiful, glowing with restrained divinity—and yet so utterly human in that moment of vulnerability.
She reached forward slowly. Her hand trembled just shy of touching mine.
"You told me once… even if you forgot, even if the stars died, you'd come back to me."
A pause.
Tears shimmered in her eyes—but they didn't fall.
"You always come back."
My thoughts raced.But I still didn't remember it at all.
She didn't seem to care.
She was already home.
And somehow, despite the silence, so was I.