The Echo Ravines weren't made of stone — they were carved from silence.
The moment the Seven stepped across the ridge and descended into the narrow gulch, sound began to behave strangely. Footsteps echoed too late. Breaths came back louder than whispers. And names, when spoken, didn't bounce — they lingered, as if unsure whether to leave the air at all.
They moved in a tight line. Frank took the lead, eyes forward, blade strapped tightly behind his back. Kitty and Peter stayed close behind him, watching every shadow. Lucy followed just behind them, her pace careful but steady. Tom kept toward the rear, quiet and alert, and Susan held her scanner close to her chest, fingers trembling slightly from the abnormal glyph readings that wouldn't stop shifting. Jack, usually at the center of the group, now trailed at the end, distracted, eyes lost somewhere deeper than the path ahead.
"This place is wrong," Peter said softly, the wind carrying his voice strangely sideways.
Susan nodded. "The glyph fields here… they're unstable. But not hostile."
Kitty glanced at her. "Then what are they?"
Susan didn't answer right away. She stopped at a bend in the trail and brushed her fingers along the stone wall — etched with faded spiral glyphs, some glowing faintly in dull crimson.
"They're emotional records," she finally said.
Lucy frowned. "Records?"
"Yes," Susan replied. "Emotions stored in glyphs. Not commands. Not spells. Memories. These weren't meant to harm. They were meant to feel."
Frank kept walking. "Keep moving. Stay alert."
They continued for another half hour. The ravine narrowed. The walls pressed closer. Strange light flickered overhead — not from the sky, but from the glyphs themselves, reacting to their presence. Each step echoed like a shout. Yet no one dared speak.
When they reached the inner chamber, the path opened again — a vast stone basin enclosed by rising cliffs. Dozens of glowing symbols stretched across the rock walls like veins made of memory. It was strangely beautiful. But also wrong.
Susan stepped forward immediately, scanning the glyph trails. "These markings are… old. Ancient. Older than even the Spiral Ruins."
Jack looked around. "Why does it feel like we're being watched?"
Lucy whispered, "Because maybe we are."
They settled briefly at the basin's center. Tom remained standing, scanning the edges with his eyes, while Peter and Kitty knelt to inspect the glyphs near the ground. Susan moved to the largest wall, carefully tracing the loops and lines, her eyes widening slightly at each one.
"These aren't Palecto," she murmured.
Frank turned toward her. "Then what are they?"
Susan ran her hand over a deep, cracked glyph. "They're emotional sigils. Woven in a structure I've only seen once."
Tom asked, "Where?"
Susan looked up.
"The lost glyphs of the Whispering Archive."
Kitty blinked. "That's just a myth."
"No," Susan said softly. "Not anymore. These glyphs weren't carved for power. They were carved to remember something that no one was supposed to find."
Peter narrowed his eyes. "Or someone."
Frank stepped forward. "Can you translate them?"
"I can try."
She pulled out her journal, flipping to an older page, cross-referencing faded glyph diagrams.
As she worked, Tom crouched near one of the glyph trails. He touched the edge of it, his finger lightly brushing the glowing line. It pulsed — once. Faintly.
He pulled back.
Kitty stepped beside him. "Did you feel something?"
Tom nodded. "Not pain. Not danger. Just…"
"Loneliness," Lucy finished, kneeling beside them. "I felt it too."
Jack had wandered a little too far. He stood at the far end of the basin, staring at a section of wall with a broken spiral carved into it — three loops, fractured in the middle.
He didn't speak.
But he reached toward it.
And the glyph glowed.
Susan suddenly looked up from her journal. "Jack—!"
But it was too late.
The ground beneath him shuddered. The spiral glyph released a wave of cold air, sweeping through the ravine like a breath.
Everyone turned.
The glyphs across the walls began to glow brighter. All of them. One by one.
Susan ran toward Jack. "Get away from that wall!"
Jack stumbled back as the symbol dimmed.
But now something had changed.
In the center of the basin, on the flat stone platform, a new glyph had appeared.
It hadn't been there before.
It was glowing violet — a soft, haunting hue none of them recognized. Not Palecto. Not Demon Glyph. Not Archive.
Just… new.
Susan's breath caught. "That's not a glyph. It's a signature."
Tom stepped forward. "From who?"
Susan knelt beside it, scanning quickly.
"This matches no recorded structure. But it has the feel of a soul-bound memory stamp."
Kitty whispered, "Then someone left this here. For us."
Frank's grip on his blade tightened. "We're not alone."
Then… a hum.
Not from the glyph.
From everywhere.
The air began to shimmer.
Not with heat — with memory.
Susan stood slowly. "Something's coming."
Lucy stepped closer. "What do we do?"
The glyph pulsed once more.
Then…
A shape began to form above it.
Faint. Like a hologram made of smoke and glass. A woman — hooded, silent, her face veiled in light.
The Seven froze.
She didn't move. Didn't speak. Just hovered — watching.
Kitty stepped forward, cautious. "Are you… real?"
No response.
Tom whispered, "A projection. Like the ones in the Archive."
Susan's voice trembled. "She's connected to the glyph. She was sealed here."
The figure turned her head slightly — and for the first time, they felt it.
Not power. Not hatred.
Sadness.
Jack whispered, "She's not here to fight."
Then she spoke.
Her voice was layered. Soft. Timeless.
"You've come far," she said. "And yet, you know so little."
Everyone listened.
"My name was lost," she continued. "Erased. Not by time… but by her."
Frank stepped forward. "By who?"
The figure tilted her head.
"You know the name. You've heard the whisper."
Lucy held her breath.
Kitty murmured, "Alexa…"
The projection flinched at the name — as if it burned.
Susan asked, "Who are you?"
"I was her shadow," the figure said. "Her memory. Her echo."
Tom narrowed his eyes. "You're not Alexa."
"No," the figure said. "But I was once part of what she became."
The Seven stood still, silent.
"I broke away," the woman said. "But she… she is not gone. She is awakening."
Peter whispered, "Where?"
The figure paused.
Then said:
"She walks beside you."
Everyone turned to each other.
Stared.
Confused. Nervous.
Tom stepped forward. "Who?"
But the figure did not point.
She simply looked at all of them.
Lucy.
Kitty.
Susan.
Jack.
And then said,
"One of you carries her echo. But none of you know which one."
———
One of you carries her echo. But none of you know which one.
The words did not fade.
They hung, thick in the air like fog, heavier than the silence that followed. No one spoke. Not at first. Even the glyphs along the walls dimmed, as if holding their breath.
Lucy stepped back slightly, eyes wide. "What do you mean 'one of us'? What… what echo?"
The figure tilted her head. "An imprint. A sealed fragment. A tether she left behind. Forgotten, even by the one who holds it."
Kitty asked, "Then how do we know if it's growing?"
The figure responded gently. "When she remembers… you will no longer be able to call her by the name you know."
Frank spoke next, steady but stern. "Can we stop it?"
"Only if the vessel chooses not to awaken," she said. "But if the glyph inside accepts the call—"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Susan stepped forward, her eyes focused. "Who are you really? A guardian? A survivor? A creation of Alexa herself?"
The woman's voice was soft. "I was the last one who tried to stop her."
Jack looked down. "Did you fail?"
"Yes," she whispered. "And that failure lives now… through one of you."
The projection began to flicker — like smoke being pulled apart by time.
Tom took a slow breath. "Before you fade… why us? Why now?"
The woman's eyes flickered between them again.
"She's reaching for the surface. You were drawn here because she's ready."
Lucy whispered, "Ready for what?"
The figure looked straight at her.
Then vanished.
Not shattered.
Not destroyed.
Just… gone.
The glyph at the basin's center pulsed once more, then faded to black.
The chamber fell back into stillness.
But it wasn't the same anymore.
The group stood in silence, trying not to look at each other — trying not to guess.
Kitty was the first to break it. "So… we're supposed to believe one of us has Alexa inside them and doesn't even know?"
Peter folded his arms. "It wouldn't be the strangest thing we've seen."
Jack said, "It's not just about belief. We felt something the moment she appeared. Didn't you?"
Susan turned. "Felt what?"
Jack looked around. "Like… something shifted. Something we weren't supposed to feel."
Frank nodded. "I felt it. But it wasn't fear. It was familiarity."
Lucy's voice was quiet. "Then… if it's one of us… does that mean we've already changed?"
Tom was staring at the basin. "Or worse. It means she's been listening this whole time."
Kitty turned toward Lucy. "Do you remember anything strange lately? Anything at all?"
Lucy flinched slightly. "Why are you asking me first?"
Kitty hesitated. "I'm not accusing—"
"But you looked right at me," Lucy snapped, voice cracking. "You think it's me, don't you?"
"No!" Kitty stepped back. "I didn't say that—"
Susan stepped between them. "Stop. That's exactly what she wants. Doubt. Division."
Peter muttered, "Then how do we stop it? How do we trust anyone if one of us might turn into her?"
Tom looked up. "We don't guess. We don't accuse. We look for proof."
Frank nodded. "We're not falling apart. Not now."
Lucy sat down slowly. Her hands were trembling.
"I don't want to be her," she said softly. "I don't even want to think about it. But what if… what if I am?"
Kitty sat beside her immediately. "You're not. You're you."
Lucy didn't look convinced.
Tom walked to Susan. "Can we scan the glyph traces? Cross-check everyone?"
Susan sighed. "Not with certainty. If she's sealed deep, it won't show up in any energy scan. It's not like reading a disease. It's more like reading a dream."
Peter muttered, "Then we're stuck."
"No," Frank said. "We keep going. We stick together. We plan."
Jack looked at him. "Plan for what? One of us turning into Alexa and wiping the others out in their sleep?"
"No," Frank replied. "We plan for the truth. And we stay ready for what happens if we find it."
Susan closed her journal. "There may still be a way to isolate the echo."
Everyone turned to her.
"There's a sequence," she said. "A glyph test. Not just for energy… but for memory. I read about it once in the Fifth Archive. A mirror glyph. It reflects the soul's resonance and displays any foreign tethers."
Tom asked, "You can do that?"
"I can try," Susan said. "But it's risky. It might destabilize whoever carries the echo — or alert her to our discovery."
Frank said firmly, "Then we only use it if we have to."
Lucy's voice was small. "I want to try it."
Everyone turned to her again.
She stood slowly, eyes wet but steady. "If it is me… I want to know. Not later. Not when it's too late. I don't want to hurt any of you."
Kitty grabbed her hand. "Lucy, no—"
"I need to know," she repeated.
Susan hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. Just… sit. I'll draw the glyph carefully."
Frank paced in silence while Susan worked. Tom sat nearby, blade across his lap, eyes unreadable.
Jack watched Lucy closely — not with suspicion, but with… fear. Not of her. Of losing her.
Peter whispered, "She's strong."
Kitty nodded. "She's brave."
Lucy sat in the center of the chamber as Susan finished drawing the mirror glyph — a complex spiral made of thin lines and emotion anchors. Susan whispered something into the symbol, activating it with a touch of her palm.
The glyph pulsed.
A soft glow surrounded Lucy.
Then…
Her memories began to shimmer — visibly.
Images swirled around her — dancing light-echoes of the past. Her childhood. Her training. Laughter beside Kitty. Her first glyph test. Her fear when they faced Kazakare. Her hand holding Jack's when he collapsed in the Spiral Ruins.
They all watched.
No shadow.
No darkness.
Just Lucy.
Then…
A flicker.
Not black.
Not red.
Just… absence.
A missing frame. A single blank in the stream of memory. A space where something should have been.
Susan froze.
"What was that?" Peter asked.
Susan whispered, "A gap."
Frank stepped forward. "Like erased memory?"
"No. Like rewritten."
Kitty knelt beside Lucy. "Lucy… do you remember anything missing?"
Lucy looked lost.
Then slowly, she shook her head.
Susan deactivated the glyph. "It wasn't confirmation. But it wasn't nothing."
Frank said, "Then we don't act. Not yet."
Jack muttered, "But we watch."
Susan drew a new symbol over the mirror glyph, sealing it. "We'll take shifts. No one wanders off. No one is left alone. Until we find the truth, we don't accuse. We protect each other."
Lucy looked at each of them. "Thank you."
Tom stepped forward and offered her his hand.
"We trust you," he said.
Lucy took it, stood slowly.
And for a moment, the tension cracked.
But as Susan turned away from the glyph…
She noticed something.
A symbol had been carved into the wall behind them.
Not by her.
Not by anyone in the group.
Fresh.
Barely visible.
Just five words:
"Even Infinity Has Shadows."
---
They left the ravines before nightfall.
None of them wanted to stay any longer. Not because of danger — but because the glyphs kept watching. The walls didn't move, but somehow the symbols seemed to shift direction when no one was looking. By morning, several glyphs had rearranged into mirrored phrases they couldn't decipher. One of them resembled the word "home."
Another resembled "hunger."
Frank led them out in silence, blade at the ready. Tom took the rear, quiet and alert. Peter helped scout the trail ahead, while Susan marked every bend they passed with a tracer glyph — but the dust around them kept trying to absorb the markings like it didn't want them to leave.
Kitty stayed close to Lucy, who hadn't spoken much since the glyph test. Her face was calm, but her eyes carried a weight that hadn't been there before.
Jack watched her closely.
More closely than anyone else.
When they finally reached the tree line outside the ravines, the light returned — soft sunlight filtering through the canopy, distant birdsong, the faint sound of a stream. Everything looked peaceful.
But peace wasn't in any of their hearts.
Susan gathered everyone beneath the shade of an arching tree. "We rest here. Just until sunset. Then we push north. There's a safehouse at the edge of the Dasker Cliffs."
Peter dropped his bag. "Do we trust it?"
Susan nodded. "It's sealed with Palecto markers. No one's touched it in years. It's where the archivists used to hide memory glyphs that couldn't be erased."
Frank said, "Sounds like the perfect place to find answers."
Lucy sat apart from the group, quietly braiding a piece of grass. Kitty sat beside her, trying not to look worried.
Jack kept pacing.
Tom sat against a tree, half-dozing, half-listening.
Peter wandered off to gather berries.
Susan opened her journal and tried not to stare at the phrase she'd seen scratched on the ravine wall.
Even Infinity Has Shadows.
She hadn't told the others.
Not yet.
She didn't want to plant fear where there was already doubt.
But still… it didn't feel like a message meant for all of them.
It felt personal.
She turned the page.
And froze.
There was a new glyph drawn in the margins.
Not one she had added.
Not one that should exist.
Just a small spiral, surrounded by tiny rings — almost like an eye.
She blinked.
Closed the journal.
Didn't speak.
Meanwhile, Lucy stood slowly, stretching her arms. "I'm going to walk for a minute."
Kitty looked up. "Want me to come?"
Lucy smiled faintly. "No. Just five minutes. I'll stay in sight."
Kitty hesitated, then nodded.
Lucy walked down a gentle slope toward a quiet stream, the soft hum of water washing over the tension in her chest. Her reflection shimmered in the ripples.
She stared at it.
Looked into her own eyes.
And whispered, "Are you in there?"
The water didn't answer.
But something inside her…
Shifted.
A flicker of thought that didn't feel like hers.
Just a sentence.
'You don't need to be afraid.'
She blinked.
Took a step back.
The sentence vanished — like it had never been there.
But it hadn't sounded threatening.
It had sounded… familiar.
Like a memory of her own voice, saying something to herself.
She returned to the others a few minutes later. Smiled. Sat down.
No one asked.
Jack watched her, eyes narrowed, but didn't speak.
Susan finally closed her journal. "We move in twenty minutes."
Frank nodded. "Everyone hydrate. Rest. Stay alert."
Peter returned with berries.
Tom didn't move.
Kitty glanced at Lucy again.
Then looked away.
---
They reached the Dasker Cliffs just before nightfall — jagged white stone arching toward the sky like teeth. A narrow path led to a shallow cavern hidden behind overgrowth, sealed with old Palecto glyphs only Susan could open.
She touched the stone with both hands and whispered something ancient.
The door opened with a sigh.
Inside was quiet. Dry. Safe.
They built a small fire in the center. Just enough for warmth.
Susan unrolled her scrolls and sat with her back to the wall. Frank sharpened his blade in silence. Peter mapped their progress. Tom polished his gauntlets. Jack sat alone near the entrance.
Kitty pulled a blanket around her shoulders and looked at Lucy.
Lucy was staring at the fire.
Expressionless.
Not sad.
Not tired.
Just… blank.
Kitty scooted closer. "You okay?"
Lucy blinked. "Yeah. Just thinking."
Kitty smiled softly. "About anything in particular?"
Lucy looked at her.
And for a moment…
Kitty felt like she didn't recognize the eyes looking back at her.
Then Lucy smiled.
"I'm glad we're still here," she said. "All of us."
Kitty nodded. "Me too."
But something in her heart tightened.
Not from fear.
From doubt.
Not of Lucy.
But of herself — for wondering.
Susan closed her scroll and stood. "We'll rotate watch. Two at a time. First: me and Peter. Then Frank and Tom. Then Jack and… Lucy."
Lucy looked up.
Jack glanced toward her but didn't speak.
Susan continued, "Sleep in pairs. Stay within reach. If anything feels wrong — anything — wake everyone up immediately."
Everyone nodded.
They slowly lay down for the night, one by one.
Tom slept lightly.
Frank didn't sleep at all.
Kitty closed her eyes but kept one hand on her glyph stone.
And Lucy…
Sat awake beside Jack.
The cave was quiet.
Only the crackle of the fire broke the silence.
Jack finally said, "You're acting different."
Lucy looked at him. "I know."
"Do you feel different?"
She thought for a moment.
Then nodded.
"I feel… like something's coming closer. But it's not chasing me. It's… calling."
Jack tensed. "You don't have to answer it."
"I'm not trying to," she said softly.
He stared at her.
Then said, "You're not her, Lucy."
Lucy looked into the fire.
And said,
"I know."
But the fire crackled again.
And deep inside her chest…
Somewhere hidden…
A glyph pulsed.
Just once.
A whisper.
"Not yet."