And then
It appeared.
A figure, clad in absolute nothingness, floating amidst the void.
It had no face, no features, nothing that could be defined.
Yet, when it turned its unseen gaze toward Echo, he felt it.
A cold, piercing stare.
One that carried no hostility.
But no warmth either.
The battlefield—still cracked and broken from Echo's impossible feat—fell into a silence so deep that even the wind had stopped.
Then, the figure spoke.
And its voice…
Was calm.
"Elliot… It's time to wake up."
Echo's breath hitched.
That name.
That name
He didn't know it.
And yet…
It felt familiar.
It struck him like a forgotten memory clawing its way to the surface, demanding to be remembered.
He clenched his fists.
No.
This was a trick.
A manipulation.
He was Echo. He was here, in this moment, standing in the Higher Realm as the one who had just defied the Sages.
And yet
Something inside him hesitated.
A flicker of doubt.
A whisper in the back of his mind.
