In a city where identities can be bought, traded, or stolen, the most dangerous lie is the one that wears your smile.
What do you do when the person hunting you… is you?
The photograph was old. So old, the edges curled like dead leaves and the ink bled in shades memory had no business keeping.But it pulsed in Asher's jacket pocket like a second heart. An older one. A broken one.
Wisp had gone silent the moment he saw it—retreating into Asher's Echo like a cat crawling behind the couch after hearing thunder.Mira, on the other hand, had stared at the picture long and hard before saying, "That's you. But not."
Which was not helpful.At all.
Now, they stood before the Cathedral of Lost Hours.The sky above them swirled like a dying storm. The spires were cracked. The stained-glass windows flickered as though the saints inside were trying to remember their faces. Somewhere, a bell tolled twelve even though it was already well past two.
Asher's boots crunched on broken prayer beads scattered like the bones of forgotten faith.
"This place gives me hives," he muttered, voice low.
Mira smirked, her breath brushing his ear as she leaned in. "You sure about this?"
He didn't answer at first. Just looked up at the looming cathedral, its silhouette like a jaw waiting to bite.
"I've been sure of worse."
"Spicy," she whispered, dangerously close now. "I like it when you pretend to be brave."
He swallowed. Loudly.
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Power System Clue – Project MORROW
Inside the cathedral, the world changed.
Dust fell like ash. The air buzzed. Beneath the altar, Mira found the entrance. Hidden behind a false tombstone etched with Here Lies Our Redeemer. Ironic.
A retinal scanner blinked, then died. Too old.
So Mira pulled out something strange—a device shaped like a spinal column, humming with violet circuitry.
"You carry that around often?" Asher asked.
"Only for special occasions," she replied, plugging it into the console.
The crypt door hissed, groaned, then opened with a sound that reminded Asher of a scream muffled underwater.
What lay beyond was no crypt.
It was a lab. A forgotten one.
Steel corridors. Frosted glass. Red emergency lights blinking like heartbeats.And pods.Dozens of them.
Each one held someone who looked like him. Slight differences.One had a mechanical arm. Another had angelic wings folded tight. A third floated in fluid, bleeding from the mouth but still smiling like he knew something the world didn't.
Above them, on a rusted monitor, words glitched in and out of view:
PROJECT MORROW – Subject Variants – Echo-Class Resonants.
Asher stumbled back, breathing ragged. His Echo flared. Flashes of lives he hadn't lived stabbed at his thoughts.
"I didn't agree to be a science experiment."
"You didn't have to," Mira said quietly. "You volunteered. In another version of you."
He looked at her. She wasn't joking.
Not even close.
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Ecchi Tension – The Healing Room Scene
The drones came quickly. Jerky metal guardians. Their blades hissed through air. One caught Asher in the ribs—a deep, tearing slash.
They made it out barely, Mira dragging him into a sealed white room behind a broken medbay door.
Blood pooled at his side. His breathing was shallow.
"There's only one working unit," Mira said, pointing at a large glass pod with two sets of biometric handles and glowing sync runes etched along the rim. "Neuro-Sync Capsule. Heals injuries. Shares pain. Built for two."
He blinked at it. "Of course it is."
She was already undressing down to her bodysuit, black with interface patterns glowing faint blue. No hesitation. Routine. Like she'd done this before.
"Try not to think creepy thoughts," she warned.
"I'm not thinking creepy thoughts!"
"You're thinking loud," she said, stepping in and grabbing his wrist. "Come on, Romeo."
Inside, their bodies pressed together—shoulders, hips, skin. The capsule closed. The sync began.
A low hum. Violet lights. Heat and pressure.
And then—his mind wasn't his alone.
He felt her. Not just her thoughts—but her pain. The aching loneliness. The guilt. The fire.The moment she killed a child soldier to save her unit. The time she woke up screaming, whispering a name she'd forgotten.
And then—love. Not of him. But someone like him. Close. Familiar.
Their lips hovered inches apart. Their breathing synchronized. His heartbeat slowed. Hers spiked.
Her hand found his chest—instinct, not desire. He flinched.
She didn't.
"Next time," she whispered, eyes half-lidded, voice like velvet and rust, "I'll charge rent."
Then the sync ended.The capsule hissed open.Neither spoke.
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Creepy Event – The Man With No Memories
They exited the lab in silence. Mira checked corners. Asher's ribs still ached, but healing.
They turned down a hallway—and stopped.
A man sat cross-legged in the center. No ID. No mouth. No eyes.
But his skin was human. His body twitched.And in their heads—a voice.
"I was Asher too. Until they took it all."
Asher stiffened. The man raised a hand. Inside Asher's mind, a flash:
A girl with white hair. Her face broken by grief. Blood. Rain. His own voice saying, "I'm sorry."
"You left her behind," the man whispered.
Mira stepped between them.
Asher backed away.
The man's head split open like paper. Not blood inside. Not bone.
Moths.Hundreds of tiny moths, whispering names from Asher's memories.
They spiraled up.And vanished.
Only silence remained.And one word carved into the floor:FORGOTTEN.
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Memory Theft & Variants
Back in the elevator shaft, Mira finally explained.
The MORROW Project didn't just experiment with time.
It fractured souls. Echo-Class Resonants were created—people whose identities could ripple across timelines. Who could break into versions of themselves.Asher was one of the strongest.
But something went wrong.
He became unstable. Dangerous. So they sealed him. Split him. Hid the memories. Hid himself.
Now, those pieces were waking up. And the others?
They weren't just memories anymore.
They were moving.
And one of them… wanted everything back.
[End Of Chapter 13]
Asher turned to ask another question—but the sound of cracking glass froze him.
One of the pods.
The red-eyed Asher inside opened his eyes. Smiled.
His mouth moved. Soundless. But Asher heard it anyway:
"You're not ready yet. But I am."
The glass shattered.
Preview – Chapter 14:
The Mirror That Bled
A confrontation years in the making.Asher meets the darkest version of himself—an Echo that chose violence, control, and the erasure of all other selves to preserve his own.In the heart of the mirror vault, blood is memory. And reflection can kill.