> *It wasn't meant to awaken.*
> *It was meant to stay buried.*
> *But the storm doesn't ask permission.*
---
### 03:00 – Neo's Echo Fracture
Neo knelt in the middle of Virelia's Echo training field, surrounded by holograms of himself — not projections… **memories.**
Each one was bleeding light.
Each one was whispering a different version of his name:
> "Tayo."
> "Subject 17."
> "The Silence."
> "Neo."
Then the ground shook.
Not physically — **cognitively.**
The Echo system's anchor nodes began to blink red.
His Reverb had **escaped containment.**
> *[WARNING: Conscious Echo Feedback Detected]*
> *[Reverb Level: Unstable — Contagious Thought Detected]*
Lucid's voice crackled through the intercom:
> "You're not syncing, you're duplicating."
> "You're becoming the memory."
---
### 03:07 – The Reverb Protocol Activates
Deep below the academy, the Council triggered the **Reverb Protocol** — a last-resort failsafe to neutralize psychic anomalies.
They expected it to shut Neo down.
But instead?
It synced with him.
The entire system lit up with blue — not Council blue. **His blue.**
The field, the halls, even the lights pulsed with his heartbeat.
---
### 03:09 – The Girl Appears
She stepped into the field — no guards, no announcement.
Just her presence.
And as she did, every projection stopped.
Neo looked at her with terror.
> "You're not real."
> "You're the memory they killed."
She walked to him and placed her palm against his chest.
> "Then why does your Echo recognize me?"
> "Why am I the only thing you can't duplicate?"
His voice cracked.
> "Because you're the only thing I didn't want to forget."
The entire Echo field collapsed into white.
---
### 03:11 – Fallout
When the system rebooted…
- Half the Echo logs were gone.
- Stormfront command lines were erased.
- The Council's archive was wiped clean.
And on every screen… a single phrase burned in:
> *"This is not a storm."*
> *"This is a remembering."*
---
*End of Chapter 42.*