A flash-vision blink: eyes shut, then Glint-Blink opens—the world pulses with a pale green thread slicing through the mist, throbbing like a burning vein.
(⧼ QP Drain: 5.0 / minute – Halo-Eye Active ⧽)
The thread leads somewhere. No…somewhen.
---
He sits cross-legged atop a glass tile, slicing a thin pulse-thread across his mist-forehead. Into the gap, he embeds a small Memory-γ crystal—a light scatterer.
The strain eases.
(⧼ Drain Reduced: 1.2 QP/min ⧽) (⧼ Visual Sync: 73% → 78% ⧽)
He notes a rule in the system:
> Do not gaze longer than 8 seconds.
---
Half-weight Grav-Rush. Jump. Open.
One-second glimpses—the thread thickens, its pulse louder. Around him, ghost-hints whisper through the air, shattering sentences:
> *"...story's shadow… behind the glass…"
The air grows musky—hot clay and sharp bronze: a living memory chamber nearby.
---
The valley dips seven meters in a jagged edge.
He plants a Grav-Seed. Each step down triggers a 0.3s null-gravity field. A staircase of inverse weight.
The glass remains intact.
---
A crystal humanoid stands in the hollow.
Its palms drip blue light. The system names it:
(⧼ Echo-Guard: Active ⧽)
If the Halo-Eye opens beyond half a second—memory erasure beam.
> Test: Pass by blinking < 0.4s intervals.
He fails once.
Blackout.
> *"My name is...?"
[space]
He stumbles. A crack marks the glass—where his first Grav-Rush leap was.
---
He passes. A spiral crystal corridor opens. The thread branches into hundreds—each bleeding blurred images.
He wears three Memory-β crystals as filters. Every image that touches him converts, partially, into a gray shard.
They fall. A soft clink.
> Filtering Loop Engaged. Soul-Seed: 75% (⧼ Warning: Soul Saturation Threshold: 80% ⧽)
---
A ten-meter glass sphere. Its walls fold like translucent onion-skin.
In the center, a hexagonal float rotates slowly.
Each spin emits an old thought-pulse.
Life-Sense: Mnemonic Amplifier – β+ Tier
Dormant. Needs: Identity Spark.
---
The spark must be raw. Unrefined. Sharp.
He digs.
Remembers—his first fear. Waking in the Crystal of Stillness… seeing himself in reflection. Eyeless.
He pumps the memory into the crystal. It glows red.
---
Red light erupts. The walls stream memories—crystalline civilization echoes flowing into him.
Too fast—he'll rupture.
He activates Pulse-Weave:
> 100 pulses/min
Each beat filters a silver strand, dropped into a shell pouch at his hip.
Soul-Seed: 80%
---
Lightstorm calms.
Memory-Sight ▸ STABILIZED Drain: 0.3 QP/min (idle) / 1.0 QP/min (focus) Passive Unlocked: Past-Trace View last aura imprint on solid objects up to 1 hour.
---
The wall cracks.
The Amplifier consumed a core support. The ceiling quakes.
Echo-Guard reawakens.
A deletion beam fires—bounces.
His hand crystal reflects it—
Flash.
He forgets the Grav-Seed's origin point.
---
He activates Past-Trace.
A living gray ribbon rewinds his steps.
He follows, blinking every ten seconds to conserve energy.
The Guard fires again—he intercepts with a memory crystal.
Shatter.
Smoke-images flood the deletion beam—neutralizing it.
---
Dusk.
He reaches the surface.
Grav-Rush: too drained.
He scans. His eyes—both—catch the faded echo of the original seed. A broken halo of mistlight.
He smiles:
> "Nothing is lost… if a halo remains to tell the story."
System:
> (⧼ Past-Trace Map: Saved ⧽)
---
The sky breathes. Faint meteors whisper in white clouds.
Beacon ping: (⧼ Spire #2: Overloaded during absence. Integrity: 41% ⧽)
From his peripheral vision: a flicker—violet static circles the base.
A Bolt-Drake embryo. Just like in the system's prophecy.
He whispers:
> "If the eye sees brilliance in its cradle… then maybe—just maybe—I can teach the dragon a tale… instead of a scream."