"Talin?"
Juno's voice broke when she said it.
Lyle had never heard her sound like that—like a soldier forgetting how to stand.
The man before them stood in flawless posture, draped in gold-threaded armor etched with runes that shimmered faintly with inversion glyphs. His face… perfect. Too perfect.
No scars.
No wrinkles.
No age.
But it was undeniably him.
The older brother she spoke of once—and never again.
The one who died during the collapse of the First Rift War, lost in a memory implosion no one survived.
Yet here he was.
Breathing.
Walking.
Staring directly at them.
> [Codex Alert: Signature Detected – Thread-Origin Unknown]
Entity: Talin Ravyn (deceased)
Status: Recompiled.
Memory Anchor: External.
Warning: Identity Stable. Soul Signature Altered.
Juno took a half-step forward, then stopped. "You… you were— I buried what was left of you."
Talin didn't blink.
Didn't flinch.
When he spoke, his voice carried the same cadence as memory—but none of its warmth.
> "Juno Ravyn, Thread Candidate 312A. Codex Tag: Silent Blade."
"Lyle Greenbottle, System-Breaker. Codex Status: Volatile."
"You are in violation of convergence law. Exit the Echo Chamber or be processed."
Lyle glanced at Juno. "That's not your brother."
"Yes, it is," she whispered, staring at the man. "It's what's left of him."
---
Talin took a step forward.
The Codex pulsed hard against Lyle's wrist, pages flipping wildly.
> [Combat Probability: 84%]
Thread Instability Rising.
Warning: Do not engage if anchor origin is unknown.
"Back off," Juno warned, drawing her blade fully.
Lyle opened the Codex slightly, letting it hover and map surrounding glyph threads. "He's not tethered to our realm. He's being projected. Bound to something…"
He looked past Talin—to the Gate itself.
The walls were whispering.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
They were whispering his name.
And not just his.
They whispered Talin's too.
As if the Gate remembered every soul who passed through it—and kept a copy.
---
Juno moved first.
Not to strike.
To reach.
"Talin, please," she said. "I'm your sister. Don't let them take that from you again."
The man paused.
His head tilted slightly.
"…Sister?"
For a moment, the glyphs on his armor flickered.
A flicker of confusion.
A gap in the programming.
Lyle saw it.
And acted.
---
With a quick gesture, he layered two passive glyphs—Hollow Thread and Mimic Echo—into the Codex's structure, hiding their threadline briefly.
The world winced.
Just for a second.
And in that second, Talin blinked.
Truly blinked.
"…Juno?"
She rushed forward.
He didn't stop her.
For a heartbeat, he even raised a hand—tentatively, hesitantly—reaching back.
But just before they touched—
The runes flared red.
And the man screamed.
Not aloud.
Inwards.
Like something inside Talin refused to be unmade.
---
He shoved Juno back with impossible force, sending her flying against the cathedral's edge.
Lyle leapt forward, catching her before she hit the glyphstone.
"Talin, stop!"
The man was shaking now, body twitching, glyphs melting across his armor like molten thread.
"I… I wasn't supposed to remember," he said in a voice not entirely his own. "They said… remembering would break me."
Lyle realized what was happening.
He turned to Juno, who was struggling to sit up.
"He's been rebuilt from a soul fragment. Whatever did this—Valen, maybe someone else—it didn't just resurrect him. It used a copy. A shadow-memory."
"And he's fighting it," Juno said, her voice hoarse.
---
Lyle opened the Codex fully.
> [Emergency Override Thread Detected]
Do you wish to attempt memory stabilization?
Warning: Failure may result in subject degradation.
Risk Level: Severe.
Juno's eyes met his. "Do it."
"Are you sure?"
"She already lost him once," she said. "She's not doing it again."
---
Lyle cast.
Not a spell.
A weave.
His first real one.
He merged three patterns: Soul Stitch, Echo Fixation, and Grief Anchor.
And with them, he reached into Talin.
Not as an enemy.
But as a brother.
For just a breath of time, Lyle felt what Juno once knew:
Talin teaching her to hold a blade.
Talin laughing in the kitchen, burnt food in his hand.
Talin, before the war.
Before the Gate.
Before he became this.
---
The weave caught.
Talin's body stilled.
He dropped to one knee, breathing hard, hands gripping his head like it was splitting open from the inside.
"I… remember," he choked. "I remember you, Juno."
She knelt beside him.
Lyle stepped back, giving them space.
"I remember… mother's humming. The hollow tree where you kept your journals. I remember…"
And then he looked at Lyle.
"…your name."
Lyle stiffened.
"You weren't there," Talin said. "But she showed me."
He raised a trembling finger.
Pointed toward the crack in the ceiling.
"She said… you'd break the systems."
Lyle's pulse slowed.
"She who?" he asked.
But Talin didn't answer.
His body began to glow.
Too fast.
Too bright.
Lyle's Codex screamed.
> [Thread Overload – Stability Breached]
Subject Unraveling.
Evacuate or suffer echo collapse.
Juno screamed his name.
"TALIN!"
But the man smiled one last time.
"Live better."
And then he was gone.
No explosion.
No scream.
Just silence.
And the faint echo of a humming voice.
---
Juno knelt in silence for a long time.
Lyle said nothing.
He simply waited.
Finally, she stood.
Her eyes rimmed red—but her spine straightened.
"He remembered," she whispered.
Lyle nodded. "He died a second time for it."
And then, the Gate behind them shifted.
Opened a second door.
A darker one.
No glyphs.
No warnings.
Just a simple phrase carved into its surface:
> "The First Heir Awaits."
Lyle turned toward it, his Codex pulsing faster.
He stepped forward.
Juno followed.
And they vanished into the dark.