The Echo of Tomorrow

Chapter 15: Shadows of the Forgotten

Lyra ran, her breath ragged, her mind reeling from the horrors she had witnessed. The Archive Vault was no mere collection of knowledge—it was a tomb of stolen timelines, a graveyard of fractured destinies. The deeper she and Selene ventured, the colder the air became, thick with the weight of forgotten history. The darkness here was different, not the absence of light but the presence of something unnatural, something watching.

"Keep your mind sharp," Selene whispered, pressing herself against the wall as she scanned the corridor ahead. "The deeper we go, the more the TCA's shadows take form."

Lyra swallowed, gripping the handle of the small plasma dagger she had taken from one of the fallen guards. She wasn't a fighter, but she was learning fast. The horrors of the Nexus had ensured that.

As they moved through the labyrinth of abandoned records, Lyra's eyes caught glimpses of shifting figures in the periphery of her vision. The Wraiths. Selene had warned her about them—distortions of lost time, echoes of those who had been erased. If she looked too long, she knew they would notice her.

The hallway opened into a vast chamber, its walls lined with crystalline containers pulsing with dim light. Inside each one, a fragment of a stolen timeline flickered—brief moments of people who had once existed, now nothing more than echoes. Lyra felt bile rise in her throat.

"This isn't just a vault," she whispered. "It's a prison."

Selene's jaw tightened. "The TCA doesn't erase people. They trap them. Somewhere in this maze, the Catalyst is hidden. But we need to move quickly."

A metallic screech echoed through the chamber, sending a shiver down Lyra's spine. From the darkness beyond the columns, a figure stepped forward.

It was a man—or what was left of one. His body flickered like static, shifting between different ages, different versions of himself, as if he were unstuck in time. His eyes, hollow and black, fixed on Lyra.

"You should not be here." His voice was layered, multiple tones speaking at once, some young, some old. "You carry the scent of the living. The TCA does not allow loose ends."

Selene stepped forward, drawing her weapon. "You were an agent once, weren't you?"

The figure twitched violently, as if trying to hold itself together. "I… was. And then I became what I am now. A witness. A warning." His head tilted sharply. "Leave, before the others wake."

The moment he spoke, the walls of the chamber trembled. The crystalline containers flickered wildly, and the air grew thick with whispers. The imprisoned echoes stirred, their voices rising in an unearthly chorus.

Selene grabbed Lyra's wrist. "Run!"

They bolted as the chamber erupted in chaos. The shifting man let out a shriek, and from the shadows, more wraith-like figures emerged. Hands reached from the dark, clawing at their reality, desperate to drag them into the void.

Lyra barely managed to leap over a broken pillar as a wraith lunged at her, its touch missing her by inches. Cold dread seeped into her bones. This wasn't just about escaping anymore. If they failed, they would become part of this place—forgotten, erased.

Ahead, a massive gate loomed, its surface carved with symbols Lyra couldn't recognize. Selene didn't hesitate; she slammed her palm against the interface, but the gate remained shut.

"Come on, come on!" she hissed, typing in override codes, but the system rejected each one.

The whispers grew louder. The wraiths were closing in. Lyra turned, dagger in hand, but she knew it was useless. Against these things, a blade was no better than a twig.

Then, the whispers changed.

They weren't random anymore. They were speaking to her. 

You do not belong. You are not supposed to be. Yet you exist. Why?

Lyra's breath hitched. The voices weren't just sounds; they were inside her mind, pulling at her thoughts, sifting through her memories. She clenched her fists. "Because I refuse to disappear."

The whispers wavered, uncertain.

She took a step forward. "The TCA wants to erase me. Just like they erased all of you. But I am still here. And I will not be rewritten."

For a brief second, silence fell.

Then, the gate's carvings pulsed with blue light, and with a deep groan, it slid open.

Selene grabbed Lyra's arm, yanking her inside just as the wraiths let out a collective screech. The gate slammed shut behind them, and everything was silent once more.

Lyra fell to her knees, chest heaving. The cold presence of the wraiths still lingered on her skin, but they were gone. For now.

Selene exhaled slowly. "I don't know what you just did… but you just saved both our lives."

Lyra swallowed hard, staring at the glowing floor beneath her. "I think they recognized something in me. Something that shouldn't exist."

Selene nodded grimly. "That makes two of us."

Ahead, the path stretched deeper into the unknown, and at the end of it, the fate of time itself awaited.