Echoes of Power

Chapter 5: Echoes of Power

The forest clearing was still, bathed in soft moonlight. The Core was gone, its presence now a lingering hum inside Kazuki’s body. The portal had saved them, but left more questions in its wake. As Aria slept beside the fire and Renji kept watch, Kazuki sat alone at the edge of the woods, staring at his glowing hands.

The energy pulsing through him wasn’t just power—it was alive. It remembered things. Showed him fragments. Echoes.

He closed his eyes.

And the past rushed in.

---

The vision began in a field of stars. A world—not Earth—hovered below. It was lush, thriving, and surrounded by satellites shaped like crystals. Voices whispered in a forgotten language.

A tower of light rose from the center of this alien world. At its peak floated a sphere—identical to the Core.

Kazuki saw himself, or someone who looked like him, standing on the tower with others—cloaked beings whose eyes glowed like suns. They called themselves the Original Ascended. Guardians of harmony. Balancers of creation and destruction.

Kazuki—the version in the vision—stood at the center, hands raised to the sky as energy flowed through him.

But something went wrong. A rift tore through the heavens. The Core fractured. Civilizations fell. Chaos erupted. The Original Ascended scattered across the stars, their powers dormant.

Until now.

Kazuki gasped, jolting upright. Sweat drenched his shirt. His hands trembled.

He wasn’t just an Ascended.

He was a remnant.

A reincarnation of the original bearer of the Core.

---

When morning came, Kazuki shared what he saw.

Renji’s expression was unreadable. "So your power isn’t human. Not even from this planet."

"Neither is the Core," Kazuki said. "It was brought here eons ago. Hidden. Waiting. And now it’s chosen me."

Aria took his hand. "That’s why you were drawn to it. Why you could use it."

"But it also means Aegis might know more than we do," Renji said. "If they’re hunting remnants, they might be trying to recreate the power you just awakened."

Kazuki stood. "Then we find out what they know. And stop them."

---

They returned to the city through hidden routes, evading Aegis patrols. The city was tenser now—checkpoints, scanners, drones overhead.

Renji led them to an old contact, a hacker named Mio who operated out of an underground tech haven beneath a nightclub.

Mio, a short woman with neon-blue hair and augmented eyes, smirked when she saw them. "You’ve stirred up quite the storm, Kazuki. There’s a bounty on your head the size of a gunship."

"Can you get us into Aegis’s secure archives?" he asked.

Mio cracked her fingers. "You’re lucky I like impossible odds."

With Mio’s help, they located an underground Aegis facility—one used for high-level experiments and power research. It wasn’t just a lab; it was the original site where Ascended were first discovered on Earth.

---

Two nights later, they infiltrated the facility.

Mio disabled the outer defenses, and Renji led the charge. Inside, they moved like shadows, Aria using her telekinesis to disable cameras, while Kazuki cloaked them in pulses of distortion.

In the heart of the lab, they found it: a chamber filled with stasis pods, each containing someone like them—Ascended in deep sleep, or stasis-induced coma.

Aria’s eyes widened. "They’re... harvesting their powers. Keeping them locked away."

Renji’s voice was cold. "They’re building weapons. Ascended weapons."

Kazuki approached a terminal. Mio patched in remotely and displayed data across a holographic screen.

"Project Genesis," she read. "Aegis’s attempt to synthetically recreate Ascended. They’ve been injecting select individuals with fragments of Core-like energy, trying to manufacture control."

Kazuki clenched his fists. "They failed. Because this isn’t just energy—it’s consciousness. Memory. It chooses."

Suddenly, alarms blared. Red lights bathed the room.

"Time’s up," Mio shouted in their comms. "They know you’re there."

Doors slammed shut. The floor shook. From the ceiling, a massive containment unit descended.

Inside was a figure in a dark suit—its chest marked with a cracked version of the Core symbol.

"Subject Zero," said an automated voice.

The figure opened its eyes. Glowing white. Soulless.

It moved with terrifying speed, striking Renji and sending him crashing into a wall.

Kazuki stepped in. Their powers clashed like gods in a storm—shockwaves tearing the room apart.

Aria tried to hold the creature with her mind, but it resisted. "It’s like fighting a machine!"

"It is," Kazuki realized. "They built him from pieces of failed remnants. He’s a patchwork!"

The fight raged on. Kazuki was faster now, stronger—but Subject Zero anticipated every move.

Then Kazuki closed his eyes. Reached inward. Called to the Core.

Show me who I was. Let me remember.

And the Core responded.

His body glowed brighter. Not burning with energy—resonating. Symbols formed on his skin. His eyes turned silver.

He didn’t just remember.

He became.

Kazuki struck with elegance and fury, combining blasts, teleports, and precision strikes. He wasn’t fighting to destroy—he was fighting to free.

He touched Subject Zero’s chest.

"You were meant to be more. Not this."

A pulse of light surged from his hand. Subject Zero’s eyes dimmed. The symbol on his chest dissolved.

He fell.

Kazuki caught him.

The room fell silent.

---

They escaped just as reinforcements arrived. Mio covered their tracks, and Renji, though bruised, managed to get them back to the forest safe zone.

As they regrouped, Aria sat beside Kazuki under the stars.

"You were amazing," she said.

He smiled tiredly. "I was someone else. Or maybe… I’ve always been that. I just forgot."

She placed her hand over his. "But you remembered. You chose to save him. That’s what makes you you. Not just power. Heart."

He leaned into her. "And you… you keep me grounded. Every time I start to float away."

She leaned up and kissed him softly. "Then hold on to me. Because we still have a war to win."

Renji joined them, arms crossed. "The Core gave you a glimpse of the past. But what we do next—that’s our legacy."

Kazuki looked toward the distant skyline. "Then we show Aegis the truth. That this power isn’t meant to dominate. It’s meant to protect."

Aria smiled. "And together, we’ll make them remember."

(To be continued in Chapter 6: Genesis Rising)

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