Mira's breath caught in her throat.
The word father echoed in her mind like a curse, like a secret the world had kept from her out of fear it might break her. But there it was, etched in fading crimson above the spiral—Elric Devereux.
She barely remembered him.
A scent of old books. A voice humming lullabies. A coat draped over a chair. And then, nothing.
He'd vanished when she was six.
They told her he ran away. That he'd "gone unstable." That he'd left them. But no one ever said why.
Until now.
"You're lying," she whispered.
Lys shook her head. "I wish I was."
Zeke stepped into the chamber, arms tense. "She's not. I've seen his records. He went Riftbound twelve years ago."
Mira stumbled backward. "No. My mom said he just… disappeared. She never said he was taken."
"She probably didn't know," Zeke said gently. "Or she did—and was trying to protect you."
From the truth.
From this.
Mira's fists clenched. "If he was Riftbound, then where is he now?"
Lys looked at the spiral. "That's what we're going to find out."
---
The chamber's spiral wasn't just decorative—it was a map.
Mira traced the outer ring with her finger, watching the runes glow faintly under her touch. "This is a… code?"
Zeke nodded. "There are nine Riftsites in total. This is the first. Elric made it here. That much we know."
"He left a trace," Lys said. "Every Shardbearer leaves one. If we find all nine, we find him."
"You're saying he's alive?"
"Alive," Lys repeated, "or worse."
Mira swallowed hard. "What's worse?"
"Echoed. Twisted. Or lost in the Between."
Zeke added, "The Between's where time doesn't move right. Some people enter and come out ten years older. Others forget their names. Some never leave."
Mira felt the heat in her chest again—the Shard pulsing like a warning.
She didn't know her father.
But she wasn't going to let the Rift keep him.
---
They returned to the theater after dark. The sky outside was bruised violet. The school still hadn't reopened—not after the last "gas leak" incident. The authorities were baffled. Mira didn't blame them.
Lys spread a map across a broken piano.
"Next Riftsite is below the library. Deep archives level."
Zeke groaned. "Figures. That place is swarming with surveillance bots."
"They won't stop us," Lys said. "Not if we go in through the sub-floor tunnels."
Mira blinked. "There are tunnels under the school?"
Zeke raised a brow. "There are tunnels under everything here. You just didn't know where to look."
---
That night, they moved through the dark like ghosts.
Mira's powers crackled with every step. Her gloves were gone. She wrapped her fingers in bandages instead. The glow still bled through.
The library's basement stank of mold and secrets.
They descended five flights of stairs before hitting a steel hatch.
Lys pressed her palm to it, and the spiral symbol glowed, reacting to her touch.
It opened.
Beyond the door lay another Riftsite.
This one older. Angrier.
The air here didn't just hum, it screamed.
Mira heard voices. Her own voice.
Whispers that spoke her doubts back at her.
You're not strong enough.
You'll become what you fight.
They'll leave you too.
She stumbled.
Zeke caught her. "Ignore them."
"They're me," she gasped.
"They're not," Lys snapped. "They're what the Rift wants you to be afraid of."
Mira gritted her teeth. Her Shard flared.
The voices grew louder, until she stepped into the spiral.
Then, silence.
A message shimmered into view.
Not carved.
Not drawn.
But burned into light.
---
"Mira, if you're seeing this, run. Don't let them twist you like they did me."
Her heart stopped.
It was his voice.
Rough. Older. Tired.
But hers.
Zeke moved closer, eyes wide. "This is a memory tether."
Lys knelt beside it. "Not just a tether. A warning."
The voice continued.
"The Threadlight is alive. It's watching us. Every move we make feeds it. I tried to contain it. But they—"
The message glitched.
Static tore through the air. The spiral flared red.
Then—
Another voice replaced it.
Mira's own.
"You shouldn't have come here."
The chamber began to tremble.
The spiral cracked.
Zeke yanked Mira back. "It's a trap!"
"MOVE!" Lys shouted.
But Mira couldn't move.
Because standing in the center of the spiral
Was herself.
No, not herself.
The Echo.
And this one… wasn't just copying her.
It was speaking her thoughts back to her.
"You miss her," it said. "Renna. You blame yourself."
Mira trembled.
"You hate being alone. But you're not scared of being Echoed, are you?"
"Shut up."
"You're scared of becoming me."
Mira unleashed her power.
The chamber erupted in light and sound. The spiral broke.
The Echo vanished.
But not before whispering
"Your father didn't run. He became. And so will you."
---
They escaped the collapse.
Barely.
Lys led them back to the theater, breathing hard.
"We need to move faster."
Mira sat against the wall, drenched in sweat and fear. "He's changing, isn't he? My dad."
Zeke nodded slowly. "Maybe already has."
"I want to find him," she said. "Before I lose myself too."
Lys studied her.
Then handed her a folded map.
"Then you're not just training anymore. You're leading."
Mira stared at the map, nine spirals, circled in ink.
Only two were lit.
Seven more to go.