The path leading out of the Chamber of Shifting Echoes twisted downward like the spine of some dead iron beast.
Flickering lights illuminated narrow corridors, sharp angles, and rusted metal that groaned with every breath of the complex.
Aria walked ahead, controlled and silent.
Kellan followed with the heavy gait of someone whose bones were still aching from battle.
Jarek lagged close behind, glancing over his shoulder every other step.
And Rowan…
Rowan Hale kept his distance.
Too quiet.
Too still.
Too careful.
He had changed since the creature appeared.
Fear sharpened him.
Purpose twisted him.
Ambition pulled him into shadow.
Elias felt every bit of it.
White Pulse—the fragmentary ability awakened from his Threshold—trembled faintly in his mind, waiting to be used again.
Not yet.
Not while Rowan simmered like a knife hidden in plain sight.
They reached a wider platform—a metal balcony overlooking a vast mechanical chasm.
Bridges crisscrossed below them, gears churned somewhere far beneath, and a cold wind slithered through the iron like a warning.
Aria raised a hand.
"Stop."
Kellan tensed.
Jarek froze.
Elias had already sensed it.
The faint echo of metal scraping against metal.
A breath—too quiet for an ordinary cadet to notice.
A shift of weight, precise and intentional.
Ambush.
Aria's voice sharpened.
"Show yourself."
Rowan stepped forward from behind a pillar.
But he wasn't alone.
Seven cadets emerged on the ledges above and below—Rowan's people, the remnants of the squad that hadn't been torn apart by the golden-eyed creature.
Most were bruised.
Bleeding.
Barely standing.
But their eyes were bright.
Hungry.
Focused on Elias.
Rowan spread his arms as if welcoming honored guests.
"Elias Ward," he said softly.
"I did warn you."
Jarek's voice cracked.
"You… you tried to kill us earlier—"
"No," Rowan corrected, barely acknowledging him.
"I tried to survive. There's a difference."
His gaze locked onto Elias.
Something inside it trembled between fear and obsession.
"You're dangerous," Rowan whispered.
"And the Regime isn't meant for people like you."
Elias said nothing.
Rowan's voice grew sharper.
"You attract monsters. You break simulations. You trigger ancient ruins. You walk through death as if it's following you."
Kellan growled.
"Step back, Hale."
Rowan ignored him.
"You're a threat to this place… and to all of us."
Aria stepped forward.
"Rowan," she warned, "this is madness."
"No," Rowan said.
"This is clarity."
He snapped his fingers.
And the platform erupted into violence.
Three cadets dropped from above, slamming into Kellan and Jarek.
Two rushed Aria from the flanks.
One sprinted straight toward Elias with a reinforced staff aimed at his head.
Elias sidestepped the attack calmly, his hand snapping forward and grabbing the attacker's wrist.
A twist.
A crack.
The staff clattered to the floor.
But Rowan had anticipated it.
He lunged with a dagger in hand, eyes wild.
Aria intercepted him—palm glowing with a temporal shimmer.
She shoved Rowan back with a violent burst of displaced force.
Rowan stumbled.
His ribs cracked audibly.
He gasped, coughing blood.
But he was smiling.
"When I report this," he rasped, "your death is inevitable."
Aria froze.
Elias didn't.
Another cadet flew at him with a spear, and Elias intercepted, breaking the man's stance with a precise kick to the knee.
The White Pulse flickered in his mind.
He felt the world sharpen for a heartbeat.
Time slowed.
Breaths grew louder.
Footsteps left echoes.
Intent left trails in the air.
He saw everything.
Jarek screaming as two cadets pinned him down.
Kellan roaring as he smashed his staff into another attacker's chest.
Aria pivoting through three different futures before selecting the best one.
Rowan crawling backward, reaching for another hidden blade.
Elias moved.
He crossed the space between them in three steps.
Rowan swung desperately.
Elias caught his arm.
Rowan laughed through blood.
"Go on," he breathed.
"Kill me."
Aria's voice tore through the air.
"WARD! STOP!"
But Rowan leaned closer, eyes wild.
"You should.
Because if you don't…"
He grinned, broken and trembling.
"…I will tell them exactly what you are."
For the first time since the Iron Descent began, Jarek went silent.
Kellan stopped moving entirely.
Aria froze.
Elias didn't tighten his grip.
He simply watched Rowan.
Studying his fear.
His desperation.
His intent.
Rowan whispered:
"You can't hide forever."
Elias released his arm.
Rowan fell to his knees, stunned.
"You're wrong," Elias said quietly.
His voice held no anger.
No fear.
Just cold certainty.
"I can hide as long as I want."
Rowan stared up at him.
Then Elias added:
"And I don't need to kill you to do it."
Aria exhaled sharply—relief mixed with something else she didn't want to name.
Kellan looked confused but impressed.
Jarek nearly sobbed.
Rowan trembled.
"W-What… what do you mean?"
Elias knelt slightly, voices of battle fading behind him.
"You think you're the only one watching me."
His eyes narrowed.
"You're not."
Rowan's face paled.
Elias continued.
"You can try to expose me."
A faint shift in the fog behind them.
Golden eyes watching.
"But someone will reach you before your words ever leave your mouth."
Rowan's breath caught.
He looked around wildly.
Terrified.
Elias stood.
Aria approached slowly.
"Ward," she whispered.
"You just threatened him."
"No," Elias said.
"I told him the truth."
Rowan scrambled backward, collapsing into the fog.
He fled.
Not with confidence.
Not with hate.
With fear so deep it hollowed him out.
Kellan let out a slow exhale.
"Ward… I don't know whether to be impressed or terrified."
Jarek wiped his face.
"I'm both."
Aria stepped in front of Elias.
Her voice was sharp—but soft beneath it.
"You didn't kill him."
A beat.
"You could have."
"I know."
"Why not?"
Elias stared into the fog where Rowan disappeared.
"Because something else might."
Aria's breath halted.
She whispered:
"…the creature?"
Elias didn't reply.
And the fog behind them whispered softly—almost like laughter.