Ren felt it before he saw it.
Not intent.
Not hostility.
Disorder.
The road ahead should have been quiet — a trade path rarely patrolled, far from sect territory. Instead, the air carried tension like static before a storm.
Raised voices.Uneven footsteps.Fear pretending to be authority.
Ren slowed.
The echo stirred faintly, not alarmed, but attentive.
Around the bend, a group of men argued in the middle of the road. Five of them. Armed, but poorly coordinated. Their clothes bore no insignia, no uniform — just bits and pieces scavenged from different sources.
Not hired guards.
Not bandits.
Something worse.
Local enforcers.
One man stood at the center, shouting orders too loudly, gripping a spear with white knuckles.
"We can't just let people pass anymore!" he barked."Orders are orders!"
"From who?" another snapped back."No one's told us anything!"
Ren stepped into view.
The argument died instantly.
All eyes turned toward him.
The man with the spear stiffened.
"Stop right there."
Ren stopped.
Again.
This was becoming a pattern.
"You're blocking the road," Ren said calmly.
The man swallowed.
"This road is under inspection."
Ren tilted his head.
"By whom?"
The man opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Glanced at the others.
"…Temporary authority," he said finally.
Ren nodded slowly.
Temporary.
The echo pulsed — recognizing the word as a weakness.
"What are you inspecting for?" Ren asked.
"Threats," the man said quickly."People who might bring trouble."
Ren's gaze softened.
"That's everyone," he said."Especially you."
The man flinched.
"That's— that's not how this works."
Ren stepped closer.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Measured.
The group shifted nervously, weapons raising without discipline.
Ren stopped a few steps away.
"You weren't trained for this," he said quietly."You were given power without instruction."
One of the men snapped.
"We're protecting our town!"
Ren met his eyes.
"No," he said gently."You're protecting yourselves."
Silence fell.
The echo hummed faintly.
Ren continued.
"Someone above you panicked. Instead of acting, they passed the fear down the chain."
The man with the spear clenched his jaw.
"You don't know that."
Ren looked at him.
"I do."
The man's hands shook.
"Then what do we do?" he demanded.
The question slipped out before he could stop it.
Ren paused.
That was the moment.
The first real slip.
"You step aside," Ren said."You let people pass.""And when someone stronger comes asking why you failed… you tell them the truth."
The man stared at him.
"…Which is?"
"That you didn't know what you were stopping," Ren replied."And neither did they."
The echo pulsed — firm, approving.
The men exchanged looks.
One lowered his weapon.
Then another.
Finally, the man with the spear stepped back.
"…Go."
Ren walked through.
Behind him, someone whispered:
"He didn't threaten us."
Another replied:
"That's worse."
Ren continued down the road, heart steady, steps calm.
Control had slipped.
Not upward.
Downward.
And once fear reached people without power to contain it, the system would either break…
Or change.
Ren touched his chest lightly.
The echo was quiet.
Not hiding.
Not expanding.
Waiting.
Because this wasn't the end of escalation.
It was the beginning of instability.
And instability…
Was where new structures were born.