Jaden didn't sleep that night.
He sat on the edge of his ruined bed, staring at the faint red pulse beneath his skin. Each flicker of the ember sent a ripple up his spine—almost like something was tracing its claws along his ribs from the inside.
Lisa refused to leave. She curled up in the chair beside him, arms wrapped around her knees, watching him with eyes that held too much fear for someone her age.
"Jaden," she whispered at dawn, "you don't have to go. We can disappear. We can leave the city—"
Her voice faltered.
Because both of them knew the truth.
Something inside Jaden was waking.
Something that didn't care about cities.
Or distance.
Or safety.
"Running won't help," Jaden said softly.
Lisa's throat tightened. "But trusting him will kill you."
Before Jaden could respond—
The temperature dropped.
Every light in the room flickered violently, buzzing like angry insects caught in a jar. Lisa shot to her feet, grabbing Jaden's wrist.
"No—no, not now, not again—"
The air ripped open.
A black fissure tore across the floor, spreading like ink in water. The edges glowed blue and red, warping the room around it.
Jaden felt a pull—
a familiar, suffocating gravity dragging him downward.
"Harrowing—" he gasped.
Lisa clung to him. "I'm not letting go! I'm NOT—"
Her fingers slipped.
The floor swallowed him whole.
HARROWING 0.1 — RESET 37 / DEATH 1 OF ARC
Jaden hit the ground hard, air punched from his lungs.
Darkness.
Fog.
Rotting metal.
The Harrowing welcomed him like an abusive memory. The walls groaned. The shadows leaned toward him. Whispers crawled across the floor.
He pushed himself to his knees, coughing.
"No… no, please… not again…"
He had no blade this time.
No preparation.
No strength.
Footsteps echoed.
Slow.
Patient.
Mocking.
The First Shadow emerged from the fog—
but something was different.
Its shape was sharper than before.
More defined.
More human.
More… him.
It tilted its head in perfect synchronization with Jaden's trembling movement.
"Welcome back," it whispered.
Jaden froze.
It had never greeted him before.
He staggered backward. "No. No, this can't be happening. You're not—You're not real outside the Harrowing—"
The Shadow smiled his smile.
"You brought me with you."
Jaden's breath collapsed in his chest.
"No… I didn't—"
"Your flame did," it corrected gently. "Your awakening cracks reality, and I slip through the cracks."
Jaden shook violently.
"You're lying."
The Shadow leaned forward.
Its voice softened.
"Aethon."
Jaden's knees buckled.
That word dropped into him like a meteor.
"No… that's not my name—"
"Not yet," the Shadow whispered.
The Harrowing's lights went out.
Blackness swallowed everything.
The Shadow's hand pierced through Jaden's chest.
He screamed—
not from pain,
but from the way his soul tore.
Because this time—
He didn't just die physically.
He died remembering something he shouldn't.
A burning star.
A crown made of flame.
Someone crying his name.
His real name.
OUTSIDE — LISA
Lisa saw him vanish into the fissure.
Saw him ripped from her hands.
But this time—
she saw something else.
A flare of red light bursting from the floor.
A scream that wasn't Jaden's.
And a silhouette—tall, crowned, burning—
She screamed for help.
No one came.
She clawed at the fissure edges until her nails bled.
"Jaden! JADEN! COME BACK!"
The world didn't listen.
But someone did.
Footsteps behind her.
Lisa spun.
Kane stood there.
Unhurried.
Unbothered.
Unmoved.
Lisa's eyes blazed with fury. "HELP HIM!"
Kane looked at the fissure.
"The Harrowing summoned him early," he murmured. "How interesting."
Lisa shoved him. "Do something!"
Kane's smile didn't falter.
"I will. When the timing is correct."
Lisa's heart dropped. "W-What—?"
"Rescuing him too early interrupts growth," Kane said casually. "He must reach the threshold."
Lisa stared at him in horror.
"You're waiting for him to die."
Kane didn't deny it.
"He always dies in this loop. But each death sharpens him."
Lisa raised her hand. "If you don't help him right now, I swear I will—"
Kane stepped closer.
"You will what?"
His voice was soft.
But the shadows behind him bristled.
Lisa froze, trembling.
Kane knelt to her level.
"I care for him," Kane said quietly. "More than you understand."
She glared. "Then save him."
Kane opened his gloved hand.
The fissure pulsed.
"Not yet," he whispered. "A few more seconds."
HARROWING 0.1 — JADEN
Jaden lay on the ground, coughing blood that evaporated into static.
He could barely move.
The Shadow circled him like a predator, speaking in a voice that sounded increasingly… affectionate.
"You will remember soon. You will hate it."
Jaden forced a whisper. "Why… why are you doing this?"
The Shadow leaned close.
"Because I am what you threw away to become human."
The ground cracked beneath Jaden.
Reality bent.
"Goodbye," the Shadow murmured.
And it struck his heart again—
with a blade made of his own forgotten sins.
Jaden spasmed—
body contorting—
vision fracturing—
soul breaking—
And he died.
OUTSIDE — KANE
Kane whispered:
"Now."
He snapped his fingers.
Reality folded.
Jaden's corpse burst out of the fissure, landing in Kane's arms.
Lisa screamed and ran to him.
Kane observed the glowing mark on Jaden's back — a red, jagged scar shaped like a broken wing.
"Echo Scar Two," Kane murmured. "Beautiful."
Lisa sobbed over Jaden's body.
"He's dead… he's dead… he's—"
Kane placed a hand on Jaden's chest.
Red light filled the room.
Jaden gasped awake with a scream that wasn't human.
Lisa held him.
Kane smiled quietly.
"He dies beautifully."