Jaden didn't sleep.
Not after the Shadow fell.
Not after the ancient voice whispered through the room.
Not after he heard himself speak a language that didn't belong to Earth, humanity, or anything mortal.
He sat against the cracked wall, knees pulled close, fingers trembling against the burn-scar on his back. Lisa stayed beside him, refusing to allow even a breath of distance.
Kane watched them both with the patience of someone waiting for a flower to bloom—or a bomb to go off.
Lisa finally broke the silence.
"Jaden… that voice. It wasn't your echo. It wasn't the Shadow. It wasn't Kane."
She swallowed hard.
"It sounded like… you."
Jaden wrapped his arms around himself. "I don't know what it was."
Kane corrected gently, "It was memory."
Jaden snapped, "STOP SAYING THAT!"
Lisa touched his arm, grounding him instantly.
Kane stepped closer, examining the cracks in the floor formed from Jaden's Aethelian word.
"You spoke Vel'narah," Kane murmured. "A command, not a plea. Old High Aethelian—higher dialect reserved for royalty."
Jaden froze.
Lisa narrowed her eyes. "Royalty? What does that mean?"
"It means," Kane said, smiling faintly,
"his flame remembers its crown."
Jaden shook violently. "I'm not a king. I'm barely a hunter. I'm barely alive!"
The ember inside him pulsed at the word king.
A soft thump echoed through the apartment.
Lisa tightened her grip on Jaden's hand. "Jaden… what's happening?"
He didn't know.
He only knew his heartbeat had two rhythms now.
The human one—fast, scared, desperate.
And a deeper one—
slow, ancient, steady.
A second heartbeat, pulsing like a forgotten echo.
The ember flared.
A wave of heat rolled through his spine, forcing him to arch forward. Lisa held him, but the pressure inside him was building— rising—waiting—
Kane whispered, excited,
"It's coming…"
Jaden gasped, "What's—coming—?"
"The next scar," Kane said.
"Echo Scar Four."
Jaden didn't want another scar.
He didn't want flames.
He didn't want memories of someone he wasn't.
But the ember didn't care about want.
It cared about truth.
His back burned—
violent—
impossible—
searing through skin and soul.
Lisa screamed, "JADEN!"
A red symbol carved itself across his shoulder blade, glowing like molten metal before cooling into jagged lines shaped like a fractured circle.
Kane exhaled. "Beautiful. He's accelerating perfectly."
Lisa glared at him, shaking with fury. "He's in PAIN! You don't get to call that beautiful!"
"He must suffer," Kane murmured. "It is how gods remember themselves."
Jaden choked on air. "STOP—talking like I'm—someone else—!"
Kane crouched.
"You are becoming someone else."
Jaden shoved Kane back with a burst of red heat. Kane staggered but didn't fall. He smiled wider.
"Good," Kane said softly. "Anger awakens flame. Flame awakens memory."
Lisa pulled Jaden closer, shielding him. "What do you WANT from him?"
Kane answered honestly:
"To live."
Lisa froze.
Jaden's breathing faltered. "What…?"
Kane stood, eyes darkening.
"I want him alive. I want him strong. I want him ready when the one who killed him returns."
Jaden's heart stopped.
"Killed… me?"
Kane tilted his head. "Oh? You thought your first death would be in the Harrowing?"
Lisa paled. "Kane. Stop."
Kane's voice lowered to a whisper of reverence and dread:
"He was killed once—before he fell into this world. Before he became Jaden. Before his flame shattered."
Jaden whispered, terrified,
"What… was I?"
Kane's smile softened.
"A child of fire. A king of echoes. A god who died screaming."
The room darkened.
The air rippled.
Lisa clung to Jaden—"Don't listen—don't listen—"—
But the ember already reacted.
It recognized the truth.
It welcomed it.
A sudden pull yanked at Jaden's body—
hard—
violent—
Kane's eyes widened.
"Oh. You're being summoned again?"
Lisa screamed, "NO! NOT AGAIN!"
But it was too late.
A tear in the world opened under Jaden's feet—
not like before—
not Harrowing 0.1—
but deeper—
uglier—
older.
Jaden grabbed Lisa's hand—
Their fingers slipped.
"LISA!"
"JADEN!"
He fell through.
⭐ HARROWING 0.1 — Cycle 39 Begins
But something is different.
The Harrowing walls pulse, reacting to the Aethelian word he spoke earlier.
The fog whispers.
The lights twist into spirals.
The dungeon is afraid of him.
But Jaden only feels fear.
And then—
From behind him—
"Aethon…"
He turns.
The First Shadow stands there again—
But its eyes are no longer empty.
They are glowing red.
It bows.
"Welcome back."
Jaden's breath caught in his throat.
"No… stop calling me that—stop—!"
The Shadow straightened.
"Your flame remembers. Your scars remember. Soon… you will."
Jaden stumbled backward. The ember rose inside him as if answering a call it knew too well.
"No—please—no—"
The Shadow grinned.
"You cannot run from a name written in your heartbeat."
And the Harrowing collapsed around them.