Kingdom Hearts: Echoplex II

EP1 - Season 3 (Greater Terror)

The woman paid her brothers little heed as her attention shifted on Xalvador and William. They lay broken and bleeding in the snow with their lifeblood staining the pristine white. A new game, it seemed, was about to begin. For the first time in her existence, the source of her disgust was within her sight after hundreds of years, that scent that could be smelled by an Apostle.

She circled the fallen figures with slow and deliberate movements. Her gaze swept over their wounds, lingering on the unnatural pallor of their skin beneath the blood.

Xalvador: You... (Xalvador attemped to curse her but stumbles, the pain from his wounds distracting him)

Xalvador: You...! (his eyes well up with rage, yet the agony cuts him short once more)

Crouching down near Xalvador, she extended a slender finger, delicately dipping it into the pool of stained snow. She brought her finger to her lips, tasting as she analyzed the metallic tang.

The iron content was far too high, far too potent for human blood. The realization kicked in - Xalvador and his accomplice were 'Paradoxum Ens.' A tremor of unease, a cold dread coiled in her gut. It wasn't a question of how many others she had encountered without realizing their true nature, but rather a chilling confirmation of her failure.

The reality these beings had resided had been utterly annihilated, erased from existence. She felt it happen, a blinding flash of energy as a whole cosmos dissolved into nothingness. She had been in the palace, flying as she knelt before Mother. The air thrummed with a sickening sweetness, the stench of riped fruits.

And then, a jolt, a blinding flash of light that pierced even the shadowed depths of the palace. She had looked up, a sense of wrongness, of catastrophic imbalance, washing over her. The flow of energy, the lifeblood of countless worlds, had been disrupted. A reality, rich with human life, had simply ceased to be.

She had been tasked with investigating, with scouring the remnants of this shattered reality for any trace of that extinced specie. The very heart of the second infestation had been Daybreak Town, a sprawling town teeming with Keyblade Wielders, all neatly organized into districts under the watchful eyes of the Foretellers. It was there, at the foot of that grand Clock Tower in the middle of the city, that she had felt the strongest traces of their disgusting energy.

Mother had gifted her with a new form for this task, shaping her into a child, small and unassuming. She had been granted an artificial Keyblade, a pale imitation of the real thing, but enough to draw attention. Foreteller Ava had welcomed her with open arms. She had taken the name Echo, a ghost, a memory from that annihilated reality.

For weeks, she had observed them, lurking closer and closer, watching as those two, moved through the ranks of Unicornis Vulpes. She had felt nothing, not a flicker of that telltale energy, no trace of this unique aura.

She had been so certain, so sure that these two were not the ones she sought. The urge to lash out, to tear them apart and examine their very essence, had burned within her. But Ava's presence had stayed her hand. To reveal her true form, her true purpose, would have been disastrous.

And then Simeon, the fool, had acted rashly, blundering into their world with such clumsy aggression. He had forgotten his own birthplace, his immunity to even the mightiest Keyblade. Why had he fled from Ira and Ava?

Why not seize the opportunity to eliminate one of the suspected 'Paradoxum Ens?' He was a coward, driven by fear rather than devotion to Mother. His failure had consequences. Security measures in all Districts had been increased tenfold. No wonder she had begged Mother to punish Simeon personally for his... laziness.