The moment it names itself, the room changes.
Not physically.
But in the way reality feels when something inside it stops pretending to be hidden.
“Echo,” Rylan repeats slowly.
His voice is calm—but it’s the kind of calm that comes from holding something too heavy for too long without dropping it.
Aria takes one step back.
Then another.
“No,” she says quietly. “No, that’s not—entities don’t self-designate like that after partial integration.”
Mara turns sharply.
“You said it wasn’t fully formed,” she reminds her.
Aria doesn’t look away from me.
“It wasn’t,” she says. “Until now.”
Kell mutters from the doorway, “I would like to formally request a simpler life.”
No one acknowledges him.
Because I feel it too.
Echo isn’t just inside me anymore.
It’s… positioned.
Like it has t
