Two days had passed since the Graveripple quest.
I was summoned to the upper floor of the Velduin Guild — usually reserved for Silver and Gold-ranked adventurers.
Kael stood at my side. Silent. Stern. Massive as ever.
The minotaur clerk sat behind her desk, arms folded.
And across from me…
Was her.
A woman in white robes. Tall. Elegant. Long black hair that shimmered like starlight. Eyes veiled.
Her name?
“I am High Priestess Selaine of the Shining Veil.”
Her voice was calm. Controlled. Like a river hiding under glass.
“I’ve come to grant the boy his first title.”
All adventurers in Lucala are given a foundational title upon proving they’ve survived their first Core-affiliated creature.
Most titles are boring:
“Of the Flame”
“Beastborn”
“Miststrider”
Me?
They hesitated.
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Priestess Selaine placed her hand on my head and whispered words in a forgotten tongue.
A circle of light pulsed from the ground beneath me.
And in glowing runes… my title appeared:
“Echoborne.”
Everyone in the room froze.
The orb cracked.
Selaine stepped back.
Kael’s hand gripped his blade.
“What… what does that mean?” I asked.
No one answered.
While I tried not to panic, Aelira was having a morning.
She’d gone to train solo by the river. Practicing her usual chaos: summoning little water spirits and failing to control their emotions.
But today… something changed.
She tried to cast Glimmer Dart — a basic light spell.
Instead, a sigil she didn’t recognize drew itself in midair.
It sparked. Flickered.
And then exploded.
Not outward.
Inward.
For a moment, her magic went quiet.
And then…
It roared.
Back at the guild, I felt it.
A shockwave. Not violent. Just loud, magically.
Everyone did.
Ravian stood on a rooftop nearby and whispered, “That idiot girl just broke something…”
Later that night, I was alone in the training yard. Niris leaned across my lap, quiet for once.
Then I heard a voice.
“So. You’re Echoborne.”
A boy stepped out from the trees.
Older than me — maybe seven. Black cloak. Silver eyes. No emotion in his face.
His arms were bandaged up to the shoulder. One eye had a faint glow.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m what happens to people like you… when they live too long.”
He stepped forward.
“You carry a cursed sword.”
“She’s not cursed. She’s annoying.”
“You’re wrong,” he said. “That blade has taken lives. It remembers every one.”
“So do I.”
He paused.
Then he smiled — just barely.
“Good. You’ll need that kind of arrogance.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re marked now. Echoborne. The first in nearly a century.”
“That supposed to mean something?”
“It means…” He pointed to the moon. “When the second moon bleeds — you die first.”
He turned and vanished.
Later, back in the hut, I stared at my reflection in a bowl of water.
“Echoborne…” I whispered.
“One who lives in echoes,” Niris said softly.
“What does it mean?”
“You exist between lives now. Between deaths. Between worlds.”
“So I’m not… fully here?”
“You are here. But the past doesn’t let go.”
“Will it kill me?”
“Only if you forget who you are.”