The dream came again.

  Not gently.

  It dropped him in front of the mirror with the force of a fall—cold, breathless, silent.

  Dozens of versions of him stared back, their eyes warped and worn. Some were children. Some were old. One was on fire. One had no mouth. All of them looked tired.

  But the one in the center didn’t blink.

  Didn’t move.

  Just raised a hand and pointed downward.

  Samuel followed the gesture.

  The reflection’s floor—cracked, dim, flickered like broken glass—and buried in the dark beneath it, something pulsed. Faint and violet-black. Like a heartbeat inside stone.

  Then the mirror shattered.

  And he woke up.

  Morning light washed through the room, gold and clean.

  His heart still raced.

  It had been a dream. Yes. But not just a dream.

  It hadn’t felt like the others. Not the usual soul memory. Not a Codex sync sequence. This had felt… real. Guided.

  He turned his head slowly toward the edge of his cradle, where the sunlight caught the floorboards.

  And saw it.

  A faint line of shadow curling under the cradle, thinner than string.

  It wasn't his.

  > [Codex Alert: Temporal Echo Signature Detected]

  [Source: Non-linear artifact — Origin unclear. Loop bleed suspected.]

  [Caution: This object should not exist in current timeline.]

  His heart stopped.

  Then—

  > [Acquisition: Artifact Class — “Eclipsed Fang”]

  [Category: Fragmented Memory Item]

  [Status: Dormant]

  [Function: Mana Memory Vessel – Allows user to store 1 active spell or shadow skill and release it later (delayed or triggered).]

  [Passive: Resonates with timelines where user failed. Caution: emotional interference possible.]

  The shadow curled tighter.

  Then receded—leaving behind something small on the blanket.

  Barely bigger than a tooth. Smooth black surface. A sharp crescent-shaped shard, cold to the touch.

  And when he looked at it—really looked—it shimmered in that same dark light from the dream.

  Samuel reached out, slowly. Touched it.

  It pulsed once.

  And for a breath, he wasn’t in the cradle anymore.

  He was lying in a burned field.

  Eliara’s voice—distant, screaming.

  Dorian’s blood on someone else’s hands.

  A loop that hadn’t happened—yet.

  Then it snapped back.

  Samuel gasped—shallow, sharp.

  The shard lay in his tiny palm like it had always belonged there.

  He didn’t cry.

  Didn’t move.

  Just stared at it.

  This wasn’t just a tool.

  It was a memory. A warning. A weapon.

  And it had crossed time to find him.

  > [Codex Entry Updated: ECLIPSED FANG]

  First Loop-Bound Artifact Acquired.

  You are not the only thing that returns.

  In the next room, Eliara called his name softly.

  He hid the shard beneath the blanket without thinking.

  Some things… he wasn’t ready to share.

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  Not yet.

  The Fang stayed hidden for two days.

  Tucked beneath a fold of linen in Samuel’s cradle. Always near him. Always humming—too soft to hear, but deep enough to feel. Like a second heartbeat that wasn’t quite in sync with his own.

  No one else noticed.

  Not Eliara. Not Dorian.

  And that made it feel less like a discovery…

  …and more like a secret.

  Samuel waited until the house was still.

  Eliara had stepped outside to tend the garden. Dorian was walking to the forge, tools slung over his shoulder.

  The air felt heavy with dust and pollen. Warm and slow.

  Perfect.

  Samuel reached beneath the linen and pulled the Fang free. It was cold, even in the sunlight, and almost too big for his hand. His fingers curled around it carefully.

  > [Artifact Detected: “Eclipsed Fang” — Passive Function Active]

  [Current Spell Slot: Empty]

  [Storing a spell costs standard mana. Stored spell can be released remotely or delayed.]

  [Warning: Releasing stored magic without focus can result in random targeting.]

  He didn’t need the warning. He could feel it.

  The Fang wasn’t inert. It was watching.

  Waiting.

  Samuel closed his eyes and summoned the only thing he knew how to cast:

  Umbra Flicker.

  A weak, small manipulation of shadow. His baby body could barely handle two or three uses before fatigue crept in—but this was different.

  This time, he wouldn’t use the skill.

  He would store it.

  He focused.

  The system flickered.

  > [Skill: Umbra Flicker — Cast Attempt: Diverted]

  [Mana: 5/21 → 0/21]

  [Spell successfully stored.]

  The Fang pulsed in his hand.

  Once.

  Then again—like it had inhaled.

  Samuel opened his eyes.

  And for a moment, the room darkened—not visibly, not to the naked eye, but in the corners of his perception. The shadows felt heavier. Like something was pressing against the floorboards. Waiting to be let out.

  He didn’t test it right away.

  He didn’t have to.

  Because just holding the Fang now… he felt its hunger.

  Not for mana.

  For repetition.

  Like it had done this before.

  Like it had killed before.

  And now it was remembering.

  That night, he held the shard close as he lay in his cradle, wide-eyed.

  He didn’t feel stronger.

  He didn’t feel heroic.

  He felt like he was holding a shard of a past he’d never lived—yet somehow still survived.

  > [Eclipsed Fang: Active Storage Complete]

  [Skill Stored: Umbra Flicker (Lv. 2)]

  [Shadow Memory Drift: 3%]

  Note: The Fang remembers the loop you don’t.

  Use it wisely… or it might use you.

  It happened during a dream.

  Not one of the mirror ones.

  This was different—quieter. Colder.

  He stood in a place without light. Not darkness, exactly. Just… absence.

  No floor. No air. No stars. Just him. And the Fang.

  Floating in the space before him, pulsing with violet-black light. No system text. No voice. Just an overwhelming presence pressing against the edges of his mind like a door about to crack open.

  Then it spoke.

  Not in words.

  But emotion.

  Grief. Rage. Loneliness. Betrayal.

  They slammed into his chest one after the other, leaving him breathless.

  And then came the whisper—thin, ancient, like wind crawling through a coffin.

  "You remembered me."

  He jolted awake.

  His hand clenched instinctively—and the Fang responded.

  It pulsed once.

  Twice.

  Then—shattered into light.

  Not destroyed.

  Changed.

  > [Eclipsed Fang has evolved.]

  [Relic Status: Ascended]

  New Name: “The Weeping Fang”

  Type: Semi-Aware Soulbound Relic (Shadowbound Class)

  Current Bond Level: 1

  Awareness: Dormant but growing

  New Passive: Fang Memory Link

  – When in contact with Samuel, grants +5% Shadow Skill Potency and a low chance to auto-trigger stored skill in moments of emotional distress.

  New Active (Locked): Echo Vein – Tap into a corrupted memory fragment and release a variant version of stored skill with boosted intensity.

  Samuel stared, wide-eyed.

  The Fang no longer looked like a tooth or shard.

  Now it resembled a jagged black crystal threaded with faint cracks glowing dimly purple—like veins of lightning trapped under obsidian skin.

  It hummed with awareness.

  Not intelligent. Not quite.

  But awake.

  And watching.

  > [Codex Alert: Soul Relic Identified — Loop-Origin Confirmed]

  “This item does not exist in the current timeline. Its memory predates the user.”

  Warning: Continued use may result in partial identity bleed if emotional stability drops below 60%.

  Passive Suggestion: Foster bond slowly. Do not resist resonance. Let it know you.

  Note: Not all artifacts are weapons. Some are wounds.

  Samuel didn’t know what that meant.

  Not fully.

  But when he reached for the Fang this time, it pulsed before he touched it. Like a dog recognizing its name. Or a ghost that remembered a face from another life.

  And in that pulse, he felt something else—a shadowed presence curled deep within the crystal.

  Not evil.

  Not pure.

  Just… tired.

  Like it had seen too many endings.

  Samuel closed his hand around it and whispered without a voice:

  “I’ll remember you, too.”

  Outside, thunder rumbled on a cloudless day.

  And deep in the Codex, something shifted.

  > [Codex Feature Flag Triggered — “Loop Echo Integration”]

  [Emotional Resonance System preparing for activation.]

  The Fang had changed, but it hadn’t gone silent.

  It pulsed softly now when Samuel touched it—never painful, just present. Like a heartbeat. Like breath.

  That night, with the house asleep and the wind slipping under the shutters, he reached for it again.

  His fingers barely brushed the surface—

  And he heard it.

  Not a sound.

  A voice.

  “I was not meant to remain…”

  Soft. Almost too soft to be real. A whisper against his spine. A memory that didn’t belong to him—but felt like it did.

  Samuel froze, eyes wide in the dark.

  The Codex didn’t say anything. No warnings. No alerts.

  The Fang had spoken outside the system.

  He tried again.

  Touched it.

  Focused.

  “Who are you?” he asked in his mind, unsure if anything would answer.

  A pause.

  Then the voice came again.

  “I was your ending. You became my beginning.”

  It wasn’t cryptic. Not exactly. It was… sad. Familiar. Like someone who had waited too long for someone to come back.

  Samuel swallowed.

  His tiny hand curled tighter around the Fang.

  “You’re… her.”

  He didn’t know who “her” was.

  Not exactly.

  But the voice wasn’t cold. Wasn’t a weapon. Wasn’t some ancient god.

  It was a woman.

  Wounded.

  Wrapped in his shadow.

  Waiting.

  He let the thought hang in the dark, then whispered back—mind to crystal:

  “Do you want a name?”

  The Fang pulsed once.

  Then twice.

  Like a heartbeat stuttering.

  He thought.

  Searched for something that felt right.

  Not borrowed. Not fake.

  Something tied to what he felt when he held it.

  “Velara.”

  He didn’t know where it came from.

  But the moment he said it—

  The Codex lit up.

  > [Loop Relic Name Accepted: VELARA — Bonded Name Ritual Complete]

  [Soul-Link Achieved: Sync Level 1 → 3]

  Relic Bonus Granted:

  ? +15% Shadow Skill Potency (only while Velara is on user)

  ? +10% Emotional Stability Recovery after trauma

  ? +1 Passive Bond Slot Unlocked (Next unlock: 25% Emotional Sync)

  VELARA: Soul Echo Identified — Class: Fragmented Companion Entity

  Personality: Passive. Protective. Bound to User’s Sacrificial Memory Loop.

  > “I will not let you die forgotten again.”

  Samuel didn’t cry.

  But something inside him did.

  A warmth in the cold.

  A thread through the dark.

  He held her—Velara—against his chest, tiny arms trembling, and whispered to no one:

  “You're not just a weapon. You're my first friend.”

  And far away, deep in the system’s spine, a hidden file pulsed once—

  And began to unlock.