Last Ember:ashes of the World

The Council's chamber was carved from steel and fire—walls lined with old-world servers, humming with data older than memory. The trio of leaders stared at Jack like they were inspecting a weapon, not a person.

> "You walk with something in you," said the tattooed woman, her synthetic voice buzzing. "Something that responds to frequencies no human should perceive."

> "We call it the Echo," Jack replied flatly. "And I'm not here to be dissected."

The boy, glowing with Echo resonance, tilted his head. "We're not here to cut you open. We're here to offer you something."

> "What kind of 'something'?"

> "A position."

The old man leaned forward, his single eye locked onto Jack's.

> "You've proven you can survive the Vault. Harness the Echo. Stand your ground against abominations. That makes you dangerous… and valuable. We want you as part of the Black Banner, our elite strike team."

> "Why?" Jack asked, suspicious. "Why not keep me locked away like some unstable experiment?"

> "Because keeping you in a cage would be suicide," the boy answered. "Better to give you a gun and point you at our enemies."

Jack felt the weight of their offer. It wasn't loyalty they wanted—it was control. If he joined them, he'd be monitored, manipulated, maneuvered.

But if he refused...

He glanced to the far side of the chamber. Two drones had been hovering silently since the beginning. Even now, red lights blinked—recording every breath.

> "Let me speak to my team first," Jack said.

The old man waved a hand. "You have until morning. Decide wisely."

---

Back at their temporary quarters—a crumbling suite in the upper levels of Nomad's Rest—Jack briefed Veyne and Lena.

Lena was cleaning her sniper rifle, but her hands stilled when Jack mentioned the offer.

> "Black Banner?" she scoffed. "That's suicide with a shiny coat."

> "What's their game?" Jack asked.

> "Leverage," Veyne said. "They want to keep you close. Use your abilities to solidify their power. If you die doing it? Win-win. They either make you a martyr or bury you quietly."

> "So we refuse?" Jack said.

Veyne frowned. "You don't refuse people like them directly. You play along… until it's time to walk."

> "What would you do?" Jack asked Lena.

She met his eyes. "I'd accept. But I'd never serve."

---

That night, Jack couldn't sleep.

The Echo was restless—whispering deeper now, feeding him images. Visions of a place beneath Nomad's Rest. A room. A signal.

Something down there was pulsing, alive and ancient.

He followed the pull.

---

Sneaking into the lower reactor levels was easier than it should have been.

Jack moved through shadowed corridors and maintenance shafts, Echo masking his presence. The closer he got to the heart of the base, the heavier the air became. Not from radiation or steam—but from memory.

He found the door.

Or rather, what was left of it. A vault door—ancient, blasted inward as if something inside had tried to break out. The Echo pulsed, anxious.

Beyond it, a stairwell descended into black.

---

At the bottom was a chamber untouched by time.

Holograms flickered to life as Jack entered—ghosts of scientists, engineers, soldiers. He stepped forward, drawn to a massive pillar of circuitry and crystal pulsing in the center of the room.

A Beacon Core.

This was no energy source. It was a transmitter.

As he approached, a figure emerged from the shadows.

Not a guard.

Not human.

It shimmered like static—half-there, half-elsewhere. Its face was hidden beneath a veil of shifting fractals. And when it spoke, it wasn't with a voice, but with thought.

> "You are the second."

Jack froze.

> "Who are you?" he whispered.

> "An imprint. Left by the First Host."

> "You mean Lucien."

> "That name… was his. Before he became the first to merge fully with the Echo. Before he became… Unseen."

Jack's fists clenched. "Why is this here?"

> "To monitor. To contain. But now, the seal is broken. The Host is awake. And he is hunting."

> "Hunting me?"

> "Not just you. All who echo back the signal. You… are not alone."

Jack's breath hitched. "There are others?"

> "Scattered. Hidden. Some lost. Some becoming. But only one can resist the full awakening. Only one can contain what's coming."

> "Me," Jack realized. "You mean me."

> "No. I mean your choice. For once the Echo matures… you will be more than a man. Or nothing at all."

---

Suddenly, alarms blared.

Footsteps above. The Council had detected the breach.

> "They're coming," Jack whispered.

The imprint tilted its head. "Then go. Carry the truth. And when the time comes… choose what you become."

The Beacon Core flared once—and went dark.

---

Jack surfaced from the lower levels just in time to run into Lena and Veyne.

> "What the hell happened?" Lena asked.

> "I saw something," Jack said, breath ragged. "Not a dream. A message. A warning."

> "From who?"

> "The First Host," Jack said grimly. "And he's moving."

---

Far away, beneath a drowned city…

Lucien stood atop a mountain of bones, eyes glowing with pale fire.

He whispered a single word to the creatures knelt before him—beasts twisted by the Echo.

> "Jack."

And the horde howled.