Paradox Sovereign

The Revelation

The moment we stepped into the temple's inner chamber, Therion froze like a rabbit catching a predator's scent. His breathing turned shallow, his fingers twitching at his sides.

Before us stretched a massive, crumbling mural—a warrior mid-leap, sword raised against some ancient horror whose form had faded with time. Dust swirled in the shafts of light piercing the broken ceiling.

Then Therion gasped.

His knees hit the stone floor with a crack. "I... I know this," he choked out. His pupils dilated until his eyes looked black. "The blizzard. The cold. I remember."

Gareth's heavy hand landed on my shoulder. "Soul Resonance," he murmured. "When death comes knocking, sometimes it leaves... gifts."

The mural seemed to pulse as Therion spoke in a hollow voice: "I was eight. Lost in the storm. The cold burned worse than fire." 

Therion's breath came fast now. "I was dying. Then I heard it—this... this voice in the wind." His fingers dug into his arms. "'Will you pay the price to live?'"

A chill crawled down my spine.

"I said yes," Therion whispered. "Then—" He made a tearing motion with his hands. "Like getting pulled apart and stuffed back inside out. When I woke up, I could do this."

He shuddered, his Spatial Recall scars glowing faint silver along his arms. "Felt like being torn apart and rebuilt wrong. When the hunters found me, I was warm. And I could... move. Just pop from one place to another."

Gareth's jaw tightened. "The Covenant always takes its price. My boy survived, but..." He tapped Therion's chest. "Part of him never came back from that blizzard."

Therion blinked, the vision breaking. He shook his head hard—then suddenly teleported onto my shoulders with his usual grin. "Enough sad stuff! I see gold in that crack!"

What is Soul Resonance?

Trigger: Facing certain death (drowning, freezing, etc.)

The Deal: A mysterious force (The Covenant) offers power to survive

The Cost: Mostly a physical/mental sacrifice, keeps the balance equal, there are cases of concepts being used as trade such as identity , memory etc.

Examples:

A drowning child gains gills... but loses their voice

A betrayed wife sees lies... but her eyes rot away

"The Covenant doesn't give gifts," Gareth rumbled. "It makes trades. My boy got to escape death..." He tapped Therion's chest. "But part of him stayed buried in that snow."

What Soul Resonance Really Means

The Deal: When death comes, the Covenant offers power to survive

The Price: It takes something essential in return

Therion can teleport, but always feels half elsewhere

A shipwrecked girl breathes water, but forgets the sky

A betrayed man sees lies, but loses all truth

Therion kicked a pebble at me. "Quit looking at me like I'm glass. Help me loot this place before the ceiling caves in!"

The temple's shadows seemed to lean closer as we left, whispering of other children who'd met the Covenant... and paid far worse prices.

The Cost of Therion's Soul Resonance:

What He Gained: Unlimited teleportation (anywhere he's physically been before)

What He Lost: The ability to ever fully exist in one place

The Horror Beneath:

Every time he teleports, fragments of his consciousness remain behind, scattered across all his previous locations. After years of jumping:

10% of him lingers in his childhood home's rafters (where he first appeared after the blizzard)

15% stays trapped in the frozen creek where he almost drowned at twelve

20% is still screaming in the temple where he saw the mural

The remaining 55%? That's what walks around today - less than half a person, patched together with willpower and stolen moments

He doesn't just feel disconnected - he's literally being unraveled across existence. One day, there might not be enough pieces left to call him whole.