Even with hordes of Echoforms rushing him, even with their maddening shrieks and warped songs clawing at his mind and sending sharp pain through his head, Elias didn't stop repeating it.
Survive, survive, survive...
Survive, survive, survive!
From the very beginning, people in the era of the Inversion Epoch had done nothing but that—survive. Their deaths, their sacrifices... all of it had built the path forward.
Humanity had paid for its survival in blood. Again and again, they adapted, endured, and pushed back against the invaders that had nearly wiped them out.
It hadn't been quick.
It had been slow. Painful. Costly.
Billions of lives.
Blood ran like streams. The screams of the dying never really stopped, and madness had swallowed the world in an undying plague.
And yet... humans survived.
Somehow, they always did—even if they had done so on their corpses.
Elias had been born into that kind of world. A world where death was only one Mirrorth away.
So this?
This wasn't anything new.
Even if it looked hopeless, even if every path ahead led somewhere worse, he would still fight to live.
The odds weren't in his favor?
When had they ever been?
Hopeless?
Maybe.
Didn't matter.
He'd still give it everything he had.
Better to die worn out from trying... than to go down without a fight.
His foot slammed into a jagged rock, and he stumbled, the rough edge tearing through his trousers and slicing into his thigh. Pain flared instantly, a thin line of blood trailing down his leg.
Behind him, two Echoforms paused. They hissed, their heads snapping toward the scent.
For a second—
Then they turned away, continuing down the rocky slope like he wasn't even there.
Elias clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to make a sound as he pushed forward, his steps uneven now, a slight limp slowing him down.
The path ahead—and behind—was crawling with Echoforms. Their shrieks echoed through the cave, loud enough to make the ground tremble beneath his feet.
Faint green mushrooms glowed along the walls, casting just enough light to see the jagged terrain. Stalagmites rose from the ground in uneven clusters, forcing him to weave through them as he ran.
Elias moved through the chaos, slipping between the creatures as they rampaged around him. The black cloak clung tightly to his body, masking his presence while sharpening his awareness just enough to keep him moving unseen.
But the Lament wouldn't hold forever.
And worse—it did nothing against their voices.
The Broken Songs tore through his head, relentless and sharp, like something digging into his thoughts. Blood streaked down his face, some of it dried against his skin, the rest still fresh, dripping from his hair.
Red.
Everything felt red.
"Elias, your three o'clock! There's one on your right!" Elyndra's voice rang out again, tight with urgency.
She hovered close beside him, her wings leaving faint purple trails as she kept looking between him and the chaos around them.
She looked tense.
Almost... scared.
And for a brief second, a thought crossed his mind—
Was she afraid of the Echoforms...
Or afraid for him?
Elias threw himself backward, slamming into a pillar of black rock just as the Echoform Elyndra had warned him about shot past, its clawed fingers slicing through the space where he'd been standing a second ago.
He bit down hard on his lower lip, forcing the groan back as pain shot through his back from the impact. His reddened eyes locked onto the creature.
It hadn't left.
It stood a few meters away, its jagged, shifting head turning slowly, like it was searching.
Like it knew he had been there.
All around them, the cave had fallen into chaos. Echoforms flooded the ground, some crawling along the walls with twisted limbs, others burrowing through the earth. Above, a few moved across the ceiling, weaving through the stalactites with unnatural ease, their eyes scanning everything below.
They were all looking for him.
Their mouths stretched wide, their shrill, broken songs rising higher—
Like they wanted him to hear it.
To feel it.
To understand just how much they wanted him.
For a tense second, the one in front of him stayed still.
Then it moved.
It turned and slipped down the rocky slope, joining the rest of the horde, its voice blending back into the noise as the swarm surged forward.
[HAA—KRRRHH—]
[hîî... ha... ha...]
[HA... HA... HA...]
[HAA—AA—AA—KRRRHH]
The sound pressed in harder.
Elias felt fresh trails of blood run from his ears, warm against his skin, pooling near his jaw.
Survive, survive, survive...
Survive, survive, survive...
Elyndra grabbed him by the collar, trying to drag him forward. "Elias, move! Now! There's less than a minute left—the Lament won't hold much longer!"
Elias turned to her, his gaze lingering a second too long on her wings.
They were... beautiful.
A strange thought slipped in.
What would it feel like to tear them off? Would she scream? Would she bleed if he ripped them out with his hands and—
A sharp slap snapped him out of it.
Elyndra's pale face was right in front of him, eyes blazing. "Get your head straight, idiot! Move your damn body!"
Elias clenched his teeth, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth as he forced himself forward again.
It was insane.
Echoforms swarmed everywhere, flooding the cave like a tide of warped flesh. He ducked between rocks, squeezed past tight gaps between stalagmites, doing everything he could to avoid brushing against them.
And their voices—
It was getting worse.
He could feel it now, the way it crept into his mind, like something slowly clouding his thoughts, eating away at his focus.
So where exactly was he supposed to go?
"Stop overthinking it!" Elyndra snapped. "There's a slope ahead—get down there! It has to be better than staying here!"
Elias shook his head slightly, even as he kept moving.
Safer?
In a Mirroth?
As far as he was concerned, there was no such thing.
Just different kinds of hell.
But he could see the slope now.
It stretched downward, the terrain a bit smoother than the jagged ground above. Even so, parts of it were crawling with Echoforms, scrambling upward on all fours like starving things drawn to a scent.
Their heads twisted as they moved, their mouths open wide, their Song spilling out in that same warped, dizzying rhythm.
Elias pushed through the noise, his head pounding, his vision threatening to blur.
Still, he ran.
Survive, survive, survive...
Survive, survive, survive...
When he reached the edge, he didn't stop.
Even with the darkness pooled below like something waiting for him—
He shut his eyes and stepped off.
After that, everything blurred.
Pain.
That was all he could clearly remember.
His body slammed against rocks as he tumbled down, skin tearing, bones rattling with every impact. It wasn't just physical—the noise in his head only got worse, clawing deeper, tearing at what little focus he had left.
Somewhere in the fall, the invisibility gave out.
And then they were on him.
Dozens of Echoforms rushed in at once, piling toward him like a wave. Their distorted hands reached, grabbing, clawing—
One caught his leg.
Others grabbed his arms.
Some latched onto his clothes, dragging him down further.
Sharp pain flared as their fingers pierced into his flesh, pulling him closer as their faces twisted toward his.
And they sang.
But he was moving too fast.
His body kept rolling, picking up speed, dragging everything with it. The Echoforms couldn't hold him down—some were pulled along with him, others lost their grip and tumbled ahead into the darkness below. Their shrill cries only made the noise in his head worse, piling onto the pressure already tearing through him.
Then—
He hit the ground.
Hard.
And everything he had been holding back crashed in at once.
The sound. The pain. All of it.
Elias choked, his body jerking as he vomited blood onto the ground.
'Fuck... fuck... fuck...'