Ryker stood on the rusted deck of the half-sunken barge, rain soaking through his jacket as he stared at the dark water. The faint cyan glow beneath the surface had vanished, but he could still feel it. The evolved echo was gone, yet something of it remained inside him. A new presence. Stronger. Patient.Lira stepped up beside him, pistol still in her hand. "It is dead, right? Tell me you killed it.""I tore it apart," Ryker said quietly. His voice still carried that faint layered echo. "But it is not over. It told me they are coming for you next. The mother."Lira’s face tightened. She touched the faint code lines near her wrist. "Then we keep moving. Rust Haven is not safe anymore. We head to the outer islands. There are free zones there where Helix has less control."They gathered their few supplies in silence and slipped off the barge before dawn. The floating district of Rust Haven was waking up around them. Fishermen and scrap divers moved through the docks while low-level ghost