Awakening of the Mind Sovereign
Chapter 64: The Truth - (1)

Chapter 64: The Truth - (1)

And then

It appeared.

A figure, clad in absolute nothingness, floating amidst the void.

It had no face, no features, nothing that could be defined.

Yet, when it turned its unseen gaze toward Echo, he felt it.

A cold, piercing stare.

One that carried no hostility.

But no warmth either.

The battlefield—still cracked and broken from Echo’s impossible feat—fell into a silence so deep that even the wind had stopped.

Then, the figure spoke.

And its voice...

Was calm.

"Elliot... It’s time to wake up."

Echo’s breath hitched.

That name.

That name

He didn’t know it.

And yet...

It felt familiar.

It struck him like a forgotten memory clawing its way to the surface, demanding to be remembered.

He clenched his fists.

No.

This was a trick.

A manipulation.

He was Echo. He was here, in this moment, standing in the Higher Realm as the one who had just defied the Sages.

And yet

Something inside him hesitated.

A flicker of doubt.

A whisper in the back of his mind.

The gathered Elders who had once thought themselves untouchable stood frozen.

They didn’t dare speak.

Even Oros, still reeling from his defeat, didn’t move.

He didn’t understand what was happening.

No one did.

But they all felt it.

This was beyond their comprehension.

This wasn’t just an enemy.

This was something that wasn’t supposed to be here.

And it had come for Echo.

Echo finally spoke, his voice steady despite the storm raging in his mind.

"I don’t know who you are," he said coldly.

The figure remained silent.

Echo narrowed his eyes.

"But if you think I’m just going to follow you blindly..."

His body tensed.

"...then you’ve made a mistake."

He lunged.

His fist, the same one that had torn reality apart, shot forward like a bullet, aimed directly at the figure’s chest.

Space rippled from the force.

The very laws of existence bent under the sheer power he unleashed.

And then

The figure simply raised a finger.

And tapped Echo’s forehead.

BOOM.

Everything

Everything vanished.

The battlefield.

The sky.

The Sages.

The Higher Realm itself.

Gone.

Like an illusion breaking apart.

And Echo—

Was falling.

Darkness swallowed him whole.

There was no ground.

No sky.

Only a vast, infinite abyss.

But he wasn’t afraid.

He was angry.

His body tensed as he tried to fight back, to resist whatever was happening to him

But for the first time since he had entered the Higher Realm, he couldn’t move.

Not even an inch.

His arms, his legs his entire existence felt weightless, as if he had been severed from reality itself.

And then

A voice.

The same calm, emotionless voice from before.

"You are not supposed to be here."

Echo gritted his teeth.

"You’re lying."

"No," the voice replied simply. "I am not."

A pause.

Then

"You were never Echo."

Echo’s pulse quickened.

A dull ringing filled his ears.

The voice continued.

"You are Elliot."

Memories fragments of things he didn’t recognize began to surface in his mind.

A different place.

A different time.

A different life.

But before he could grasp any of them

Like glass breaking apart before he could see his own reflection.

And then

Everything stopped.

The void disappeared.

And Echo no, Elliot opened his eyes.

For the first time...

In a very, very long time.

---

Pain.

A searing, unbearable pain.

Echo’s head felt like it was splitting apart. A thousand jagged needles stabbed through his skull, burrowing deep into his mind. His vision blurred. His breath hitched. His body trembled.

And then—

The memories came.

Not in a slow, digestible way.

But like a flood.

Like a dam bursting open, drowning him in images, sounds, and emotions he had never experienced yet felt so real.

A castle stood atop a snowy mountain. Its towering walls gleamed under a blood-red sky.

A boy stood in the courtyard, a wooden sword in his hands. His hands.

But he wasn’t Echo.

He was... someone else.

Elliot.

The name whispered through his mind like a forgotten echo.

The vision shifted

A woman. Long silver hair. Cold but kind eyes. She knelt beside him, brushing dirt from his cheek.

His mother?

Then

Flames.

Screams.

A burning city.

A shadowed figure standing before him, holding a blade slick with blood.

Then nothing.

The memories cut off abruptly, leaving him gasping.

Echo staggered back, pressing his hands to his temples. His breath came in short, ragged bursts.

What... what was that?

Those people he had never seen them before. That world it was nothing like the Higher Realm.

And yet

He felt it.

A connection.

Something deep within him stirred, recognizing those memories as his own.

"No..." he muttered, shaking his head violently. "This isn’t real."

It couldn’t be real.

He was Echo.

Not Elliot.

Not some person from a medieval world.

Not

But then why did his heart ache?

Why did those faces feel so familiar?

A low chuckle echoed through the void.

The entity still featureless, still unreadable floated before him. It didn’t move. It didn’t breathe.

But it smiled.

Not with a mouth because it had none.

But somehow, Echo felt the amusement radiating from it.

"You still don’t remember?" the figure asked, its voice smooth and patient, like a teacher speaking to a slow-learning student.

Echo clenched his fists. "I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work."

"Oh?" The figure tilted its head. "You say that, yet your hands are shaking."

Echo’s eyes widened.

He looked down.

His hands were shaking.

Uncontrollably.

His fingers trembled like a man on the verge of collapse. His whole body felt... wrong.

Like it wasn’t his.

Like it belonged to someone else.

Panic crawled up his spine.

"I "

"It’s okay." The entity’s voice softened. "I’ll make you remember."

Then, before Echo could react

Darkness swallowed him whole.

His body was weightless, his thoughts spiraling into the abyss.

Then

A new memory surfaced.

It wasn’t forced.

It wasn’t painful.

It just... was.

Like a puzzle piece sliding into place.

Blackness.

Echo gasped.

His eyes snapped open.

He was back.

Back in the void. Back in the present.

A deep, knowing smile.

One that said

"Now you understand."

Elliot’s heart pounded.

His mind raced.

His entire existence had just been flipped upside down.