CHAPTER 15: THE TOWER OF ECHOES
The wind in the wasteland was now fiercer than ever. Ash, rising from the ruins of ancient cities, swirled into the air and clouded the sky. Aryan and Iris had been walking for hours without pause. All around them were the remains of shattered buildings, burnt-out vehicles, and the scars of sunken roads—as if an entire civilization once thrived here... and then vanished in an instant.
As they walked, Aryan glanced at Iris. A faint hummmm was emanating from her android body. Aryan understood immediately.
Aryan (softly): "Are your sensors alright? Your energy level is dropping."
Iris offered a faint smile. "I'm fine... it's just that this body is old. It takes a lot of power to stay synced with the system."
Aryan said nothing, but he felt that time was working against them. A little further ahead, they saw an old shopping mall, half-buried in the earth. Broken glass and rusted signboards rattled in the wind. Aryan stopped abruptly. This time, he wasn't wearing his Void Specs, yet he could still see something—flickering, glitching lights floating in the air, like fragments of data suspended in the wind.
Iris (whispering): "Data Fragments..."
Aryan touched a fragment with his hand. Suddenly, a shimmering image flashed before his eyes: his village... children playing in the street... and Meena's laughter. The image shattered and vanished instantly.
Aryan (voice heavy): "This... how is it here?"
Iris (calmly): "When you rebooted the simulation, not all of its data was deleted. Some memories scattered across this wasteland as fragments. The Admin calls them Echoes."
Aryan looked at those fragments floating in the wind. This wasn't just data; these were people's memories. Suddenly, Iris grabbed Aryan's hand and pulled him behind a shattered pillar.
"Don't move," she whispered. "Sentinels."
Seconds later, two massive robotic figures emerged from the rubble. They were spider-like robots, their metallic legs clicking rhythmically against the ground. Red scanning beams emitted from their eyes.
"These aren't scavenger robots," Iris said softly. "These are the Admin's surveillance units. His real eyes."
Aryan instantly activated the System Core in his mind. A digital overlay appeared across his vision as the Sentinels' sensors were scanned:
Thermal Vision — Active
Neural Detection — Active
"Hiding from these is difficult," Aryan said quietly. "We need to hack their signal."
Aryan took a small portion of Iris's golden energy and drove his metal rod into the ground. The System Core ran rapid calculations as he transferred the energy into the earth, creating a Logic Loop. As the Sentinels stepped over that spot, their systems began to glitch. Their sensors repeatedly detected the same false signal, causing them to spin in circles, trapped in an endless scanning loop.
Iris smirked. "You're a fast learner, Subject 01."
Aryan didn't respond. His gaze was fixed on the distant horizon. They climbed a high sand dune, and then... Aryan's breath hitched.
On the far horizon stood a colossal structure—a metallic tower piercing the sky. Brilliant blue magnetic energy pulsed around it, making the structure look like it didn't belong to this world.
"That's it," Aryan whispered. "The Tower of Echoes."
But at that very moment, a sharp pain erupted in his head. The System Core flashed an emergency notification:
[ERROR: MULTIPLE FAMILIAR NEURAL SIGNALS DETECTED]
[LOCATION: TOWER CORE]
Aryan's heart thundered. The next line appeared:
MATCH FOUND:
MOTHER
KAKA
MEENA
Aryan's eyes widened. His family... they weren't just alive; their digital consciousness was imprisoned inside the tower. But something even more horrific surfaced. The final line of the System Core flashed:
STATUS: ENERGY SOURCE
"No..." Aryan's voice trembled.
Iris looked at the tower, and for the first time, there was fear in her voice too. "The Admin... is using them as a power source."
Aryan's fists clenched. As he stared at the tower, his eyes held only one thing: Rage.
In that instant, the blue energy of the tower flared brilliantly. A new, unknown signal entry appeared in Aryan's System Core:
[UNKNOWN SIGNAL DETECTED]
[ORIGIN: TOWER DEPTH]
[SIGNATURE: NON-HUMAN]
Then, a single word appeared on the screen:
"WELCOME."
Aryan's heart nearly stopped. This wasn't the Admin's voice. This... belonged to someone else.