Chapter Four: Parallel Pulse
Part Ten
Date: Maelis 26, Year 204 PCR
Location: Caervale Ridge — Pulsewar Zone Theta
Time: Mid-nightfall – Pulse Spiral Active
The basin was no longer a basin.
It had become a ringed pulsefield, fractured into six rotating platforms hovering mid-air, suspended by Veilthread strands vibrating in rhythm with Tether's hum.
One platform held Legato.
One held Cantare.
One held Staccato.
The others rotated empty—echoing resonance chambers that had once stored memory songs.
Now they were cages.
Tether stood in the center, not moving. Its Choir ring had unfolded into a glyph array—symbols spinning in reverse sequence, rewriting terrain beneath its feet.
"We're locked," Mino said, gaze tight as the platform beneath him spun.
"Doctrine never logged a pulsefield this old," Sylie said, fingers tracing her Veilmark in half-formation.
"It's not old," Yolti whispered from Legato's quadrant. "It's just been asleep."
Tether's hum rose.
And suddenly, all squads felt it at once:
A memory pulled from each of them.
Not stolen.
Just… flipped open.
Selka gripped her blade tighter as her mother's voice echoed in her right ear—words she hadn't heard since the funeral.
Kaelen staggered as he saw his brother's face, bleeding and grinning through static.
Rhea dropped to one knee, both hands to her skull, whispering something about a birthday that never happened.
Zephryn didn't flinch.
But he heard it too.
"Ra—"
No.
The glyph in Tether's chest spun once, then fired.
A resonance wave shattered the sky.
Each squad was forced into motion.
Trial initiated.
"Staccato, form split-shift!" Mino barked.
"Cantare—veil bubble rotation! Liora, cover Luma!" Sylie shouted.
"Yolti, redirect pulse! Selka with me—Kaelen hold the rear!" Zephryn commanded.
The battle wasn't linear.
It was a resonance challenge.
Every attack cast backward—you had to know what your last move was to make the next one. Healing glyphs only worked if you remembered a moment of safety. Weapons lost their edge if you didn't believe in what you were protecting.
Nima threw a bun—it flared with heat.
"Emotional glyph lock!" she yelled. "Food memories are still positive!"
Torr slammed a fractured pulsewall with raw fist power.
"If we don't sync… we get erased."
"Not killed," Kellian corrected. "Forgotten."
Tether moved.
Finally.
A glide across the skyplate. No weight. No sound.
It reached Yolti first.
But Zephryn was already between them.
"Not again," he said, hands bare, glyph glowing with quiet intensity.
Tether struck.
Zephryn's glyph caught the blow—not with force, but with a hum.
Their glyphs sang for one heartbeat.
And something shattered behind Zephryn's eyes.
A memory not his.
A voice, soft:
"You were made for silence. But I named you anyway."
Tether recoiled.
For the first time… it stumbled.
"You felt that?" Selka shouted.
"It's bleeding," Zephryn answered, eyes glowing. "From remembering."
The field flared white.
Platforms began to break.
One cracked beneath Staccato—Torr jumped, grabbed Kellian's arm. Rhea fell. Vessa caught her with a binding glyph mid-fall.
Cantare braced as Luma's glyph surged too hot—Liora shielded her chest with a pulselight wall.
Bubbalor roared—and for the first time, its hum harmonized with Zephryn's glyph.
Tether screamed—not in fear, but in feedback.
One platform shattered completely.
Someone's memory had collapsed.
A name echoed and vanished.