Echo of Soul

Sado Eiko has never hated anyone. Not the children who mocked him.Not the boy who hurt him.Not even the world that kept taking from him. Raised inside Bellwick Orphanage, Sado lives a quiet life of hunger, rules, and small acts of kindness. But when Mara Hajime, the woman who protected him, suddenly disappears, strange men from Human Order arrive at the orphanage searching for something they refuse to name. They are not looking for a criminal. They are looking for an Echo. In a broken post-war world, rare people awaken supernatural abilities born from emotional wounds. These powers are called Echoes of Soul. Some can command, deceive, consume, remember, or destroy. Sado’s Echo is different. His power begins with mercy. But mercy has a cost. Every time Sado stops someone’s violence, a piece of that darkness enters him. To find Mara and uncover the truth behind Human Order, Sado must leave the only home he has ever known and walk toward the Seven Cities — places built by the first Echo Bearers, each hiding a sin, a secret, and a wound that never healed.Arc 1 complete — 10 chapters / 20,000+ words.Arc 2: Seven Valley begins next.