The ruins whispered at night.
Not with voices, but with color. Broken murals hummed faint hues. The shattered sculptures cast soft, impossible reflections on the marble floors. And when the wind cut through the fractured museum dome, it sounded like something trying to speak through the silence of the past.
Kaila slept in a dark room filled with ash and faded brushstrokes.
And she dreamed.
Scene: The Dreamscape
She stood in a field of black glass.
The sky above her was a swirling oil-painting stars smeared like brushstrokes, galaxies bleeding into each other.
In front of her stood a woman.
Not flesh. Not shadow. Something in between.
She had no face, but Kaila knew who it was.
"…Mom?"
The woman didn't answer.
She floated forward, her long white hair trailing behind her like smoke. Her chest glowed with a faint, pulsing light — not mechanical. Alive.
When she finally spoke, her voice echoed in chords — like a song without sound.
"You've always been stronger than me, Kaila."
"I don't understand," Kaila whispered. "What is this? Am I… dead?"
"No. But you're close to the door. And something has been waiting behind it."
The black glass cracked beneath Kaila's feet. Light seeped through.
"What's happening to me?"
The woman reached out, touching Kaila's chest.
"It chose me once. I wasn't ready. I broke under its truth. But you… You might hold it together."
"You are the Skate now."
Kaila woke up gasping.
Her hand went straight to her chest, expecting a wound, a light, something. But it was just her — sweat-soaked, heart racing, eyes wild.
Andy jolted awake beside her. "Whoa, hey—what happened?"
"I… I saw her," Kaila said. "I saw Mom."
Andy sat up fast. "Wait, like… in a dream?"
"No. Not like that. It felt… bigger. Like I wasn't asleep. Like something was inside me, watching me from the outside."
Andy frowned. "Okay… that's kinda freaky."
Kaila got up and paced the room. "She said something. About… Skate."
Andy blinked. "The project?"
"She said I am the Skate."
Scene: The Entity File
Dr. Alaric sat at his workstation surrounded by old analog computers and modified Dive servers. He barely looked up when Kaila burst in with Andy.
"I need to see the Skate data," Kaila said sharply.
Alaric glanced up through cracked lenses. "You accessed the dream files, didn't you?"
Kaila froze. "What?"
"The Skate entity wasn't just code. It was born through psycho-emotional resonance from your mother's experiments. We believe it... became alive inside her mind. Part of it exists within the drive. But part of it—" he pointed at her chest, "—is in you."
Andy leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "You're telling me she's got a god inside her now?"
Alaric didn't smile. "More than a god. It has no soul, no decay, no origin point. It doesn't just bend the universe—it reinterprets it."
Kaila sat down. Her hands trembled.
"She said… it broke her."
Alaric's tone softened. "It did. And she loved you too much to let it take her completely. So she passed part of it to you. Through the blood. Through memory."
Kaila stared at the console. On-screen, the word 'SKATE' flickered in pale white font.
Sensory Kinetic Art Transmission Entity
Andy placed a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever it is… you're still you."
Kaila smiled faintly. "Not if it wakes up."
Scene: The First Sign
That evening, Harper was on rooftop watch when she saw it — a small drone hovering in the distance, almost too small to notice.
It beeped once. Then dropped.
She called Alaric immediately.
"We've been pinged," she said. "Someone knows we're here."
Alaric cursed under his breath. "We have to relocate."
But it was too late.
Somewhere deep in the dark, Draton opened his eyes.
A line of glowing red pulsed down his chest.
Scene: The Sculpture Room
Kaila wandered into one of the older wings of the museum—alone this time.
She walked past torn portraits and shattered display cases until she reached a giant sculpture: a ballerina mid-spin, carved from fractured metal and glass.
Her eyes weren't painted.
They were mirrors.
Kaila stepped closer—and the reflections rippled.
Suddenly, the mirrors flashed red.
Her chest burned.
And deep inside her, something spoke.
"He's coming."