Chapter 25: Ghosts of the Lab
The frost had settled, but the chill still lived in the air.
Inside the damaged lab, Elira sat beside Nira, wrapping a blanket around her shaking shoulders. The lights flickered above them, but neither moved. They were both listening to something only they could hear—silence.
It felt... wrong.
Too quiet after what had just happened.
Too quiet before what would happen next.
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Wounds That Don't Bleed
"I killed it," Nira whispered.
Elira nodded. "You did."
"But it felt like killing... myself."
Elira didn't answer at first. Instead, she reached out, gently brushing strands of silver hair from Nira's face.
"You killed what she tried to force you to become," she said. "And that makes you more human than anyone I know."
Nira looked down at her hands. They were raw, pulsing with frostburn. Yet her heart felt heavier than her body.
"There were more," she said suddenly. "Others... like me. Before me. I remember them now. Their screams."
Elira froze.
"You mean—"
"Test subjects. Numbers. Not names. I wasn't the first."
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The Number Before Her
Nira looked up, eyes far away. "Number 17. She cried the night before they cut her open."
"She begged Vira for mercy. Vira just smiled and said, 'You are not a person. You are a function.'"
Rhea had just entered the room but paused, silently listening.
"She left me alive," Nira said. "Not because I was stronger. But because I was obedient."
"Until I met you," she turned to Elira. "You broke my programming with just kindness. That's scarier than any weapon."
Elira tried to speak, but her throat tightened.
How do you respond to being someone's salvation… when you feel like you're barely holding yourself together?
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Elsewhere: The Awakening
Far beneath the surface of Vira's hidden facility, a steel coffin hissed open.
A girl with jet-black eyes and white-blonde hair sat upright, not gasping, not blinking.
Just watching.
> Subject: 20-A
Status: Revived
Codename: "Nyx."
Vira stood behind the glass, arms crossed, eyes glowing with purpose.
"She destroyed Subject 19," she said coolly. "As expected."
Nyx didn't speak.
"She rejected the darkness in her," Vira continued. "But you, my sweet Nyx…"
She leaned in close.
"You were born without any light at all."
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Cracks in Elira
Later that night, Elira stood in the mirror of the base's bathroom.
Her fingers shook as she wiped blood from her temple—a wound she hadn't even noticed during the battle.
But that wasn't what scared her.
She stared at her reflection.
The veins in her neck glowed faintly. Just for a second.
Blue.
Not red.
Not human.
Her breath caught.
> What am I…?
She didn't know.
But something inside her was waking up.
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A Cold Message
In the control room, Rhea replayed the footage of the creature that had attacked them—frame by frame.
Until she saw it.
Just before it exploded into ice shards, its mouth moved.
A whisper. A single word.
Rhea enhanced the audio.
The voice crackled through:
> "Nyx…"
And then everything went black.
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