"They told me the Ghost Protocol erases memories. They never said it would rewrite them. But when I looked into the mirror and saw a stranger smiling back, I realized losing myself wasn't the worst fate. Becoming someone else was."
---
The darkness pressed close as Kael guided me deeper into the tunnels, his hand gripping mine so tightly I almost forgot the trembling in my own fingers. Every step echoed with the metallic stench of burning drones behind us, the silence they left behind heavier than the gunfire that had filled it minutes before.
But silence didn't mean safety. Not anymore.
I could still feel the Code humming inside me like an infection crawling beneath my skin, like static threaded through my veins. Every heartbeat echoed with foreign rhythm, every breath came with whispers that weren't mine.
The wall-screen's words wouldn't leave me: MEMORY ERASE SEQUENCE INITIATED.
I tried to focus on Kael's presence the warmth of his hand, the steadiness in his stride but my mind kept slipping sideways, unraveling at the edges.
My brother's name surfaced on my tongue. Elias.
I held onto it like an anchor, repeating it silently. But even as I did, the syllables warped in my mind, fading, distorting until they felt like the echo of someone else's story.
I stumbled. Kael caught me, his arm firm around my waist. "Ayla. Stay with me."
"I'm here," I whispered, though my voice didn't sound like mine.
Was I?
---
We reached a collapsed section of the tunnels where the air smelled of rust and old fire. Kael guided me toward a narrow service hatch, forcing it open with a grunt. He pushed me through first, then followed, sealing it behind us with a clang.
The hatch opened into a forgotten utility corridor, dim and damp, pipes dripping overhead. Kael didn't stop moving, but his eyes kept flicking back to me, studying my face as if looking for fractures.
"Tell me your name," he said suddenly.
My throat tightened. "Ayla."
His jaw worked. "Full name."
"Ayla… Morgan." The words felt like pulling barbed wire from my lungs.
Relief flickered across his face but it was fleeting.
Because even as I spoke, another name slipped into my mind. Not Ayla. Serin. A whisper, soft and certain.
I froze. Where had that come from?
Kael noticed. His hand tightened on mine. "What is it?"
I shook my head quickly, forcing the thought down. "Nothing. Just… tired."
But it wasn't nothing. It was the first crack.
---
The corridor opened into a forgotten station room. Dust coated the broken benches, and a shattered mirror hung crooked on the far wall.
Kael checked the corners with his gun before lowering it slightly. "We'll rest here for a while. You need time to breathe."
I didn't argue. My chest ached, my head spun, and the drive burned hot against my skin where it rested.
I drifted toward the mirror, unable to stop myself.
At first, I saw only my own reflection hair tangled, face smeared with grime, eyes wide and haunted. But then the glass flickered. My reflection lagged, moving a fraction of a second too late.
And when it caught up, the face staring back wasn't mine.
The smile that curved its lips was too sharp. The eyes too hollow.
"Hello, Ayla," it whispered, though no sound filled the air.
I staggered back, my breath strangling in my throat.
Kael was there instantly, grabbing my shoulders. "What is it?"
I couldn't speak. Couldn't explain the wrongness.
The mirror flickered again, the stranger's smile vanishing as quickly as it came. My reflection returned just me. Terrified, broken me.
Kael followed my gaze, but he saw nothing. "You're seeing things. Side effects."
"Side effects?" My voice shook.
He hesitated. "The Code's inside you now. It's… rewriting. Testing. We don't know how much of you it'll try to overwrite."
My hands trembled. "And if it succeeds?"
He didn't answer.
---
We rested in uneasy silence. Kael sat with his back against the wall, gun across his knees, eyes sharp even in exhaustion. I curled on the bench, trying to steady my breaths, whispering my brother's name again and again like a prayer.
But each time, it grew fainter. Elias. Eli …something else. Serin. The foreign name kept creeping in, replacing his face with fragments I didn't recognize.
At some point, I must have drifted, because when I opened my eyes, the room had shifted.
The benches were whole. The walls gleamed. And people moved through the station smiling, laughing, faces familiar and strange all at once.
I stood in the middle of it, unseen, unheard.
And then I saw him.
Not Elias. Not Kael. A man I had never met dark hair, eyes burning gold. He looked at me like he knew me, like he had always known me.
"Serin," he said, voice rich and commanding. "I've been waiting."
My breath caught. "I'm not"
But the word snagged in my throat, because deep inside, a part of me remembered.
The dream shattered with Kael shaking me awake, his voice sharp. "Ayla! Wake up!"
I gasped, lurching upright, heart hammering.
"You were calling out," he said, eyes narrowing. "A name. Not your brother's."
My stomach dropped. "What name?"
"Serin." His voice was a blade. "Who the hell is Serin?"
"I don't know!" I snapped, though panic laced every word. "I swear, I don't"
But doubt flickered in his gaze. And worse, in mine.
---
Before either of us could say more, the wall-screen in the corner crackled to life.
This station had been dead for years yet now, lines of text scrolled across the broken glass, glowing red:
MEMORY REWRITE: PHASE ONE COMPLETE.
IDENTITY: SERIN.
My throat closed. The letters blurred through my tears.
Kael surged to his feet, his gun snapping up toward the screen as if bullets could kill what was already inside me.
I clutched my head, pain splitting me in two. Two names. Two lives. Ayla. Serin. Which one was real?
"Ayla!" Kael shouted, dropping to his knees in front of me, grabbing my face in his hands. "Fight it! Stay with me!"
But the whispers were louder now, the Code's voice threading through every thought.
You are Serin. You have always been Serin.
And for the first time, I didn't know if it was lying.
---
As the chapter closes, Ayla begins to lose her grip on her true identity her name, her memories, even her brother's face. The Ghost Protocol isn't just erasing her; it's rewriting her into someone else Serin. Kael can see her slipping, but Ayla herself no longer knows if she wants to fight it… or surrender.