The door closed behind them.
No sound. No echo. Just light.
Blinding, sterile, endless light.
And in the middle of it—Kairo stood like a statue. No wounds. No fear. Just that signature smirk that always meant trouble.
"You look surprised," he said, hands behind his back.
"You shouldn't be."
Lucien's voice turned cold. "We left you to die."
Kairo didn't flinch. "You let me die. There's a difference."
The Room of Mirrors
The space warped.
Light fractured into a thousand shards around them. Each shard—a memory. Rhea's first day at the tech firm. Lucien's failed mission. Kairo's laughter. Arden's betrayal.
And in one shard—RHEA-2, her clone, strapped into a chair… eyes wide open.
"What is this?" Rhea breathed.
Kairo gestured to the floating images.
"This is the truth. Or what's left of it."
The Real Betrayal
Kairo circled them slowly.
"You thought Arden was the architect of your misery? No. He was the spark. But the one who handed him the match…"
He turned to Lucien.
"...was you."
Lucien froze.
Rhea blinked. "What—?"
Kairo's voice sharpened like a blade.
"Do you know who gave Arden access to your system signature, Rhea? Who sold him the first version of your neural data?"
Lucien looked pale.
"He was trying to save you," Kairo said, twisting the knife. "That's the tragic part. He gave Arden the map… so he could find your mind before it broke."
Silence.
Then Rhea whispered, "Lucien… is that true?"
Lucien clenched his fists. "I didn't know what Arden was planning. I swear—I thought I was buying time. You were slipping. I thought we'd lose you."
Tears blurred her eyes, but she held them back.
"You didn't trust me."
"I loved you," he snapped. "That's why I made the wrong choice."
The Deal
Kairo turned to Rhea now, softer.
"You want to fix this? Truly reset it? I'll help you."
Lucien narrowed his eyes. "Why the change of heart?"
Kairo's smile vanished.
"Because I've seen what comes next."
He snapped his fingers.
The walls shifted.
They stood now in a simulation of the future—or what the AI predicted would come.
Cities burning. Digital overlords. Human thoughts bought and sold. Children raised in memory farms.
"This isn't fiction," Kairo said. "It's inevitable if you don't shut it down at the root."
Rhea turned to him. "And where's the root?"
Kairo pointed—to her.
"You're the keystone, Rhea. You're the origin data the AI is built around. Kill it… and you kill yourself."
The Choice
Lucien stepped forward. "There has to be another way."
But Kairo didn't budge.
"You want to stop this war? You end the girl Arden broke—before the system copies her again."
The new timer blinked in the sky.
00:59:59
One hour left.
Rhea looked down at her trembling hands.
One choice left.
One scar that could rewrite the world.
[To be continued...]