"Something's wrong," Cassian muttered as he paced the underground docking bay, breath fogging in the chill. His comm unit buzzed static. No connection. No answer from Talia.
No one had seen her since last night.
Elara stood across from him, cloaked in a tactical vest scavenged from the armory. Her eyes—too gold now—gleamed in the low light. She didn't speak.
He hated the silence. It made her seem less human.
"We need to move," she said finally. "We don't have time for anyone else."
Cassian stared at her. "We still don't even know what you are, Elara."
"I know enough."
"And what if you're leading us straight to a trap?"
"I could've killed you twenty times by now," she shot back. "Don't forget who dragged me out of that crypt."
"I did it because I thought you were still you."
Elara stepped in close, her voice razor-sharp. "I am me. And if Lyra is out there—if she's hijacked the Seedfather's network—then every second we waste is blood."
They locked eyes.
Cassian swore under his breath and keyed open the side panel of a long-abandoned skimmer.
"Fine," he said. "But if this goes sideways, I'm pulling the plug."
"Understood."
The skimmer roared to life, scattering dust and darkness. They drove through the outer tunnels—past barricaded Resistance posts, rusted mech husks, and the haunted remnants of a war most had tried to forget.
But Elara couldn't forget.
She saw flashes in every passing shadow. Vault 19. The detonation. Her fingers hovering over the detonator. Lyra's voice echoing in the final seconds.
"You should've let me live…"
Two Hours Later – Subsurface Node X-13
The node was buried beneath what once had been a civilian arcology. Now, it was just a shell—concrete bones jutting from the ground like broken teeth.
Cassian scanned the ruins, frowning. "This is dead space. No signals. No drones. No heat signatures. This site was declared collapsed."
Elara climbed down the skimmer's side, pulling her rifle over her shoulder. "Then why did Talia's ping trace here?"
Cassian didn't answer.
They made their way into the wreckage. The silence was thick, unnerving.
Twisted stairwells descended into the earth. Glyphs glowed faintly along the walls—Seed language, half-erased by fire and time.
"They've been here," Elara murmured.
Cassian knelt beside a charred panel. "This vault was sealed after the Scourge War. How the hell is it still active?"
Elara touched the glyphs. They pulsed beneath her palm like a heartbeat.
"Because Lyra wants it open."
A gust of wind blew behind them.
No—not wind.
A whisper.
Cassian raised his weapon. "Did you hear that?"
Elara didn't answer. She was already moving.
Down the stairwell, past broken bulkheads and shattered archives. Until they reached it.
The Core.
A massive black door, shaped like a vertical eye, embedded in biotech roots that still shimmered with alien energy.
Cassian exhaled. "This wasn't here before."
"It wasn't meant to be found."
Suddenly, Elara's hand twitched. Her pulse spiked. A thousand images crashed into her vision—flashes of another world. Another life. Hers—but not.
Lyra's.
A girl trapped in a lab. Watching Elara grow stronger, brighter. Chosen. Loved.
While she was forgotten.
"You were always the favorite," the voice hissed.
Elara fell to her knees, gasping. "She's in my head—"
Cassian caught her. "Talk to me!"
"She's… merging. Syncing her mind with mine—through the Seed code. I can feel her memories."
The Core door cracked open, unsealing with a low moan. Light spilled out—green and gold, flickering like fireflies.
Cassian raised his rifle. "Stay behind me."
"No," Elara said hoarsely. "I have to go in."
Inside the Core
The chamber was circular. Walls lined with cryotubes—hundreds of them, filled with blank-eyed clones. Some incomplete. Others identical to her.
Cassian staggered back. "What is this?"
Elara stepped closer to one pod.
The girl inside stared back.
Same face. Same features.
But this one was smiling.
Then, the screen in front of the pod lit up.
LYRA-02
Status: Ascending
Directive: Merge
Elara's blood went cold.
"She's building herself an army."
Cassian pulled her back. "We need to destroy this place."
"We can't. Not yet. I need to know what she wants."
A low hum echoed through the room.
Then a new cryotube hissed open.
A figure stepped out.
Naked. Gleaming. Dripping with biotech fluid.
And she looked exactly like Elara.
Except her eyes were pure gold.
"Hello, sister," she said.
Cassian raised his weapon instantly. "Don't move!"
Lyra didn't flinch.
She smiled—and the cryotubes around the chamber began to open.
One by one.
Hundreds of Elaras… waking.
"Too late," Lyra whispered. "The merge has already begun."
Elara's head pounded. She dropped to her knees again as data flooded her mind. Too much. Too fast. Lyra wasn't just talking to her.
She was inside her.
Cassian fired at the first clone. It dropped—but another stepped forward.
"We need to run!" he shouted.
But Elara didn't move.
She looked up—eyes blazing.
"I think I just unlocked a memory," she whispered. "Cassian—I don't think I was the original."