"I think I just unlocked a memory. Cassian—"
Elara turned to him, voice shaking. "I don't think I was the original."
Cassian's mind reeled, trying to grasp what she'd said as the room filled with the hiss of awakening clones. Cryotubes unlatched one after another, steam pouring out in ghostly ribbons.
"No," he said, stepping toward her. "Don't do this. You're you, Elara. You're not one of—one of them."
She barely heard him. Her vision blurred. Her pulse spiked.
There it was again—that flicker of memories not her own.
Steel restraints. Scientists arguing. A dark-haired girl watching from a glass cell, seething with jealousy.
"I saw the moment I woke up," Elara whispered. "But I wasn't in my body. I was watching myself. And I knew—I was the replacement."
A scream tore through the room as one of the clones lurched from her tube and fell to the floor, gasping like a newborn choking on air.
Cassian fired again, taking her down before she could fully stand.
"We're surrounded!" he snapped. "We have to move—now!"
But Elara didn't budge. Her hand trembled, reaching for the glowing terminal beside Lyra's tube.
Data swarmed across the screen. Fragmented logs, timestamps… and a single archived file labeled:
SUBJECT VENN// PRIMARY TERMINATION LOG // E-V1.0
Cassian's breath caught.
"Elara," he said. "That file—it has your designation."
She stared at it, cold realization flooding in.
"I was Version One."
Cassian moved to her side, yanked her back. "Then what the hell is she?"
Behind them, Lyra stepped down from her platform.
"I was the original."
Her voice wasn't robotic—wasn't cracked with age or madness. It was calm. Confident.
"I was the one they made first. The one they discarded."
Elara's mouth went dry. "They told me I was the prototype."
"You were," Lyra said. "You were their hope for a miracle. But you weren't born—you were engineered. Spliced with Seed tech. I was the natural form. Too… imperfect, they said."
"Why do this?" Cassian snapped. "Why start a war?"
"I'm not starting anything," Lyra replied. "I'm correcting it."
She raised a hand.
All around them, the clones stepped forward—eyes glowing, faces blank.
"I don't want to kill you, Elara," Lyra said softly. "But we're linked now. We're merging. You'll see the truth soon."
Cassian fired at the ceiling, blowing a support strut and bringing down a cascade of debris between them and the advancing swarm.
"Move!" he yelled, grabbing Elara's arm and pulling her down a maintenance corridor.
They ran.
Underground Escape Tunnels – 10 Minutes Later
Their footsteps echoed through the collapsing vault. Sirens wailed in distant corridors. Steam hissed from ruptured vents.
Elara's heart thundered. "We have to stop her before she links with the Seedfather."
"She's already too strong," Cassian said, breath ragged. "Did you see what she's doing? Copying you. She's not trying to kill you—she wants to be you."
They reached an emergency lift. Cassian smashed the panel, initiating the sequence.
"Where does it go?" she asked.
"Back to surface level. Marrin's tower."
Elara hesitated.
"Cassian… if she's right… if I'm just a version of someone else—what does that make me?"
"You're Elara," he said fiercely. "You're the woman who dove into hell and detonated a vault to save people who feared her. I don't care how you were born. You chose to fight. That's who you are."
She swallowed hard and nodded.
The lift shuddered upward.
Citadel – Marrin's Command Deck
Commander Marrin didn't look surprised when Cassian and Elara burst in.
His face was grim.
"You led her straight here," he said without preamble.
Cassian stepped forward. "We didn't have a choice. She's building an army. You need to evacuate—now."
Marrin turned his monitor toward them.
Surveillance feeds lit up—hundreds of glowing blips moving beneath the city.
"She's already here," he said. "They're rising through the drain tunnels and service shafts. All of them."
Elara moved closer. "Do we have any biolock weapons left? Or Seed-inverted frequencies?"
Marrin laughed bitterly. "We scrapped all Seedkillers after the truce. You don't dismantle godweapons and expect peace, Elara. You hope."
Cassian's jaw clenched. "Then we use her."
Marrin stared at him.
"She's synced to Lyra," Cassian continued. "They're connected. That means she can get ahead of her. Predict her moves. Maybe even override the control."
"You want to risk the last functioning hybrid we have on a suicide link?" Marrin barked. "That's madness."
Elara looked him dead in the eye.
"I want to end this before she turns this city into a grave."
Marrin paused.
Then he reached under his desk and keyed in a biometric code.
A sealed drawer hissed open.
Inside was a sleek, obsidian disk—pulsing faintly with Seedlight.
"What is that?" Cassian asked.
"A tether device," Marrin said. "Originally meant to lock hybrid minds together for shared operations. We shelved it after it drove two of our test subjects insane."
"Will it link us?" Elara asked.
"Possibly. Or fry both of you in under ten seconds."
She didn't blink.
"Do it."
Moments Later – Deep in the Mind
Elara opened her eyes and found herself somewhere else.
A digital void. Darkness stretched into infinity. And in the center stood Lyra—waiting.
"I knew you'd come," she said.
Elara clenched her fists. "End this."
"You still don't understand," Lyra whispered, stepping forward. "They stole me. Scrapped me. Erased my records. You were their shining weapon. But I was the spark."
Elara's mind trembled with the weight of foreign memories flooding her again—torture. Isolation. Watching Elara's achievements from behind glass.
"I remember it all," Lyra said.
And suddenly, so did Elara.
Not just the memories—the emotions. The betrayal. The rage. The cold, hollow ache of being forgotten.
But there was something else.
In the echo of Lyra's pain, Elara felt something flicker.
Guilt.
Because deep down, she had known. A shadow in her mind ever since she woke.
That she wasn't whole.
That something—or someone—was missing.
Back in Reality
Cassian watched Elara's body spasm violently on the floor, tethered to the device. Blood trickled from her nose.
Marrin shouted, "Her vitals are crashing!"
Then Elara's eyes shot open.
"No," she said, voice distorted. "Not yet."
But it wasn't her voice.
It was both of them.