The key felt heavier than metal.
Heavier than guilt.
Kai stood before the rusted door deep beneath the Raven's Nest—one that hadn't been opened in years. The biometric scanner blinked red until he placed his palm on it.
Access Granted.
The vault hissed open with a chilling breath, revealing a room bathed in cold blue light.
Inside were rows of cryo-units—glass tubes holding corpses. Or perhaps… memories.
Celeste arrived moments later, silent and guarded. I followed, each step echoing like a heartbeat.
I didn't want to be here. But something inside me needed to.
Kai didn't speak. He led us past Unit 01, Unit 02... until we stopped at Unit 12.
The girl inside had my face.
But she was not me.
"Who is she?" I asked, voice trembling.
Kai finally answered. "That was Arin—Version One. The first prototype."
Celeste added, "You're Version Nine."
My vision blurred.
Nine.
Nine attempts. Eight failures. All of them... me.
"But I was born. I wasn't created—"
"No," Kai interrupted. "You were both."
My knees hit the floor.
---
Flashback – File Recording (JUNE 12, Project Arin Lab)
A small child screamed. A doctor yelled orders.
"Stabilize her core memory! Inject the inhibitors—now!"
A shadowy figure stood in the corner. Watching.
"Does she still dream of the fire?" he asked.
"She dreams of more than that," the doctor replied. "She dreams of freedom."
---
Back to Present
"How many more lies do I have to uncover before you tell me everything?" I hissed at Kai.
He looked me in the eyes, pain carved into every line of his face.
"I tried to protect you, Nyra. But even I didn't know everything."
Celeste touched the edge of the unit. "They didn't just create copies. They transferred trauma. Pain. Through neural replication."
I stared at the girl in the cryo-unit.
If that was Arin-01, then...
"What happened to the others?"
Kai didn't answer.
But Celeste did.
"They were terminated. Each one died screaming—until you."
A cold silence wrapped around us.
Then the lights flickered—and a different unit unlocked itself.
---
Inside was a boy.
Scarred.
Eyes open.
Alive.
"Kai," I whispered. "Who is that?"
Kai's face turned ashen.
"…That's Leo."
---
End of Chapter 45 – Part 1