The moment the cryo-unit fully opened, steam hissed around the glass as if the room itself were holding its breath.
Leo's body didn't move.
Then—
A twitch.
His fingers curled, eyes fluttered open. The same deep obsidian gaze that once made my heart skip now locked with mine, unblinking.
"Nyra," he croaked. His voice was rough, broken, but alive.
I staggered backward. "How—how are you here? You… you died."
Celeste froze, eyes wide. Kai didn't move.
"I was dead," Leo rasped, gripping the sides of the pod as he sat up slowly. "They pulled me back to use me. Just like they did with you."
I stepped closer, heart thundering. "Use you for what?"
Leo looked at Kai.
"Tell her," he said.
Kai lowered his head. "Project Arin was never just about you. It was a dual project. A mirror."
"You were the flame," Leo said, "and I was the ash."
I shook my head, not understanding.
Celeste whispered, "You were designed to destroy. He was designed to survive it."
Leo's face hardened. "Every time you died in a test, they reset me to try again. Again. Again. Until I broke the loop."
Tears stung my eyes.
"How much of me is real?" I asked, barely able to speak.
Leo climbed out of the chamber, shaking. "Enough to break the chain."
Kai finally stepped forward. "There's something else you need to know. Ravian… he's not the creator."
Celeste's voice turned sharp. "Then who is?"
Kai looked up. "It's Lira."
A cold wind seemed to pass through the vault.
"That's impossible," I said. "Lira was just…"
Leo growled, "Lira was the original architect. She's the only Version Zero. The one they erased from records."
"She built the Project. And now she's trying to finish it."
I clenched my fists.
"No. We end it."
---
As we left the vault, Kai handed me a sealed drive.
"Everything," he said. "All the truths. All the deaths. Even mine."
Leo stared at the drive in my hand. "You open that, and there's no turning back."
I met their eyes.
"There never was."
---
End of Chapter 45 – Part 2