Somewhere Between
Elira opened her eyes to a world washed in grayscale. There were no walls—only mist and echoes.
"Where am I?" she whispered.
Her voice didn't echo back.
Instead, someone else's did.
"You're late," said a voice that sounded exactly like hers—but colder. More composed. Sharper.
Across the haze, a figure stepped forward.
Same hair. Same eyes. Same face.
Another Elira.
Two Versions
Elira staggered back, but the other version didn't move.
"You're the tethered one," the doppelgänger said. "The one who keeps clinging to broken memories."
"I'm the real one," Elira snapped.
The other Elira smiled faintly. "Are you sure?"
Behind her, shards of broken glass floated like planets—each reflecting a moment Elira had lived… or thought she had.
Christine offering her a memory injection.
Kael touching her forehead and whispering, "I'll hold it for you."
Ashline screaming in the Vault.
Jane walking away with her back turned.
A woman's face—half-masked—calling her "my child."
Real or rewritten?
She couldn't tell anymore.
Inside the Mind-Bridge
"You've entered the Mirror Core," the doppelgänger said. "The final gate before Shardmind integration. Only one of us leaves intact."
"Wait," Elira said. "You mean... I have to fight you?"
"No," the other Elira said calmly. "You have to remember everything and accept it. Only then can you overwrite the false threads."
A pulse of pain throbbed in Elira's chest.
A whisper echoed in her thoughts:
Who were you… before you were Elira?
Flashback Fragment – A Memory That Doesn't Belong
Suddenly, she saw it.
A memory she had never known—too clear to be a dream.
A boy's voice—"Mother, look, I fixed the signal!"
Laughter. A man and woman clinking glasses in a glass observatory.
Then—a red flash. Screams. The tower falling.
Her hands were tiny in the memory.
She wasn't Elira.
She was someone else's child.
A name bubbled up—Liora.
Elira clutched her head. "No, that's not… me…"
The other Elira watched with pity. "You're a mosaic. Fragments of lives stolen, rebuilt, repurposed."
Back in Reality – Kael Awakens
Meanwhile, Kael's body jerked awake on the floor of the Citadel. Sweat poured down his face.
"Ashline?" he called out, groggy.
She was still out cold—pulse faint, flickering.
Kael felt it: the resonance tether between them had weakened.
He turned to the core machine—still glowing.
"Elira," he whispered. "Don't let it take you…"
Inside the Mirror Core – Final Choice
"You have two paths," the doppelgänger said. "Return with your truth fragmented… or rebuild yourself. But the price—"
"I know," Elira whispered.
The Mirror offered her two keys:
One black. One silver.
One to forget. One to become.
She looked at the doppelgänger. "Who are you really?"
"I'm the version of you that never forgot. The one you abandoned to survive."
Tears welled in Elira's eyes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"I know," the other Elira replied. "Now finish it."
The Merge
Elira reached for the silver key.
The moment her fingers touched it, the shards around her screamed.
Reality cracked—memories flooding in all at once.
She saw everything:
Her first reset.
The lab where they split her from Liora.
Christine crying after implanting false threads.
Jane's betrayal—the moment she chose Christine's offer.
Kael dying once before—and being reconstructed to protect her.
She was Elira.
She was Liora.
And something more.
Reality Reboot
Elira gasped as her eyes snapped open inside the Citadel.
Ashline sat beside her, bleeding but awake. Kael stood nearby, breathing heavily.
"You're back," he whispered.
Elira's voice was calm. Deeper. Grounded.
"I remember everything."
She stood, scanning the room—and saw the core interface flickering.
[PRIME HOST IDENTIFIED]
[MIRROR PROTOCOL COMPLETE]
[ACCESS GRANTED TO ALL MEMORY CHANNELS]
Ashline stared. "What did you do?"
Elira turned to her, expression unreadable.
"I reset the reset."
Twist – Christine's Last Move
But before they could move—
The Citadel shook violently.
A new message appeared:
"CODE C—SHADOWBACK INITIATED"
"PROJECT: REVIVAL HOST EXTRACTED"
"PROTOTYPE INTEGRATION FAILED"
Kael stepped back. "She has a backup."
Ashline paled. "Then who did she take?"
A screen flickered on.
Jane.
Hooked to a new machine—eyes glazed, body glowing.
Christine's voice returned, faint but clear:
"You weren't the final piece, Elira. She was."
"Welcome to the Rebirth Protocol."
The citadel began to collapse.
Elira grabbed Kael's hand, pulling Ashline with her.
They ran.
Behind them, the last message pulsed:
"Next cycle begins in T-minus: 7 days."
"System preparing next host."
And Elira knew—
This war had just reset again.
But this time… she remembered everything.