Timestamp: 03:33 A.M.
Location: VEX-7 Underground Facility, Sublevel Omega
Date: January 11th, 20XX
The door shrieked open like a creature that had been waiting to die.
Derik stood still in the stale dark, a matchstick's light flickering at his side, casting crooked shadows across the damp walls of Sublevel Omega. The air tasted like rusted chains and old blood.
He took a step inside.
The room was completely dark. Not dim—voided. No overheads. No auxiliary light. Even his match seemed to fade into black the deeper he went.
Then he saw them—two glowing pupils reflecting back the flame, set far too low to belong to a man.
The boy crouched in the corner, naked, bones tight beneath skin like wax stretched over wire. He didn't move when Derik approached.
No fear.
No curiosity.
Just presence.
Derik whispered, "Ash…?"
The boy blinked. His head tilted, slow and eerie, like he was remembering the shape of his own name.
"I'm Derik," he added. "Your brother."
The boy opened his mouth but made no sound.
His limbs were long, almost unnatural, like he'd grown in every direction but the right one. On his wrists were raw metal bands, their edges coated in dried skin. Every nail was chewed down to pulp.
Derik crouched and slowly reached forward.
Ash mirrored him—one motion, one breath, one heartbeat later. A delay that felt intentional.
When Derik extended his hand, Ash reached out too, fingertips trembling—and touched Derik's palm.
The skin was warm. Alive. But his eyes? Hollow.
Derik looked around. The walls were padded. No mirrors. No reflective surfaces.
They'd raised him in the dark, without sound, without sensation—without identity.
On the back wall, barely visible in the matchlight, was a line etched into the concrete with a fingernail.
"I was born but never named."
Derik turned to him.
"You're not staying here."
Ash said nothing. But when Derik stood and walked toward the door, the boy followed—silent as air, barefoot on cold stone, matching Derik's rhythm exactly.
As if he'd done it all before.
⸻
Outside, the old VEX-7 tunnels trembled. Not from footsteps, but from a surge of emergency power.
The systems had recognized the door's breach.
Someone else knew Ash had been released.
And somewhere deep within the sub-level surveillance room, a green light blinked for the first time in twelve years.