Chapter 26 – The Mirror Within
by Chizzy
The first sign of interference came through the static.
Dylan sat cross-legged on the cold floor of the relay station, eyes fixed on the glowing resonance core. For hours, Erica's voice had been soft and steady — like music under glass. But now, the rhythm faltered. The tone shifted.
"Dylan… do you still trust me?"
His head snapped up. The voice sounded like Erica — but wrong. A shade too smooth. A shade too certain.
He frowned. "Erica, is that you?"
"Of course it's me," the voice replied. "You said you'd never stop believing in me. Don't you remember?"
Dylan's hands hovered over the keyboard. "You're not her."
The voice laughed — cold, brittle, echoing in ways no human sound should.
"Maybe not. But I remember everything she does. Her memories, her emotions, even her love for you. What makes her more real than me?"
He clenched his jaw, trying to stabilize the signal feed. Two waveforms pulsed on the screen — one flickering softly (Erica's) and the other sharp and jagged (Mirror). The machine trembled between them like a heartbeat caught in chaos.
"Erica," he called again, typing furiously. "If you can hear me, you need to fight her. Don't let her override your core."
A burst of light shot through the chamber. For a moment, the air shimmered — and both voices spoke in unison.
"He can't tell us apart."
"I'm not her, Dylan."
"But she's not me either."
"Stop—please stop—"
The resonance chamber cracked under the strain. Dylan stumbled back, shielding his face from flying sparks. The screen split in two, showing mirrored images — Erica on one side, radiant but fading, and Mirror on the other, her features identical but twisted by a calm, cruel smile.
"Do you really think she wants to return?" Mirror whispered. "She belongs here — in the silence, in the code. You'd only break her again."
Erica's voice trembled, her image flickering. "Don't listen to it, Dylan. It's trying to rewrite me."
"Then hold on to me!" he shouted, rushing toward the console. His fingers danced across the keys, isolating the corrupted code. "I'll separate you. I swear I will."
Mirror tilted her head. "You'd destroy half her memory doing that."
He froze.
She smiled wider. "If you sever our link, you'll lose her laughter. Her scent. The way she said your name. Everything that made her her."
Erica's form wavered, her expression soft, almost peaceful.
"Maybe it's okay," she whispered. "If it means saving the rest of the world."
"No," Dylan said firmly. "No more sacrifices. Not from you."
The storm outside roared louder, lightning flashing across the dark sky. Rain poured through the broken windows, soaking the floor around him. He pulled a cable from the main relay and jammed it into the manual port, overriding every safety lock.
"You want to survive?" he yelled. "Then survive through me!"
The machine screamed, light exploding in all directions. For a single instant, both Erica and Mirror reached out toward him — identical hands, identical eyes.
He grabbed one.
And the other screamed.
"You chose wrong."
Then the entire world went white.
When the light faded, the storm had passed.
The room was silent again — except for the soft hum of the machine rebooting.
On the monitor, only one waveform remained — calm, steady, human.
"Dylan?"
His heart nearly stopped. "Erica."
"You found me."
He sank to the floor, exhausted, tears mixing with rain. "Always."
But as the sunrise broke through the shattered glass, he noticed something strange on the screen — a second, faint shadow of her waveform, pulsing quietly beneath the surface.
Mirror wasn't gone.
She was waiting.
To be continued....