SERA POV
The guards locked me in a small room with no windows.
I pounded on the door until my hands hurt. "Let me out! I didn't kill anyone!"
No answer. Just quiet and the sound of my own terrified breathing.
Bodies. Helena said they found me surrounded by bodies with burned brains. But I couldn't have done that. I wasn't a killer. I was a scientist. I helped people.
Except I couldn't remember the last three days.
What if I really had killed them?
My hands started glowing again—those awful circuit patterns under my skin. I stared at them in the dim light. What was I? What had someone done to me?
The door suddenly opened.
I jumped back, expecting guards. Instead, Helena walked in alone.
"I'm sorry about the dramatics," she said quietly. "But people were panicking. Better to let them think you're controlled."
"You said I killed people."
"I said we found bodies near you. That's different." Helena sat on the only chair. "Sera, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
"You just locked me up!"
"To protect you." Her voice was soft again, kind. "There are people in this place who would hurt you if they knew what you really are. What you can do."
"I don't even know what I am!"
"I do." Helena leaned forward. "You're humanity's last hope. That's what you are."
Before I could reply, shouting erupted outside. Not angry yelling—surprised shouting.
Helena's face went tight. "Stay here. Don't move."
She left, locking the door again.
I pressed my ear against it, trying to hear. People were running. Someone yelled about the market. About a man going crazy.
Then I heard a name that made my heart skip: "Commander Cross lost it. Saw Dr. Vance and went nuts."
Commander Cross. The guy from before. The one who called me Lyra.
Twenty minutes later, Helena came back. She looked upset.
"Get up. We're moving you."
"What happened?"
"Commander Cross happened. He's asking too many questions." She grabbed my arm. "We need to go. Now."
We left through a back way. Helena pulled me through narrow paths between tents, dodging the main roads. My mind raced with questions, but fear kept me quiet.
We ended up at a different building—older, more solid. Helena pushed me inside.
"Wait here. I'll bring food and—"
"No." I planted my feet. "No more locked rooms. Tell me what's going. Tell me the truth."
Helena studied my face for a long moment. "You really don't remember him, do you? Commander Cross?"
"I've never seen him before today."
"He seems very certain he knows you."
"He's wrong."
"Is he?" Helena tilted her head. "Sera, what if I told you that you look exactly like his dead fiancée? Exactly. Like twins. Like copies."
My stomach dropped. "That's... that's impossible."
"So is a computer turning on in a dead world. So are bright circuits under your skin." Helena stepped closer. "Impossible things keep happening around you. Don't you want to know why?"
I did. Desperately. But something about the way Helena looked at me—like I was a problem to solve, not a person to help—made me scared.
"I need air," I said. "I can't breathe in here."
"Fine. But stay close."
We walked outside. The sun was setting, coloring the sky orange and red. Beautiful, even in this terrible new world.
That's when I saw him again.
Commander Cross stood about fifty feet away, talking quickly with his soldiers. Even from here, I could see the stress in his body. The pain.
He turned. Our eyes met.
Everything else went.
He started walking toward me. Not fast. Not scary. But driven. Like nothing would stop him.
"We should go," Helena said.
But I couldn't move. Something about the way he looked at me—like I was precious. Like I was everything.
Nobody had ever looked at me like that before.
Or had they?
A flash hit my head. Not a memory. Just a feeling. The ghost of something warm and safe and loved.
Then it was gone.
Commander Cross stopped a few feet away. His men watched nervously, but he ignored them.
"I don't care what they told you," he said softly. "I don't care what name you use. I know you."
"You don't," I whispered. But my voice shook.
"You have a scar on your left shoulder. Shaped like a star." His eyes were intense, desperate. "You're afraid of spiders but you love clouds. Your favorite food is chocolate ice cream with peanut butter. You—"
"Stop." My hands were shaking. "This is crazy. I'm not whoever you think I am."
"Then why are you crying?"
I touched my face. He was right. Tears ran down my face and I didn't even know why.
"Commander, that's enough." Helena moved between us. "She's not your Lyra. Your Lyra is dead."
"Then where did THIS Lyra come from?" His voice rose. "How does she have the exact same face? The exact same voice? Explain that!"
"Coincidence. The world is full of—"
"Don't LIE to me!" He pointed at Helena. "You know something. You found her. You're hiding her. Tell me what you did!"
Guards ran over now, guns ready. The tension burst.
"Stand down, Commander," one of them ordered. "Dr. Voss is Council. You can't threaten her."
"I'm not scary. I'm expecting answers." Commander Cross's hand went to his sword. "What did you do to Lyra?"
"Your fiancée died three days ago," Helena said coldly. "Accept it and move on."
Something changed in Commander Cross's face. The sadness turned to rage.
"I found the facility," he said. "The basement lab. I saw the film."
Helena went completely still. "What footage?"
"The security camera. From the day of the Pulse." He looked at me now, and his face was terrible. "I watched you press the button that killed five billion people."
The world turned. "What?"
"The Pulse wasn't an accident. You CAUSED it." His voice shook with fury and confusion. "I watched you end the world, Lyra. And you were SMILING."
"That's not true!" I backed away. "I would never—"
"I have proof. Video proof. You stood at a control panel and—"
"ENOUGH!" Helena shouted. "Guards, remove him. Now."
They grabbed Commander Cross. He fought, still yelling. "She killed billions! And you're protecting her! WHY?"
They dragged him away. His words echoed through the settlement: "I LOVED YOU! How could you DO this?"
I couldn't move. Couldn't think.
Helena grabbed my shoulders. "Sera, listen to me. He's wrong. Confused. Grief makes people crazy."
"He said there's video—"
"Fake. Or mistaken name. Or—"
"Or I really did it." The words came out choked. "Maybe I ended the world. Maybe that's why I can't remember. Maybe I'm a monster."
"You're not a monster." Helena's grip tightened. "You're special. Important. And I won't let anyone hurt you."
But her eyes said something different.
Her eyes said: I won't let anyone take you from me.
That night, they locked me in another room. A bigger one, with a bed and water. But still locked.
I lay in darkness, thinking about Commander Cross. About the pain in his eyes. The love. The rage.
If he was right—if I really had caused the Pulse—then I deserved his hate.
But why couldn't I remember?
My hands started burning again. The circuits shone brighter than before. And this time, they spread up my arms, across my chest, reaching toward my head like they were trying to connect to something.
Then I heard it.
A voice. Inside my mind. Not my voice. Someone else's.
"You're waking up," it said. "Finally. I've been waiting."
I sat up so fast I almost fell. "Who's there?"
"You know who I am." The voice was sad. Familiar. "I'm the woman you used to be. Before they erased me."
"That's not possible."
"Look in the mirror, Sera. Really look. And tell me what you see."
I stumbled to the small cracked mirror on the wall. Stared at my reflection in the dim light.
And watched in fear as my face changed.
Not physically. But something underneath. Like there were two faces stacked on top of each other. One was mine—Sera.
The other was someone else. Someone whose eyes were harder. Colder. Older.
"My name was Sera Vance," the voice whispered. "And I ended the world to save it. Now you're wearing my face, living my life, and you have no idea what's coming."
"What's coming?"
"The others. They're looking for you. And when they find you, they'll want what I put inside your head." The voice started disappearing. "The neural device. The technology. The truth about why five billion had to die."
"Wait! Don't go! Tell me—"
But she was gone.
And I was alone with my mirror, watching the circuit patterns spell ou
t words on my skin: "THREE DAYS UNTIL ACTIVATION. PREPARE FOR MEMORY RESTORATION."
Then everything went dark.