Darkness slammed into Elaris like a tidal wave.
She gasped—air rushing into her lungs as if she had been drowning. The garden was gone. The sky was gone.
Now there was only space.
Endless black threaded with streams of glowing code—red, silver, and violent white crashing into each other like colliding storms.
Her boots touched nothing.
She was suspended inside her own mind.
System Alert:Neural domain overridden.Dual access detected.
"Elaris!"
Xyren's voice snapped through the void.
A silver grid erupted beneath her feet, stabilizing her form. Her body solidified, wrapped in faint blue light.
Xyren appeared beside her—not fully physical, but close enough. His cybernetic eye blazed brighter than she had ever seen it.
"I told you to disconnect," he said, voice tight."This space isn't safe anymore."
Before she could answer—
A ripple tore through the darkness.
Red code bled into the silver grid, corrupting it cell by cell. The air turned cold.
Slow claps echoed.
"Well built," Kael said as he emerged from the distortion."But you always overestimate your control, Xyren."
He looked different here.
Sharper. Darker. Less human.
Data wrapped around him like armor. Crimson symbols burned across his gloves, crawling up his arms like living ink.
"You're trespassing," Xyren said."This is her mind."
Kael smiled faintly.
"And yet," he replied,"she's the one standing between us."
Elaris' head throbbed.
"Stop," she whispered. "Both of you."
Neither listened.
Xyren stepped forward, placing himself slightly in front of her.
"Exit now," he ordered Kael."You've already crossed too many boundaries."
Kael tilted his head."Funny," he said."That's exactly what I was going to tell you."
The void exploded.
Red and silver collided—firewalls slamming into intrusion blades, defense scripts turning into spectral shields, attack code forming blades of light.
Elaris cried out as the shockwave tore through her senses.
Xyren raised a hand, projecting a barrier around her.
Protection Protocol: Z-TWIN CORE — ACTIVE
Kael laughed softly.
"You see?" he said to her through the chaos."He cages you. Even in your own dreams."
"That's not true!" she shouted.
Xyren didn't look back."I'm keeping you alive."
Kael's eyes locked onto hers.
"And I'm trying to show you why you were almost erased."
The words cut deeper than any strike.
Kael slashed through the barrier—red code slicing silver like flesh. Xyren staggered, his form glitching for half a second.
"Xyren!" Elaris reached for him.
He steadied himself.
"You don't understand him," Xyren said, voice strained."He doesn't want truth. He wants ownership."
Kael's expression shifted—just slightly.
"You think I don't protect her?" he shot back."I tore through half the Syndicate to keep her breathing while you hid her behind simulations."
Elaris froze.
"What?" she whispered.
Xyren's jaw tightened.
"That's enough," he said."Disengage her memory access. Now."
Kael stepped closer.
"Ask him," Kael said gently."Ask him why your past files are locked.Ask him why your twin link was severed the night your wings were burned."
The void trembled.
Fragments of memory flickered—fire,metal restraints,a scream that didn't sound human.
Elaris clutched her head.
"Stop—please—"
Xyren turned to her, panic flashing raw and unfiltered.
"Elaris, listen to me. Those memories are unstable. They'll destroy you."
Kael's voice softened.
"Or they'll free you."
The ground beneath them fractured.
A third signal surged.
Not red.Not silver.
Black.
Ancient symbols spiraled through the void, bending both their codes effortlessly.
Warning:Unknown entity escalating access.Authority level: Above classified.
All three froze.
Something moved in the darkness.
Watching.
Learning.
Kael cursed under his breath.
Xyren's voice dropped to a whisper."This wasn't me."
The black code wrapped around Elaris' wings—her real ones, buried deep inside her neural core.
They flared—
Molten silver tearing through the void.
Her scream shattered everything.
In the real world, Elaris' body arched violently on the bed.
Alarms screamed.
Xyren spun toward the monitors.
"No—no—no—"
Her vitals spiked into red.
And somewhere far above the city—
Kael felt it.
The moment her wings woke up.
His lips parted, breath hitching—not in victory, not in cruelty.
In fear.
"She's not ready," he whispered.
But it was already too late.