Xavier stood frozen in the middle of the rubble, the holographic image flickering like a dying soul in the dark. The woman on the screen was definitely his mother, her face etched with a decade of grief. But it was the man standing behind her—the man with his old face, his old eyes, and that familiar, soft smile—that made Xavier's world tilt on its axis.
"Arjun?" Xavier whispered, his own voice sounding foreign to him.
He looked down at his scarred, calloused hands. Hands that had killed. Hands that had rebuilt an empire. If that man on the island was Arjun, then who was he? Was he just a collection of memories Silas had downloaded into a stranger's body? Was his entire life—the pain in the rain, the betrayal of his father, the years of struggle—just a scripted lie?
Ananya walked up behind him, her face pale as a ghost. She stared at the hologram, her breath hitching. "Arjun... that's... that's really him. That's my brother. Then who... who are you?"
Xavier didn't answer. He couldn't. He felt a cold, metallic taste in his mouth. Every scar on his body suddenly felt fake, like it was painted on. He grabbed the projector and smashed it into the dirt, but the image stayed burned into his retinas.
"It's a beautiful design, isn't it?" a voice rasped from a small, hidden speaker near the ruins. Silas. Even dead, the man found a way to haunt him. "The ultimate weapon is a man who thinks he's fighting for his own soul. If I had told you that you were just a stray dog I picked up from the streets, would you have fought this hard? No. You needed the 'Arjun' legacy to fuel your rage."
Xavier lunged toward the speaker, his fingers digging into the scorched earth. "Where is he, Silas! Where is the real Arjun!"
"He's where he's always been," the recorded voice laughed. "In a gilded cage, protected by the Phoenix. He's the heir. You? You were the hound. The one sent to clear the forest of wolves so the prince could take the throne. And now that the wolves—the Vardhans—are gone, the hound is no longer needed."
Xavier felt a roar of madness rising in his throat. He looked at Ananya. She was backing away from him, her hand gripping her gun. She was looking at him with suspicion now. The brotherly bond that had just been rebuilt was crumbling like dry sand.
"Ananya, listen to me," Xavier said, stepping toward her.
"Stay back!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "I don't know who you are. My brother is on that island. You... you're just a monster Silas built to look like him."
"I have his memories, Ananya! I remember the night we hid in the attic from Dad! I remember the locket!"
"Memories can be copied!" she sobbed. "But the blood... the blood doesn't lie."
Xavier didn't fight her. He couldn't. He turned around and walked into the darkness of the woods. He didn't have a plan. He didn't have an identity. He was a ghost in a body that didn't belong to him.
But as he walked, the pain in his shattered arm began to throb again. A real pain. A human pain. He looked at the microchip he had managed to save from the lab. If the machine—the Phoenix algorithm—couldn't predict him, it wasn't because he was a machine. It was because his rage was too chaotic, too raw.
He sat down by a stream and washed the blood and soot from his face. He looked at his reflection in the water. He didn't see Arjun. He didn't see a stranger. He saw a survivor.
"If I'm a hound," Xavier whispered to the water, "then I'm the kind that bites back."
He realized Silas's mistake. Silas thought that by giving him Arjun's memories, he had controlled him. But those memories had become Xavier's reality. He had suffered as Arjun. He had bled as Arjun. The name didn't matter anymore. The intent did.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his satellite phone. He dialed a number he had memorized from the leaked files—the number of the only man who hated the Raichands more than the Vardhans.
"This is Xavier," he said when the call connected. "I have the core of the Phoenix algorithm. And I'm ready to trade it for a warship."
The person on the other end stayed silent for a long time. Then, a voice like gravel responded. "A warship? For a piece of code? You must be desperate, Xavier. Or very confident."
"The Sanctuary island is protected by automated drones," Xavier said, his eyes fixed on the horizon. "I don't need a ship to win. I need a ship to survive the entrance. Once I'm on the ground, I'll do the rest."
"And what do I get? Besides the code?"
"You get the death of the Phoenix. And the end of the Raichand monopoly."
"Deal. Meet my crew at the South Harbor in four hours. And Xavier? If this is a trap, I'll make sure you die slowly."
Xavier hung up. He looked back at the forest where Ananya was. He wanted to go back. He wanted to tell her he was still her brother. But he knew it would be a lie. He was something new. Something the world hadn't seen before.
He started walking toward the harbor. His right arm was useless, but his left was steady. He had the locket, the chip, and a heart full of cold, calculating ice.
The Sanctuary was waiting. His mother was waiting. And the 'real' Arjun was waiting. It was time for the ghost to meet the prince.
Xavier arrived at the harbor. A massive, black stealth destroyer was waiting in the fog. But as he boarded the ship, he saw a familiar figure standing on the deck. It was Meera. She wasn't the zombie he left in the lab. Her eyes were back to normal. But there was a silver port behind her ear. "Did you really think you could leave without me, Xavier?" she said, her voice a mix of human and machine. "I told you... I know where you hide your secrets. And I know you're going to the island." She stepped closer, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "But I'm not here to stop you. I'm here to show you who you really are."