The blinding white light burned my eyes until I could not see anything at all.My feet hit a cold metal floor. The smell of cheap coffee and damp concrete was gone, replaced by the sterile scent of bleach and clean air. I blinked hard, trying to clear the fuzzy spots floating in my vision.I was sitting in a heavy metal chair in the center of an empty, bright white room. Thick steel straps were locked tight across my chest and wrists, holding me down so I could not move an inch. Across the room, a massive glass wall looked into another space, and standing right behind that glass was Commander Thorne.His grey coat was gone, and he wore a tight black uniform. The glowing white diamond in his chest pulsed with a steady light that cast sharp shadows across his face."Subject Kiran is awake and stable," Thorne said. He was not looking at me. He was talking into a small black device in his hand, his voice calm and cold. "Memory wipe number four hundred twelve is ready to begin. Clear the p

The blank-faced figure raised the glowing keyboard, and my whole world shook.A heavy wave of static hit my chest, pushing me back against the cold metal wall. I tried to lift my left hand, but my fingers were turning clear and see-through just like my arm. The system format was eating me alive, second by second, wiping away my body to make room for a new draft."Stop him!" Lyra shouted, her voice cutting through the loud noise of the alarms.She did not wait for me to move. With a quick, cold twist of her wrist, Lyra shoved Commander Thorne forward, pushing him right into the path of the blank-faced figure.Thorne let out a loud gasp as he crashed against the dark entity. The white diamond in Thorne's chest flared with a blinding burst of blue light, fighting against the shifting silver surface of the Author's proxy."What are you doing, you crazy girl?" Thorne cursed, grabbing at the blank-faced figure's shoulders to keep from falling off the narrow ledge into the deep red pit below

The voice coming from the tower speakers laughed again, and the sound made my skin crawl.It wasn't a mechanical noise or a recorded message. It was warm, human, and entirely wrong for a place like this. Lyra stayed frozen on her knees in the dirt, her fingers still clutching the silver-white hair tie she had found next to the torn jacket. Her usual cold, sharp armor was completely gone, replaced by a quiet, shaking panic that made her look entirely different from the tough fighter who had dragged me through a glass window."Get up, Lyra," I said, stepping close to her and reaching down to grab her shoulder. My gold fire pulsed warmly against the cold wasteland air. "That voice is just another trap. They want to break your focus."Lyra didn't move. She slowly looked up at me, her single violet eye swimming with tears that she refused to let fall. "That's not just a trap, Kiran. That's my brother's voice. He didn't disappear five years ago. They brought him down here to build this towe

The coin spun on the wooden counter, wobbling back and forth before it stopped flat against the grain.It wasn't a normal metal coin. It was carved from the same glowing gold light that lived inside my chest, pulsing with a steady rhythm that matched my heartbeat. I looked at the stranger sitting across from me. He wore a heavy black coat with the collar turned up high, and his face was hidden in the shadow of a wide hood."You missed a step, Kiran," the stranger said. His voice was deep, smooth, and horribly familiar. It sounded like the audio recordings playing inside the control room, the ones that belonged to the man who wrote every line of New Seoul."The Author," I said, my hands freezing over the espresso machine.The stranger pulled back his hood. Underneath was a face that looked just like mine, except his eyes were completely silver and his skin had the smooth, pale look of a digital screen."Not an author," he corrected gently, sliding the gold coin across the counter towar

The wall of gold light blocked every exit, burning so bright it made my skin feel hot.I stood right in front of the barrier, my hands raised and glowing with my own power, pushing back against the heat. Across the golden fire, Leo stood tall on the metal walkway. His eyes, which used to be blank white glass, now blazed with the same fierce gold light that lived inside my own chest. He wasn't a victim anymore. He looked like a god ruling over a cage."Leo, stop this!" Lyra shouted, taking a hard step forward. She didn't drop her heavy gun this time; she raised the barrel and pointed it straight at her own brother's chest. "I spent five years looking for you! I tore through every line of code in New Seoul to bring you back! You are not going to stand there and play god with their system!"Leo didn't flinch. A cold, distant smile touched his lips, a look so different from the brother Lyra remembered that it made my stomach turn."You didn't find me, Lyra," Leo said, his voice echoing wi