“Mom, whatever is inside you, fight it!”Awesome reached for Lyra, but a violent surge of black energy erupted from her body and hurled him across the chamber. His back slammed against the console, forcing the air from his lungs as golden cracks spread across the floor beneath him.Lyra remained motionless amid the destruction, her silver hair floating around her face while her black eyes watched him with cold amusement. The smile stretching across her lips belonged to someone Awesome had never known.“You always were a disappointing child,” she said.Her words wounded him more deeply than the impact against the console. Awesome struggled to his feet, refusing to accept that the woman standing before him was the same mother whose memories had haunted him.“You told me you wanted to save me,” he said.“I told you what you needed to hear.”Behind her, his father's enormous shadow leaned over the two identical boys. The original boy knelt beneath the golden light connecting their bodies,

“Whatever you do, Awesome, do not open that door!”Professor Elara Veyne's warning came a heartbeat too late. Awesome had already taken three steps toward the sealed entrance, his attention fixed on the familiar voice pleading from the other side. It belonged to the man whose face haunted the academy's restricted memories, the man whose authority had been divided during a forbidden experiment, and the father Awesome had never been given the chance to know.“Please,” the man begged again. “I cannot hold it back much longer.”A violent impact shook the chamber, forcing Awesome to grab the nearest console to keep himself upright. The reinforced metal door buckled inward, and golden light seeped through its narrow seams, illuminating the black symbols spreading across its surface. Each symbol resembled the mark on Awesome's palm, except these ancient inscriptions twisted and writhed as though something trapped beneath the metal were desperately trying to escape.Before Awesome could move

“Stop him!” Elara screamed as Awesome’s body slammed against the stone floor.A violent surge of black energy erupted from his palm, tearing through the chamber and throwing everyone backward. His father struck the wall with a strangled cry, while the original boy grabbed the edge of the shattered containment platform to keep himself from being swept into the open shaft beneath it. Elara reacted immediately, raising a protective barrier around them, but the force struck its blue surface with such violence that deep cracks spread across it.Awesome could hear everything happening around him, yet he could not move a single muscle.Something had taken control of his body.His fingers scraped against the floor as his right arm rose without his permission. The black mark on his palm widened, exposing thin golden lines beneath his skin that twisted toward his wrist like living threads. His left hand remained pressed against the stone, trembling as he fought to resist the invisible force con

“Awesome Voss, come down and meet the person you were created to replace.”The voice had barely finished speaking when the final containment anchor shattered beneath the academy.Awesome felt the connection inside his chest tighten violently, as though invisible hooks had sunk into his ribs and were dragging him toward the widening crack in the floor. His boots scraped across the broken tiles while he struggled to resist the pull, and Elara seized his wrist with both hands, desperately trying to keep him from being dragged into the darkness.“Awesome, fight it!” she shouted, her fingers trembling as the force pulled them closer to the fissure. “Whatever that thing is showing you, you cannot trust it!”Black light surged from beneath the floor, swallowing the remaining fragments of the containment symbols. Elara's grip began to slip, and Awesome reached desperately for her other hand, but his body had already crossed the edge of the widening abyss.His father lunged forward and caught

“Awesome, don't let your father open that door!”Lyra Voss's warning rang through the narrow gap just as Awesome's father reached for the silver handle. He stopped so abruptly that Awesome nearly collided with him, while Lyra's fingers tightened around the edge of the door until her knuckles turned white.Another violent tremor shook the passage, sending dust and fragments of ancient stone cascading from the ceiling. The silver door shuddered in its frame, and something on the other side struck it with enough force to make the handle rattle.“Lyra?” Awesome's father whispered, staring at the trembling fingers visible through the gap.“Move away from the door!” she shouted. “He has already found the archive!”A deafening impact struck from within the chamber. The silver door buckled outward, and black symbols crawled across its surface, swallowing the ancient Voss crest one line at a time.Awesome seized the handle before his father could stop him.“Mother, what is happening in there?”