To Ashes And Blood

A Girl Who Shouldn't Exist

Damien didn't give heed to the pain.

Even moving slightly sent pain shooting through his shoulder where the Sabio's claws had pierced him, but he didn't care. He just kept packing the little he had into his bag.

Cole watched him from the chair.

"You really are leaving."

"Yes."

"You almost died out there, little pig."

"Well, it's a good thing I'll be inside the perimeter."

"Shannon ordered you to get some rest."

"Your girlfriend?...."

Cole sighed and reached into another bag of chips.

"I liked you better when you were unconscious."

Damien didn't answer because every second he wasted, something drastic could happen to Oma.

In the original timeline, Oma Edwards wouldn't appear this early. Here, her name was coming up before she even became the Phantom Blade.

Her file had appeared today, which meant something had already gone wrong.

Or someone had changed something.

…………………………………………

At night, the academy archives were almost empty.

White lights reflected across the seemingly endless rows of glass terminals.

Military personnel never visited the lower database levels unless they needed classified information.

Damien moved quietly, covering his head with a hooded shirt.

His memories guided him through corridors where security would be lighter.

He rolled left, drifted into a security camera's blind spot, and slipped through the maintenance door.

As he entered, the old terminal beeped to life.

IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.

Damien pulled a thin metallic chip from inside his sleeve.

Months ago.....

No.

His memories blurred.

Before the raid.

While Cole had been asleep during transport.

Damien had quietly pressed a recorder against the Cinder's military access card.

Just in case.

Cole had laughed the entire trip without realizing his access card had been copied.

"Sorry, Cinder."

He inserted the cloned chip.

ACCESS GRANTED.

WELCOME COLE VALDES...

LEVEL FOUR AUTHORIZATION.

His heartbeat accelerated.

He hadn't believed it would actually work.

SEARCH: OMA EDWARDS.

Processing...

FILE FOUND.

Damien leaned forward.

STATUS: TRANSFERRED.

He blinked twice.

"Transferred?.....No. No. No. That can't be right."

He searched again several times and got the same result.

Hesitantly, he opened the file.

Subject: Oma Edwards.

Age: Eighteen.

Echo Classification: Resonance Type.

Threat Assessment: Restricted.

Containment Status: TRANSFERRED.

Transfer Date: Six Months Ago.

Damien slowly stood.

"No..."

In the original timeline, she was still imprisoned.

She wasn't supposed to disappear for another couple of years.

She wasn't even supposed to be free until the Eastern Sector had fallen.

His fingers tightened against the terminal.

He whispered under his breath,

"The timeline wasn't accelerating... it's almost as if it's rewriting itself."

He immediately hid behind the terminal as the doors suddenly hissed open.

The laughter of two men filled the room as the lights came on.

"She's just being paranoid. No Ashen ever comes down here anyway."

The other voice scoffed.

"Yeah, I know, but let's just do this run before she decides to increase the length of our shifts again."

With a sigh, the first man said,

"I think age is catching up with her. Being locked in this dump can do that to you. I wonder what life is like on the mother ship. I'd do anything to get reassigned there."

The room became quiet as one of them lit a cigarette.

"Well, I under....."

He suddenly paused and walked toward the terminal.

Damien's heartbeat quickened with every step the man took.

The man stopped in front of the terminal.

"I think this old thing is broken. When was it last used anyway?"

"I don't know, man. Just switch it off and let's get outta here."

Puffing out a cloud of smoke, he switched off the terminal and walked toward the door.

"What're you doing after this? I have myself a broad waiting for me at Corridor Seven. Want me to save you one too?"

"Nahh. I'll just head back to our quarters."

"Suit yourself, man."

Damien hissed a sigh of relief as the door slid shut.

He turned the terminal back on and opened the movement logs.

Different entries popped up.

Unauthorized Echo disturbance.

Warehouse collapse.

Illegal resonance discharge.

Black-market weapon theft.

Civilian reports dismissed.

Audio interference.

Missing patrol.

The incidents looked completely random until Damien identified a pattern.

Every single one shared one thing.

Unknown female.

Blonde hair.

Blue mask.

Damien's breathing became shallow.

Six months.

She had been moving freely for six entire months.

That was long before he ever came back.

As he was about to close the file, something else caught his attention.

Administrative Files.

He tried to open it.

ACCESS DENIED.

He frowned.

"What?......Override."

DENIED.

"Military Override. Cinder Cole Valdes."

DENIED.

LEVEL FOUR CLEARANCE INSUFFICIENT.

At the bottom of the screen sat a small icon.

A symbol of three broken circles surrounding a single vertical line.

The same symbol carved beside the corpse at the crater.

Damien, knowing nothing about it, moved down and selected Authorization History.

Waiting through the loading screen felt like an eternity.

After a while, a pop-up appeared.

Authorization Approved By:

DIRECTOR SHANNON.

For several seconds, Damien didn't move.

The room suddenly felt smaller and colder.

Pulling himself together, he whispered,

"Why would Shannon seal every record related to Oma?"

He stared at the screen for a while before opening the last tab.

OPERATION BLACKWATER.

CLASSIFICATION:

CINDER RESTRICTION.

LEVEL SIX REQUIRED.

"An operation carried out by the six Cinders. Why?"

Damien slowly reached into his pocket.

He had one more cloned card that he never thought he'd have to use.

When he was first assigned to Cole, Damien cloned his emergency command authentication card.

It was a one-time military bypass that gave every Cinder access to emergency protocols on the mother ship.

Down here in Crimson City, however, it could only be used to replace an access card.

Cole would probably punch him through a building if he found out, but Damien was well aware of the risk.

He inserted the chip.

Processing...

...

ACCESS GRANTED.

Damien stared at the contents of the screen.

"No way..."

Folders unfolded one after another.

Research Logs.

Experiment Records.

Personnel.

Surveillance.

Recovered Subjects.

His cursor hovered before he selected:

Recovered Subjects.

Two profiles appeared.

The first profile showed a blonde-haired girl standing among ordinary civilians.

She was holding a paper bag.

Timestamp:

THREE MONTHS AGO.

Damien's face suddenly went pale.

"Three months ago...."

Three months before he returned to the past.

"Meaning.... Oma had already escaped before I ever came back."

His breath became ragged.

"That also means..... someone else has tampered with the timeline."

His knees weakened, and everything around him became silent except for the ringing in his ears as his mind struggled to process everything.

Behind him...

A thick voice echoed through the dark archive, snatching him back to reality.

"I was wondering why I got a notification that I opened Blackwater...."

Damien froze.

A familiar packet of chips crunched once.

"......Little pig."