The sky looked sick....Gray.... Heavy.....Smelling like rain and smoke.
I walked until my legs ached, the soles of my shoes soaked with puddle water and ash. Every street felt like a ghost town. Posters with my face were already plastered on the walls.... "WANTED: Adanna Okon.....Cyber Criminal". I tore one down, crumpled it in my hand, and kept walking.
The last thing Darian told me...his handwriting, burned into that wall...played over and over in my head.
Follow the ashes....
But to where?
The city was full of ashes now. Warehouses, old Syndicate fronts, even my father's old labs. I had no map, no ally, and the only man who might've known the answers was somewhere between life and death.
Still, I kept moving....
By dawn, I reached Yaba. The old tech district looked nothing like it used to,half burnt, half rebuilt. And then I saw it.
The Okon Research Center. Or what was left of it.
The roof was gone, walls blackened, glass shattered like frost. I hadn't been here since the night of the explosion, the night they said my father died.
My throat tightened. The smell of burnt metal and old paper filled the air.
I whispered, "Follow the ashes," like a prayer, and stepped inside.
The building groaned under its own weight. Each step kicked up soot and dust. I ran my fingers along the scorched wall, tracing old marks that once spelled GENESIS LAB, My father's secret project.
I walked deeper, past the main lab door,half melted shut and into his private office.
Everything was blackened. The shelves, the desk, the floor. But then something caught my eye.
A small piece of metal buried under debris… clean. Untouched by fire.
I bent down and picked it up.
A flash drive....
My heart jumped....
I brushed off the dust and slipped it into my jacket. I'd need a computer. But not here. This place felt watched.
I turned to leave and froze.
There was a faint sound from behind the half-burnt wall. Like metal shifting… or footsteps.
"Hello?" I whispered.
Silence. Then, a cough. Weak. Human.
I stepped closer, heart pounding. There was a narrow gap in the wall. I pushed at it carefully until the plaster cracked away.
And then I saw her.
A woman, sitting on the floor, bruised, shaking. Chains around her ankles.
My voice trembled. "Oh my God… who are you?"
Her eyes lifted slowly. Brown. Tired.
"You look like him," she croaked. "Like… Chike."
My blood froze....
"You knew my father?"
She nodded weakly. "I was one of his assistants. Before… before they came."
"Who?"
"The Syndicate." Her eyes darted toward the ceiling. "They said he had something they needed. When he refused, they burned it all. But he made a backup, told me to hide here. He said… his daughter would find me."
My chest tightened.
"How long have you been here?"
"Too long," she whispered. "They check this place sometimes, to make sure it's still dead. But you came, just like he said."
I dropped to my knees, trying to unhook the chains. "We have to get you out."
She shook her head fast. "No. They'll be watching. You take the drive. Find the second site. Darian knows where it is."
I froze. "Darian?"
She nodded again. "He came once. Months ago. He said if you ever made it this far, he'd leave you a trail."
I swallowed hard. "Where?"
She looked weak, eyes fluttering. "The ashes… lead to the sea."
"The sea?"
But before I could ask again, her body went limp.
"No, no, no....stay with me!" I shook her shoulder gently, but it was too late. Her chest stopped rising. She was gone.
I sat there for a while, surrounded by silence and smoke. Then I wiped my eyes, took the flash drive, and whispered,
"I'll finish it. I promise."
Outside, the air was thick with police sirens in the distance. I slipped through the back alley and disappeared into the maze of broken streets.
At a roadside café, I found an old computer running on backup power. I plugged in the flash drive and waited. The screen flickered, then came to life.
ACCESS GRANTED – GENESIS PROJECT FILES
I scrolled through the folders...each labeled with numbers and symbols. But one stood out: EDEN_Protocol.
I opened it....
The screen filled with codes, diagrams, and then… a video. My father.
His face was older than I remembered, tired but alive with purpose.
"If you're seeing this, my Ada, it means they finally came for me. Genesis wasn't just about data. It was about protection. A system that could expose corruption anywhere, instantly. But to build it, I needed the Syndicate's resources. I made a deal I couldn't break."
My throat tightened as his voice cracked slightly.
"When they found out I planned to turn it on them, they killed my partner. Burned the lab. But Genesis is still alive. Hidden. And only one person can unlock it...you."
He looked straight into the camera.
"I built your biometric code into the system. Your voice, your heartbeat, your DNA. They'll come for you now. Because if Genesis activates, everything they built will fall."
The video glitched, then ended....
I sat there frozen, tears running down my face.
My father hadn't just created a program. He'd created a weapon, and I was the key to it.
But before I could process it, the café lights flickered.
Someone else was tapping into the network.
On the screen, a message appeared.
"Ada… move now."
The words blinked once. Then another line...
"They're coming."
My heart raced. I looked around. The street outside was empty....too empty.
Then I heard it....
Engines....Black vans...
I pulled the flash drive, stuffed it in my pocket, and ran.
The chase through Yaba felt endless. Tires screeching, shouts echoing, bullets hitting walls. I ducked into an old printing factory, breathless, my hands shaking.
The air smelled of ink and rust...
I hid behind a stack of metal boxes, trying to quiet my breathing. Through the cracks, I saw three men...black suits, masks, guns. Syndicate.
They split up, scanning the shadows.
I waited until one passed close, then swung a broken pipe hard against his knee. He fell with a grunt, and I fired his own gun toward the exit.
"Move!" someone shouted outside.
I didn't wait. I bolted through the back door, jumped over a fence, and landed in a pile of wet trash. Pain shot through my side, but I kept running.
When I finally stopped, it was near the docks again. The sea.
The woman's last words echoed.... "The ashes lead to the sea."
I stared at the dark waves. Somewhere out there, something waited.
And then, I saw it....
A faint light blinking far off the shore. A signal. A boat, half-submerged, old but still running.
I walked toward it slowly, the wind whipping my hair. The closer I got, the stronger the smell of salt and oil became.
When I climbed aboard, I found a small cabin. Dusty. Empty. But on the wall, written in the same sharp handwriting as before...
"Genesis lives here."
I turned and saw a small panel under the table. Inside it, a transmitter, wires, and a drive slot exactly like the one my father used.
My heart pounded....
I slid the flash drive in...
The lights flickered, then the cabin filled with a soft hum. The old monitor lit up. Lines of code scrolled fast, like lightning.
Then....a voice.
Darian's.
"If you've found this, Ada, you're closer than anyone's ever been. Genesis is awake. But it needs one thing....your voice. Say the word your father taught you."
I stared at the screen, trembling.
That word. The one my father made me repeat as a child when he tucked me in.
"Eden."
The system beeped once. Then a countdown began.
ACTIVATION IN 30 SECONDS.
I panicked. "Wait...what does that mean?"
The voice came again, soft.
"It means the world changes now."
The screen flashed white. I shielded my face as a wave of light filled the cabin.
When it faded, the monitor showed something new... global news feeds, government servers, Syndicate accounts, all going offline. One by one.
Genesis was spreading....
The system my father built, the one Darian died to protect, was finally breaking the Syndicate.
And then the last message appeared on screen.
"If you hear this, Ada… don't look back. I'll find you. ....D."
My breath caught....
"He's alive," I whispered.
Tears blurred my vision as I stepped off the boat, the sea breeze cold against my skin.
Behind me, the old vessel sank slowly, smoke curling into the air like the last ghost of the past.
Ahead of me, the city lights flickered, some going dark, some coming alive again.
Maybe everything wasn't fixed. But something had changed.
And as I walked toward the horizon, one truth burned in my chest....
The ashes had led me home....
To be continued....