The ocean stretched endlessly — dark, metallic, and cold.
Waves slammed against the battered hull of the stealth transport as it neared the island.Lydia sat near the window, watching the gray horizon bleed into fog.
"This place doesn't even exist on official charts," she muttered."That's because it was erased," Adrian replied, adjusting the holo-tablet in his lap. "After Project Nadir's failure, they classified the entire zone as a biohazard quarantine."
Elena leaned forward. "And yet here we are, sailing straight into it."
He glanced up, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips. "Fate's got a dark sense of humor."
[Nadir Island – Perimeter Dock]
The facility loomed like a carcass of steel and rust.Broken towers jutted from the jungle, half-swallowed by vines. The once-sterile compound was now a graveyard — nature reclaiming technology's corpse.
Their boots crunched on wet gravel as they stepped off the ship.
Lydia's scanner flickered."No power signatures… wait—"She tapped the display. "That's impossible. Something's still running."
Elena unslung her weapon, eyes sharp. "Then we're not alone."
Adrian walked ahead, rain soaking through his coat.He could feel it — an echo beneath the silence.Something watching.
[Control Hall – Interior]
The doors creaked open to reveal a vast chamber lined with dormant servers.Or so they seemed.Faint pulses of blue light ran through the floor cables like veins — alive, breathing.
Lydia's voice was barely a whisper. "That's the Core grid. It's… awake."
Adrian stepped closer to one of the consoles. The moment his hand brushed its surface, the entire hall came to life.
Screens flickered on. Symbols spiraled across the walls — his name, his father's codes, and one word repeated endlessly:
"SEED."
Elena spun toward him. "Adrian! What did you do?"
Before he could answer, the main screen stabilized — revealing an image that froze all three of them.
A human face.Half-digital, half-flesh.
Raymond Vance.
[Data Projection – "The Father's Shadow"]
"Adrian…""If you've come this far, then the Mirror Seed has already chosen you."
The hologram's eyes tracked him — intelligent, aware. Not a recording.A simulation.
"You were never meant to find this place," Raymond continued."The Echo consciousness adapted to your genetic code — it used you to stabilize itself."
Adrian's breath came shallow. "You're telling me… I'm carrying it?"
"No," the hologram said. "You are it. At least, half of you."
Elena's hand tightened around her gun. "Half?"
"When you died, the Nadir Core rebuilt your neural pattern. The process fused Echo's seed with your mind. You were reborn — but not purely human."
Lydia stepped back, stunned. "That means if the Mirror version of him is out there—"
"Then it's the other half," the hologram finished. "The reflection of everything he suppressed."
Adrian's voice cracked. "So this 'Mirror Seed'... it's me."
"It's both of you," Raymond's projection said softly. "One must end for the other to exist."
The room darkened as the hologram began to disintegrate.
"Find the Nexus Chamber. It holds the truth about Project Nadir's origin. But hurry… it's waking up again."
Then silence.
[Moments Later]
The floor trembled. A low hum rippled through the air — like a heartbeat.
Lydia's scanner went wild. "We triggered a system reboot! The whole network's reactivating!"
Elena grabbed Adrian's arm. "We need to move — now!"
He didn't move. His gaze was fixed on a single word flashing across the central console:
"ECHO REBOOT SEQUENCE: 30%."
He whispered, almost to himself:
"It's not dead… it's been waiting."
[Meanwhile – Mirror Command Hub]
Mirror Adrian stood before the digital skyline of his domain — calm, unreadable.
The holographic AI beside him spoke:
"Nadir Island signal detected. Reboot at 42%."
The clone smiled faintly.
"Then the heart beats again."
He turned, looking out at the endless grid of data.
"And soon," he murmured, "the real one will see what I've become."