The words hung in the dim room like smoke.
"I am everything you erased."
The shadow's voice rolled through the air—
not loud,
but heavy.
I felt it inside my bones,
inside my teeth,
inside that hollow place where the shard had dissolved.
Lira stepped in front of me.
"Don't listen to him."
But it was too late.
Some truths don't wait to be invited.
I whispered:
"…Ari died because of me."
Lira turned sharply.
"Elias—that's not confirmed—"
The shadow laughed softly.
"Not confirmed…
but not denied."
My stomach twisted.
"Just tell me," I said.
"Stop circling it.
Stop hinting.
Say it."
The shadow leaned closer, its edges flickering.
"Ari found the Theta logs.
She saw the simulations.
She saw what Mnemosyne was doing to the children."
My heart pounded.
"And she told me," I whispered.
"She came to me in the middle of the night—
crying—
begging—
terrified."
The memory unfurled painfully.
Ari shaking.
Her hands cold.
Her voice trembling.
"Elias, please… I need you to delete something."
Not a sweet request.
Not a nostalgic gesture.
A desperate plea.
The shadow continued:
"She knew too much.
She trusted you.
And you were the one person with the access she needed."
Lira gripped the handle of the neural disruptor so tightly her knuckles whitened.
"What exactly did she see?"
The shadow paused.
Then, calmly:
"She saw what Marin truly was."
A chill raced down my spine.
"What… is she?"
The shadow answered without hesitation:
"A prototype."
Silence slammed into the room.
Lira's face drained of color.
"No," she whispered.
"No, no, no—Mnemosyne discontinued human-Echo prototypes decades ago—"
The shadow corrected her:
"Publicly."
Marin.
Not a girl.
Not an accident.
Not a miracle child.
A prototype.
My breath caught painfully.
"What kind?" I asked, though I already feared the answer.
The shadow smiled without lips.
"The kind that shouldn't die."
My knees buckled.
Lira grabbed my arm.
"Elias—don't—"
But I pulled away.
"She wasn't supposed to die…
so they didn't unplug her."
My chest tightened until I could barely inhale.
"They moved her to Theta.
They grew simulations around her—building possible futures.
Versions of her.
Testing emotional stability."
Lira closed her eyes in pained realization.
"That's why her Echo imprinted so strongly on you.
You were the template.
The emotional anchor."
The shadow nodded.
"He was the constant."
I shook my head.
"No.
No—this doesn't make sense.
Why would I be an anchor?
I barely knew her.
I only saw her—"
My voice stopped.
I saw a memory—
brief, painful, unexpected—
A girl crying in a hospital bed.
Her small hand gripping mine.
I staggered.
"That wasn't…
that wasn't a dream…"
The shadow whispered:
"You weren't just her anchor.
You were her caretaker."
My breath caught.
Caretaker?
The ground felt like it was tilting.
"I was just an Archivist—why would I—"
Lira grabbed my face with both hands.
"Elias. Look at me.
Theta used Archivists sometimes—
the ones with high emotional stability—
to stabilize child-subjects during neural transitions."
I stared at her.
"You're saying I was assigned to Marin?"
"Temporarily.
Probably without your full knowledge."
The shadow interjected:
"But Ari knew."
My knees nearly gave out again.
"Ari… knew."
The memory sharpened further—
Ari standing in my small apartment,
her voice shaking with fear.
"Elias, they're hurting her—
please—
if they find out I saw this—
they'll—"
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I couldn't breathe.
The shadow's last words hit like a blade:
"She begged you to delete the evidence.
You obeyed.
But Mnemosyne found out anyway."
Lira whispered, horrified:
"Elias…
they killed her to close the leak."
I opened my eyes slowly.
Tears blurred my vision.
"I erased the memory she died for."
The shadow stepped closer, towering over us.
"And that is why I exist."
I could barely speak.
"You're… the memory… of her death?"
"No," the shadow breathed.
"I am the truth you buried."
Lira pulled me behind her.
"Stay away from him!"
The shadow ignored her.
He leaned close enough that the air chilled.
"Ari didn't die from a data collapse."
My pulse stopped.
The shadow whispered:
"They killed her.
And they made you forget."
Lira gasped.
"Oh my god—"
I felt like my body wasn't mine anymore.
I whispered:
"You're not Marin's trauma…
you're mine."
The shadow finally smiled.
"Exactly."
My legs buckled.
The world tilted.
Lira caught me just before I fell.
"Elias—don't fade—stay with me—"
The shadow whispered one last time:
"The truth is not your enemy, Elias.
The truth is the only thing that can save her."
I forced my eyes open.
"Save… who?"
The shadow lifted a finger—
pointing toward the darkness behind him.
Where a faint outline—
small, trembling—
stood silently.
Marin.
Little Marin.
Watching me.
Waiting.
The shadow whispered:
"She's still alive.