Pain had never been like this.
It wasn't sharp. It wasn't sudden. It was vast endless, consuming, flooding her from the inside out like a storm tearing through locked doors. Zariah's scream tore out of her chest as white light engulfed her vision, drowning the tunnel, the voices, the world.
She fell.
Or maybe the world fell away from her.
Her body convulsed as memories slammed into her mind not gently, not like recollections, but like truths ripped free from cages that had been welded shut.
A room.
Bright. Sterile. Cold.
Her father stood in front of her, younger than she remembered, his face pale, eyes frantic. Blood streaked his sleeve. Alarms screamed in the background.
"Zariah, listen to me," he said urgently, gripping her small shoulders. "You can't remember this. Not yet. Not until it's safe."
"I'm scared," her younger voice whimpered.
"I know," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. "But you're strong. Stronger than all of them."
She saw symbols flash across glass walls complex, shifting, alive. She felt something enter her, not physically, but deeper woven into her thoughts, her instincts, her very sense of self.
A code.
A key.
A weapon.
"Promise me," her father said, tears streaking down his face. "No matter what they take from you… survive."
The memory shattered...
Zariah gasped violently, sucking in air as if she'd been drowning. Her body slammed back into reality, into the cold concrete of the tunnel floor, her lungs burning.
Hands were on her instantly.
"Zariah! Zariah, look at me."
Adrian.
His voice cut through the chaos, grounding and desperate. She blinked rapidly, vision swimming, until his face came into focus above her. His composure always ironclad was cracked wide open.
Fear was etched into every line of his face.
"She's waking up," Kellan said calmly nearby. "Good."
Adrian shot him a murderous look. "If you ever touch her like that again"
"You'll kill me?" Kellan interrupted lightly. "Later, perhaps. But right now, she's more important."
Zariah tried to sit up and cried out as a wave of dizziness hit her. Adrian steadied her immediately, pulling her carefully against his chest. His arms were solid, real, anchoring her to the present.
But she wasn't the same.
She knew that instinctively.
Her thoughts felt… layered. Deeper. Sharper. Patterns emerged where chaos used to live. She could feel systems around her electrical currents, encrypted signals, the rhythm of interference pulsing faintly through the tunnel walls.
"What did you do to me?" she whispered hoarsely.
Kellan crouched in front of her, studying her with an intensity that made her skin crawl. "I didn't do anything," he said. "I simply removed the lock."
Zariah's gaze snapped to him. "You used me."
"Yes," he said without flinching. "And so did your father."
Adrian's arms tightened around her. "Don't listen to him."
"I need to," she replied quietly.
Her voice didn't shake.
That frightened her.
Kellan smiled faintly. "You feel it now, don't you? The connections. The architecture."
Zariah swallowed hard. "I can see them."
Adrian stiffened. "See what?"
"The system," she said slowly. "Your system. The interference grid. The backdoors they're using."
Kellan's eyes gleamed. "Extraordinary."
Adrian stared at her like the ground had shifted beneath his feet. "Zariah…"
"I can shut it down," she said. "Not permanently. But long enough for us to move."
Kellan tilted his head. "You were always fast."
Adrian's jaw clenched. "You are not using her again."
Zariah turned to Adrian, her expression steady but something new lived beneath it now. "I'm choosing this."
He searched her face, fighting something raw and violent inside himself. "You shouldn't have to."
"I know," she whispered. "But this is my past. And it's hunting me."
Slowly, she pushed herself upright. Her legs trembled, but she stood. The world felt different like she'd stepped into a sharper version of reality.
She closed her eyes.
Focused.
The interference hummed louder in her awareness. Threads of signal wrapped around each other, chaotic but flawed. She reached not physically, but mentally following instinct she didn't know she possessed.
Then...
The hum faltered.
Lights flickered down the tunnel.
The figures flanking Kellan cursed as their equipment sparked.
Adrian's breath caught. "Zariah"
She opened her eyes.
"Now," she said.
Adrian didn't hesitate. He moved instantly, dragging her back as he fired. The tunnel erupted into motion shouts, gunfire, footsteps echoing violently as chaos broke loose.
Kellan retreated swiftly, shouting orders. But before he disappeared into the shadows, his eyes locked onto Zariah's.
"This isn't over," he called. "You belong to the future now."
The tunnel shook as an explosion rocked the far end. Adrian pulled Zariah with him, sprinting toward an emergency exit that groaned open under his force.
They burst into night air cold, sharp, real.
Zariah collapsed against him, gasping. Adrian wrapped his arms around her, holding her like he was afraid she'd disappear.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then she whispered, "You knew something was inside me."
"Yes," he admitted quietly. "But not like this. And I would have burned the world before letting them wake it."
She pulled back slightly, meeting his gaze. "You can't protect me from myself."
His eyes darkened. "That's what terrifies me."
Sirens wailed in the distance. The city pulsed with unaware life, indifferent to what had just been unleashed.
Zariah looked at her hands. They were still shaking but not from fear.
From power.
"What happens now?" she asked.
Adrian exhaled slowly. "Now we disappear. Completely."
"And Kellan?"
"He won't stop," Adrian said. "Not now."
Zariah lifted her head, resolve hardening in her chest. "Then neither will I."
Adrian studied her for a long moment.
Then, quietly: "You're no longer just surviving."
She nodded.
"I know."
Above them, unseen, a signal reconnected.
And somewhere deep within a hidden network
Zariah Amara was marked as active.