Shadow's Return

The liquid pods cracked open in near-perfect synchronization, their contents spilling across the Collection room floor in torrents of glowing fluid. Alarms shrieked from every surface, their piercing wails echoing through the crystalline chambers and corridors beyond. Emergency lights bathed everything in harsh red illumination that made the chaos feel even more surreal.

Saguna rushed to Sahara's pod as the preserving liquid drained away, his heart hammering as he saw her properly for the first time in twelve years. She looked exactly as she had the day she disappeared, a seventeen-year-old girl suspended in time. But something was fundamentally wrong.