DavinaMaddie

In a world where reality itself can be manipulated, Sierra, a brilliant but reluctant hacker, uncovers a terrifying secret: a mind-control system known as the Protocol, designed to alter the fabric of history and reality. As she dives deeper into the system, she discovers that the Protocol isn't just a tool for controlling minds-it's a weapon capable of erasing entire civilizations and rewriting existence. Now, with time running out and the world teetering on the brink of collapse, Sierra must navigate a dangerous game of deception, survival, and rebellion. Alongside a mysterious ally, she faces an impossible choice: to destroy the Protocol and risk being erased from history, or to control it and become the architect of a new, unstable reality. With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, Sierra must decide if she can truly rewrite the world or if it will rewrite her.Great!

> She was never supposed to exist...

Sierra Vale thought she was just a brilliant hacker—until a rogue program called The Protocol whispers a chilling truth: “You are not Sierra Vale.”

Thrust into a world of secret labs, hidden memories, and a conspiracy that could enslave millions, Sierra must fight not only for survival but to uncover who—or what—she really is.

With enemies closing in and her mind cracking open to terrifying memories, there’s only one mission left:
Take down the Protocol before it takes her.

Your name was just the beginning.

Code name: Starlight

When Sierra connected the device to the neural hub, it was like being ripped out of her body and hurled into a storm made of light and memory. She wasn't standing in the Spire anymore.

Floating in a vast void that pulsed with threads of data, fragments of thought, and echoes of pain. Memories — not just hers — flashed by in blinding bursts. Faces she didn't know. Screams. Codes. Commands. Entire minds assimilated like pages torn from books and rewritten.

And in the center of it all, a presence.

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, mechanical but dripping with familiarity. It didn't sound like a program.

It sounded like her voice — twisted, hollow, stripped of warmth.

Sierra clenched her fists. "I'm not here for permission."

The Protocol surged at her like a tidal wave. Images slammed into her mind—her first mission, the moment they implanted the chip, the time she lost control and almost killed a child. They were trying to break her.

To remind her she was built for obedience.

Pain lanced through her head as she reached deeper into the network, not to destroy it—yet—but to understand it. The Protocol wasn't just code. It was a system of belief. A hive of repurposed minds. All built around a central core.

Her vision suddenly snapped into focus.

A room. Cryogenic chambers. And inside one of them—

Another version of her. Paler. Still. Eyes closed.

"Subject Zero," a voice whispered inside her head.

She stumbled back in shock, nearly severing the connection. They cloned her. Or maybe she was the clone.

Knox's voice broke through like a radio cutting through static. "Sierra, talk to me! What's happening?!"

"I... I found it. The origin. The source code—it's not code. It's a person."

More than that—it was the original host of the Protocol. The one they used to build the entire mind control network. Sierra wasn't the first.

The realization threatened to drown her—but she gritted her teeth and pushed on.

"You want obedience?" she whispered into the storm. "Then try controlling this."

The device on her wrist exploded with light.

The Protocol lashed out with everything it had—screaming data, collapsing constructs, psychic claws. But Sierra held on, anchoring herself to the memory of who she was before they rewired her.

The Protocol began to collapse, section by section, like a dying star pulling in on itself.

And in the distance, that cryo-chamber... began to thaw.

Chapter 19: Mindfire.