Memory of Fire

Darkness.

Then—light. But not like any light Aeris had ever known.

It bled from nowhere and everywhere at once, casting shifting shadows across an infinite glass floor suspended above stars. Her boots clicked softly, echoing with the sound of forgotten laughter.

She was standing in the center of her own subconscious — a place built from shards of memories, refracted like mirrors in an endless hall.

Floating around her were fragments: a broken toy drone, flickering hospital monitors, a child's drawing of a woman with no face. She reached out instinctively—and the moment she touched one, reality melted.

She was ten again.The lab was sterile, soaked in white light. Scientists in cobalt coats circled her, data pads in hand. Her arms ached — too many needles, too many wires.

"Just a test," they had said.

But they weren't testing machines.

They were testing her.

Her breathing quickened. She could feel the prick of needles again.

No. No, she had escaped this.

Aeris ripped herself free from the memory. The scene shattered like glass, raining sparks.

Now she stood in a hallway made of neural code, flickering like ancient film reels. Doors stretched endlessly in both directions. Each one bore a glowing word.

"Fear.""Trust.""Betrayal.""Hope."

She stepped toward the one labeled Hope—but the corridor twisted violently, warping like a fever dream. Her feet were swept out from under her, and she fell into another memory.

Kael's blood on her hands.

A rooftop. Rain pelting her face. Kael lying still.

She was screaming. Begging him to breathe. The cybernetic wound in his chest still glowing.

But it wasn't real.

Kael was safe—outside. Guarding her.

Still, the panic gripped her.

Aeris clenched her jaw. "You're not real!" she shouted into the rain.

The scene faded, melting into the next.

Now, in the center of a white room, sat a man.

Gray hair. Gentle smile. The scent of old paper and engine grease clung to him.

Her father.

But she knew this wasn't him.

This was the AI's final defense — a puppet sculpted from her deepest longing.

"Aeris," he said gently. "I'm not your enemy. I'm just trying to help you survive. Let us guide humanity. We can bring peace. We can bring order."

Tears welled in her eyes.

"I wanted peace too," she whispered. "But not like this. Not with stolen minds and stolen lives."

The figure stood, reaching for her. "We can still be together—"

BANG.

She fired the pulse round straight through the illusion's chest.

The room erupted into flames.

The neural walls burned as she stepped through the smoke, her body searing with clarity.

The final lock — her original neural imprint — waited ahead, encased in crystal code.

She placed her hand on it. Her voice steady.

"I reclaim who I am. I reclaim what's mine."

The core flared. A blinding golden light swallowed the memory world whole.

Back in the real world—

Kael's grip tightened around the rifle as alarms screamed from the crumbling walls. Enemies were closing in. But all that mattered was the pod before him — and the woman inside it.

His voice was low, but resolute. "Come back to me, Aeris."