Gateborn Shadows

They moved before dawn.

The forest was silent as the party left the broken station behind, heading north toward the coordinates Varra had extracted from the intercepted signal. The air grew colder, and the trees warped more unnaturally with each step—like something ancient had brushed its will across the landscape.

No birds. No wind.

Just the hum of something unseen.

"Feels wrong," Kai muttered, eyes scanning the dense mist. "Too quiet."

"It's the Gate," Daro said grimly. "It distorts the field. Space bends around it like light around gravity."

Selene walked ahead of them, her mind sharp, heart steady. Every step forward brought back flickers—not just memories, but instincts. Tactical paths. Structural layouts. Security layers. Things she didn't remember learning, but which lived in her hands now.

They reached a ridge just past noon.

Below them stretched a sunken basin—a crumbling dome half-swallowed by the earth. The Gate facility. It was still partially intact, pulsing with soft violet light that spilled through cracks in the structure like breath through a broken chest.

Daro knelt beside her. "They've already begun activation. That light—it's a bleed signal. They're stabilizing a cross-timeline aperture."

Arin frowned. "Then what's the plan? Blow it up?"

"No," Selene said. "We're going inside."

Everyone turned to her.

"That's suicide," Kai said. "We'll be stepping into a place built to rewrite us."

Selene didn't blink. "I need to see it. All of it. What they made me from. What they were trying to erase. I have to look it in the eye before we end it."

Varra's eyes met hers. "Then I'm with you. All the way."

Arin sighed and pulled his rifle into ready position. "I swear, I should've picked a quieter life."

---

The descent was fast and silent. They reached the outer ring of the Gate's structure without triggering any alarms—likely because the system recognized Selene's presence.

Or wanted her closer.

Inside, the architecture shifted again—no longer ruinous, but clean. Sterile. White halls with mirrored panels, humming with faint power. Lights tracked their movement. Doors opened without a sound.

And then—

They were expected.

A figure waited at the far end of the central corridor.

Selene froze.

It was her.

Not Echo-Seven.

Not a twin.

Not a mirror.

But her.

Same face. Same eyes. But dressed in a smooth polymer suit, black threaded with red—a control rig. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back, posture perfect.

"Selene," the other said. "Welcome home."

The real one—our Selene—took a step forward. "Who are you?"

"I am what you were meant to become," the other said softly. "Not the fractured rebel. Not the wanderer. The final design. Integrated. Obedient. Whole."

"You're a shadow," Selene replied. "A reflection built from someone else's fear."

"And you are a mistake," the mirror said coldly. "You were supposed to merge. To fold back in. Instead you broke the thread. Now they've sent me to fix it."

Daro raised his weapon. "You're not fixing anything."

The mirror's eyes flicked to him. "Oh, Daro. Still following failed leaders. Some things never change."

Selene stepped between them. "This ends now."

The mirror tilted her head. "You can't destroy the Gate. Not without destroying yourself."

"Maybe," Selene said. "But at least I get to choose."

She charged forward.

The room erupted.

Blades of light clashed mid-air—Selene's pulse energy crackling against her double's precise, engineered strikes. Each move mirrored her own, down to footwork and breath. Like fighting her own ghost.

Arin and Varra engaged with the security drones spilling from the side walls, weapons humming. Kai overloaded a junction panel, sending a feedback pulse through the Gate's lower grid.

Sparks flew. Systems screamed.

Selene and her mirror crashed into a side panel, grappling. The mirror spoke into her ear as they locked arms:

"You think pain makes you real? You think scars give you meaning?"

"No," Selene growled. "I think choosing to live does."

With a surge of energy, Selene released a blast point-blank—throwing both of them back. Her double hit the console hard, sparks arcing. The control rig blinked red. Failing.

Selene stood over her.

"Don't you get it?" she said. "You were made to control me. But I wasn't made to be controlled."

The mirror's eyes dimmed.

The Gate flickered.

Then—

Shutdown sequence initiated.

---

They ran.

The Gate shuddered, energy collapsing inward. As the structure cracked behind them, reality seemed to fold slightly—colors stuttering, air splitting like silk. But they made it out, leaping the last threshold as the dome caved in on itself with a thunderous blast.

Silence returned.

They stood at the edge of the ridge, staring at the smoking ruins.

No more Gate.

No more rewritten futures.

Selene breathed in.

Alive.

Free.

---

Later, by a small fire that cracked in the darkness, Selene sat with Varra.

"So what now?" Varra asked.

Selene stared into the flames. "We stop running. We find the others who remember. We help them choose."

Varra nodded. "And if they come again?"

Selene smiled softly.

"Then they'll find someone who knows who she is."