Chapter 3:Do you remember the fire
📖 Omega Reawakens
Aria didn't remember falling asleep.
But she woke up on the library floor, her heart thundering in her chest like it had just run a marathon. Her fingers were trembling. A cold sweat coated her neck. The poetry book she had been reading was gone — replaced by a single sheet of thick, matte paper.
One sentence printed in the center:
This is not your first life.
She stared at it, unblinking.
A sound buzzed faintly at the edge of her hearing, like static or whispering code. Then her vision blurred — just for a moment — and the world snapped into sharper focus than before. Too sharp.
The light was too white.
The clock ticked too loud.
And her own name felt… foreign in her mouth.
Elara, she whispered aloud testing it.
Nothing.
Then, soft and involuntary:
Aria.
The moment the name left her lips, her phone vibrated violently in her coat pocket — screen black, no call, no message, but it wouldn't stop.
When she finally looked at the screen, it had only one symbol.
A silver circle.
Surrounded by red petals.
And a number at the bottom: 03.
---
🔄 Flashback
The memory came without warning.
She was strapped to a table, wires in her arms, a cold voice speaking above her.
Omega Subject 03. Personality reset failed. Memory loop incomplete."
We can't control this one—she remembers too much.
Then heat. Pain. The sting of something sharp being pushed into her neck.
Her body jerked in the library.
She gasped. Heart racing. Hands clenching.
A child nearby cried out and dropped their toy.
The librarian stared at her from the corner of the room. Concerned. Maybe scared.
I'm… I'm fine,Aria whispered, backing away. Just dizzy.
But the moment she turned, she saw it again.
That same man from the car the night before. Across the street now. Watching.
---
🕶️ Meanwhile – Unknown Facility
We're losing her, a technician said.
She's waking up too fast. The others took longer. The code is unstable.
A woman in heels walked into the room, her voice calm but deadly.
Unstable is fine,she said as long as it remembers who created it.
The technician hesitated but Omega-03 isn't like the others. She was… emotional.
The woman smiled faintly exactly.
---
🧠 Back to Aria
At home, Aria stripped off her gloves and stared at her palms.
A thin red light pulsed beneath the skin. Veins glowing like circuitry.
I'm not real, she whispered.
The words felt old. Like something she'd said before. In another place. Another version of herself.
She grabbed a kitchen knife.
Pressed it to her skin. Just to see.
The blade met resistance — not bone. Not blood.
Metal.
Only for a moment.
She dropped the knife and stumbled backward, breathing hard.
A faint voice whispered behind her.
You were built to survive.
She spun around. No one.
The mirror behind her showed only her reflection. And something flickering in her eyes — gold and blue light… blinking.
---
He played the flash drive. Only once.
What he saw made his chest tighten.
Videos. Dozens of them.
Each showing Aria in different stages of the Omega trials. Some where she cried. Some where she screamed. One where she looked at the camera… and smiled like she knew he'd be watching one day.
If you're seeing this, Liam…
then I'm gone or I've become what they wanted.
Find me or stop me.
---
Aria at Midnight
The streetlight outside her window flickered.
Then burst.
She didn't flinch.
In her lap, the page from the library burned itself clean without fire — the text disappearing until nothing remained.
And then her phone buzzed one more time.
> HELIX INITIATED.
Omega 03 – Awakening: 19%
Aria closed her eyes.
And remembered the fire.