Chapter 5:The failsafe
📖 Omega Reawakens
Nova had never met Aria Rothschild.
Not in person,not in passing,not in memory.
But sometimes, when the world got too quiet, she heard the woman's name in her dreams — whispered like a secret the universe forgot to erase.
Omega-03... Aria... Heart online...
She wasn't supposed to survive…
---
She lived in a rundown apartment above a bookstore in the outskirts of the old city, where the power flickered every night and the internet moved like it was afraid to be seen.
Nova didn't mind the silence.
But lately, it felt like something in that silence was watching her.
---
Three nights ago, her reflection changed.
Only for a second.
But it was enough.
Her eyes had flashed gold and blue. Her breath had frosted the mirror. And behind her own shoulders, she saw a second shadow — a woman with wind-tossed hair and a scar above her brow.
When she blinked, the image was gone.
But she remembered it.
---
Tonight, the screen of her ancient laptop lit up on its own again.
3:03 AM.
Just like it had every night this week.
This time, the screen didn't show code.
It showed a single word:
HEARTBEAT DETECTED
Then a second line:
Failsafe Echo: NOVA_Ω
Nova froze.
Her mouth went dry.
What...?
Then the voice came — soft, unfiltered, painfully human.
You're the part of me that couldn't die.
Nova backed away from the screen.
No,no,I don't know you.
You don't need to, the voice replied.
You're not my clone,you're not my copy. You're what the system created… when it couldn't let go.
The screen flickered.
A woman's face appeared.
Not a video,a projection.
She had deep eyes, messy dark hair, and something powerful in her expression — a knowing. A burden.
I'm Aria Rothschild or what's left of her.
And they're trying to wake us up.
---
🌌 Flashback Glitch – Nova's Mind
Suddenly, Nova's body jerked.
A memory — not hers — slammed into her.
A sterile white room. Wires in her arms. Liam's face. The final countdown.
Omega and Genesis cannot coexis
Then neither of us will.
She felt her bones shake with the explosion that had supposedly ended it all.
Except… it hadn't.
---
🧬 Present – Nova
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
Her fingers sparked faintly as she reached for the desk.
The metal beneath her skin pulsed.
You were never supposed to wake up, Aria whispered.
But I'm glad you did
They'll be looking for us now.
The lights in her room burst, one by one.
And in the flickering dark, Nova saw it clearly for the first time:
There was something alive inside her.
---
Elsewhere
Far away, in a hidden Helix server room long thought deactivated…
A screen lit up on its own.
> REACTIVATION: 42%
Failsafe Host: NOVA
Primary Host: ARIA
SYSTEM STABILITY: UNKNOWN
A voice from the shadows whispered:
She wasn't deleted.
She evolved.