The storm swallowed them the moment they stepped out of the bunker.
Snow hurled sideways in vicious sheets, clinging to Amira's eyelashes until the world blurred into white streaks. The mountain path was narrow, iced over, and cracked in places where previous avalanches had scarred the terrain.
Leonardo walked ahead, one hand gripping his rifle, the other occasionally reaching back to steady her when the wind tried to tear her footing.
"Stay behind me," he shouted over the storm.
"I'm fine," she yelled back though her legs trembled more from the pressure throbbing inside her skull than from the freezing cold.
Every few minutes, something pulsed beneath her skin, like a quiet drumbeat syncing itself to something distant. Each pulse made her flinch.
Phoenix's heartbeat.
Her own was starting to echo it.
Leonardo noticed. He slowed his steps and touched her shoulder gently.
"Talk to me. What's happening?"
Amira swallowed hard. "It feels like… echoes. Like someone's knocking from the inside."
His jaw tightened. "Then we find Adrian before those knocks turn into a door."
They continued.
The Ridge
By the time they reached the ridge, night had begun folding over the storm clouds. The wind died a little, replaced by a heavy silence that felt wrong like the mountain was holding its breath.
Leonardo raised his fist.
Stop.
Amira crouched behind a boulder beside him, peeking around the edge.
There, barely fifty meters away, stood a metal uplink tower tall, angular, humming faintly with red pulses of light. Thick cables snaked down to a portable power core half-buried in snow.
And beside the tower…
A man.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Wearing a matte-black military coat, hood down. Snow collected in his hair, but he didn't brush it off. He didn't move at all.
He stood perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back, as if waiting.
Amira felt a sudden pressure spike inside her skull.
Leonardo grabbed her wrist. "You okay?"
She nodded barely.
"He's broadcasting again," she whispered.
They weren't close enough to see the man's face clearly. But Leonardo's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
"That's Adrian."
Amira hesitated; there was something almost wrong about the way Adrian stood too straight, too calm, like he wasn't human anymore.
Leonardo motioned for her to stay hidden.
She grabbed his arm. "Leo"
"I'm not letting him see you first," he said. "Wait here."
Before she could argue, he stepped out of cover, rifle steady, boots crunching through the snow.
Adrian didn't look surprised.
He didn't even flinch.
Instead, he spoke without turning.
"Little brother," he said, voice smooth, deep, eerily controlled. "I wondered how long it would take you."
Leonardo froze.
Hearing Adrian's voice again was like swallowing broken glass.
"You're done, Adrian," Leonardo said. "Turn off the uplink and step away."
Adrian finally turned his head. Snow clung to his lashes, and his eyes cold, grey seemed to absorb the storm.
"You brought her with you," he said calmly.
Leonardo's grip tightened. "You don't get to talk about her."
Adrian tilted his head slightly. "But she is the reason you're here. She always was."
Amira felt her heart drop.
He knew she was hiding.
And he wasn't guessing.
He could feel her.
Phoenix pulsed inside her chest too warm for the freezing air.
Leonardo took a step forward. "Shut it down, Adrian."
Adrian's lips curled into something that was not quite a smile.
Not warm. Not human.
"You can't stop Phoenix," he said softly. "It's already part of her."
Leonardo's voice cracked with rage. "You used Selene as a weapon. You used Amira as a host. You turned everything we believed in everything we lived for into something monstrous!"
Adrian finally turned fully to face him.
"I evolved," he said simply.
Leonardo lifted his rifle. "Don't make me do this."
Adrian stepped closer, unbothered by the weapon aimed between his eyes.
"You won't shoot me, brother."
Leonardo's hands trembled.
"You don't know me anymore."
"On the contrary," Adrian said. "I know exactly how far you'll go for the girl hiding behind that rock."
Amira tensed. Leonardo froze.
Adrian's eyes flickered past him—straight to her.
"Come out, Amira."
Her breath faltered.
Leonardo shouted, "Don't you dare"
But she stepped out anyway.
Slowly. Carefully. Because something in Adrian's voice compelled her forward not hypnotic, not controlling, but familiar in a way that terrified her.
Adrian watched her with unsettling calm.
"So," he said softly, "this is the host."
Amira stopped several meters away, refusing to come any closer. Her fingers dug into her gloves.
"Why me?" she demanded. "Why did you choose me for this?"
Adrian didn't blink. "Because you were the only one who survived Selene."
"That's not an answer."
"It is." Adrian nodded toward the uplink. "Selene was a prototype. A test. She was built to find the mind strong enough to hold what she could not."
Anger burned behind Amira's ribs. "I'm not a vessel."
"No," Adrian said. "You are a battleground."
The wind roared between them.
Leonardo stepped protectively in front of her. "What's Phase Two, Adrian? What does Phoenix want?"
Adrian looked at his brother with something like pity.
"She doesn't understand yet."
Then he turned his gaze to Amira. "Phoenix doesn't want you."
His voice dropped to a chilling calm.
"It wants everyone."
Amira's breath caught. "Everyone? What do you mean?"
Adrian gestured to the uplink tower.
"When Phoenix takes root in you, it will broadcast. A thought. A pulse. A command."
Leonardo stiffened. "You're building a hive."
Adrian's expression didn't change.
"Not a hive," he corrected. "A single mind. Unified. Efficient. Perfect."
Amira shook her head violently. "That's not perfection , it's control."
Adrian stepped closer. "Control is the only path to survival. Humanity is fractured. Weak. Violent. Imagine a world where war is impossible because everyone moves with one will."
"That's not peace," Leonardo snapped. "That's enslavement."
"It's order," Adrian said calmly.
"No." Amira's voice quivered with fury. "It's a world without choice."
A sudden, sharp pulse exploded behind her eyes.
Amira gasped and dropped to one knee.
"Amira!" Leonardo reached for her.
Adrian watched, pleased. "Phase One is stabilizing. Good."
Leonardo snarled. "Turn it off!"
Adrian shook his head. "I can't stop evolution."
Amira forced herself up, teeth gritted. "This thing inside me… it's not yours to control."
Adrian's voice softened dangerously. "I never wanted to control you. I wanted to free you from the burden of choice. Phoenix is clarity. Purpose. Harmony."
Amira stared at him at the man who shared Leonardo's blood, but none of his humanity.
"You didn't evolve," she whispered. "You surrendered."
For the first time, Adrian's expression cracked.
A flicker of irritation.
Lightning tore through the sky.
Then
A deafening blast.
The mountain shook. The uplink tower sparked violently. Snow exploded into the air.
A second explosion rocked the ridge, this time from the power core.
Leonardo grabbed Amira, shielding her as heat and ice blasted past them.
Daniel's voice crackled in their comms:
"Leonardo! Amira! The uplink just overloaded! I triggered a remote surge. MOVE!"
Adrian whipped around, fury finally breaking through his composure.
"You think this will stop Phoenix?" he shouted over the roaring wind.
Leonardo raised his rifle again, eyes blazing.
"No. But it will stop you."
Adrian laughed a low, chilling sound swallowed by the storm.
"You can't stop me," he said. "Phase One is already complete."
He pointed at Amira.
"She belongs to Phoenix now."
Amira stumbled back, but Leonardo pulled her behind him.
"You'll never touch her," he growled.
Adrian's smile widened, sharp as a blade.
"I don't need to."
And then
He stepped backward into the storm.
And vanished into the white.