The lab held its breath.
Machines hummed. The cables connected to the tank pulsed with light like arteries. Beyond the reinforced glass, the city's skyline shivered—buildings subtly misaligned with their reflections in the water below. The world was waiting for Elara to decide what it would become.
Calen stood beside her, silent but steady. The impostor watched with bated composure, one hand hovering dangerously close to the tank's life systems. Above them, her mother's projection gazed down—unblinking, unreadable, unbearably calm.
The monitor repeated its demand:
CHOOSE.
Elara's fingers hovered over the console.
Inside her mind, voices—hers, the impostor's, the child-self, her mother's—overlapped like badly tuned radio stations.
"One consciousness must remain.""All of us are fragments.""To wake is to choose.""Mirrors don't open. They break."
She pressed a key.
Not Option 1. Not 2. Not 3.
She chose the fourth key—buried, half-disabled, marked only with a faded label:
"OVERRIDE – DUAL ACCESS"(Requires Two Elara Signatures)
The system paused.
Then:
Confirm Identity – Consciousness A: ELARA VOSSConfirm Identity – Consciousness B:______
Elara looked up.
At her impostor.
Their eyes met. For the first time, no hatred. No rivalry. Just understanding:
We are not enemies. We are halves.
The impostor stepped forward. Slowly. She placed her hand beside Elara's on the console.
The screen blinked once.
Identity Confirmed – Consciousness B: MIRROR-ELARAInitializing Shared Anchor ProtocolWarning: Dual existence destabilizes causality. Proceed?
Elara whispered, "Yes."
The impostor whispered, "Always."
They pressed the key together.
Silence.
Then—everything.
The tank lights surged. The projection of their mother flickered. For a heartbeat, three Evelyn Vosses existed at once—sleeping, speaking, and remembering.
The system roared to life:
SYNCHRONIZATION MODE: SPLIT-REALITYTwo Consciousness Anchors AcceptedStability: UNKNOWNReality Drift: CONTAINING……CONTAINING……PARTIALLY CONTAINED.
Light burst from the mirrors—not outward, but inward, folding, like paper memorizing a crease.
Elara's knees buckled. The impostor caught her.
In the glass above, Evelyn Voss smiled—not with pride, but with grief.
"You didn't choose one," she said.
"No," Elara breathed. "I chose both."
Her mother nodded once. "That is not how I wrote the rules."
"Then rewrite them."
And reality listened.
The city shuddered—but did not break. Reflections realigned. Speech stopped lagging. Birds moved again. The world exhaled.
But something was different now.
Two Elaras stood where one should.
Both breathing.
Both real.
The monitors slowed their flashing.
Dual Anchor Protocol EstablishedWorld Adjusting…Warning: Expect Residual Echoes.
Calen finally breathed. "Is it over?"
Elara looked at the impostor. The impostor looked back.
"No," they said together. "It's beginning."