By midday, the sky was full of them.
Black retrieval drones circling above the broken skyline like carrion birds — silent, patient, waiting for a target.
Lira swore under her breath.
"They're not looking for civilians. Elias… this is a coordinated hunt."
I staggered slightly as we crossed a cracked overpass.
The air shimmered around me whenever my pulse spiked —
like a heatwave, or a glitch.
Lira placed her hand on my back.
"Slow your breathing."
"I'm trying."
"Try harder."
But it didn't help.
The bleed pulsed through my skull again, sharp and cold —
like needles of ice in my nerves.
I winced.
Lira grabbed my arm, steadying me.
"When did the pain start?"
"A few minutes ago."
She checked her handheld neural reader.
Her face drained of all color.
"Your neural frequency is shifting. Elias… it's not human baseline anymore."
I swallowed hard.
"What is it?"
She hesitated.
"The same oscillation we see in early Swarm hosts."
"No," I whispered.
Her hand tightened protectively around my wrist.
"You're not turning into them. You're not. I won't let it happen."
I didn't answer.
Because the shadows beneath my feet had begun stretching in ways shadows shouldn't — not following the sun, but following me.
We pushed through a half-collapsed alley, where memory distortion clung to the walls like mold.
Voices whispered from old posters.
Dead leaves fluttered upward instead of down.
Colors flickered in and out of existence.
And then the air changed.
Heavy.
Cold.
Electric.
Lira stiffened.
"You feel that?"
I nodded.
Something was watching.
A ripple passed through the alley.
A shape stepped from the wall —
long-limbed, familiar.
The shadow.
But different.
Bigger.
Stronger.
Less human.
And when it spoke—
it used my mother's voice.
"Elias… they're coming for you."
Lira instantly raised her disruptor.
"Stay back!"
The shadow didn't flinch.
Its head tilted.
"Why protect him?" it asked in Marin's soft, trembling voice.
Lira braced herself.
"Because he isn't yours."
The shadow—
God, it smiled—
a long, slow, unnatural curl of a mouth that wasn't there a moment ago.
"He was mine first."
My stomach knotted.
The alley dissolved into flickering static.
The shadow advanced.
But before it reached me—
a blur of movement struck it from the side.
A girl.
Small.
Barefoot.
Dark hair whipping behind her.
My sister.
She collided with the shadow like a memory breaking free from its cage.
The impact exploded into a cloud of images—
hospital beds
birthday candles
a broken toy
my mother crying
a spilled glass of milk
a pair of children holding hands—
Then silence.
The shadow reeled.
My sister landed lightly on the concrete, flickering at the edges like a plugged-in hologram fighting a storm.
She looked at me.
Her eyes glowed faintly.
"Run."
My throat closed.
"You—how—"
But she wasn't looking at me anymore.
She was staring past me.
Above me.
Lira followed her gaze—
and froze.
Two black Mnemosyne carriers descended through the clouds, their engines whining like giant insects.
Large mechanized retrieval units dropped from the underside —
heavy, armored, walking on four jointed legs.
A synthetic voice boomed:
"ARCHIVIST ELIAS RHANE.
SURRENDER FOR EXTRACTION."
Lira swore.
"Of course—they brought the Omega units—"
The carriers opened fire.
Energy rounds tore through the alley, hitting walls, pavement, cars.
Everything exploded in dust and sparks.
Lira slammed into me, shielding me with her body as debris rained.
My sister ran toward the far end of the alley—
But the ground rippled beneath her feet.
Her form distorted, stretched—
Like the world was rejecting her existence.
She collapsed, screaming silently.
The shadow recovered—
and wrapped its elongated hand around her neck.
"You don't belong here."
She gasped, eyes wide in terror.
Lira's voice cracked:
"Elias—DO SOMETHING!"
But my body wouldn't move.
The bleed surged through me—
hot
cold
unbearable.
I grabbed my head and fell to my knees.
Voices poured into my skull.
Ari.
My mother.
Strangers.
My sister.
The shadow's voice echoed above them all.
"Remember her.
Or she dies again."
The Omega units advanced, firing at everything indiscriminately.
My sister reached for me—
Her voice breaking like static:
"Elias—please—remember my name—"
But I couldn't.
I couldn't.
Pain ripped through my skull like lightning.
I screamed.
And the world shattered.
Light burst from my body, blinding and violent —
a wave of raw memory energy blasting outward.
The Omega units stumbled.
The shadow recoiled.
Even the distortion in the alley paused.
My sister froze—
eyes wide—
staring at me in awe.
Lira shielded her face from the radiance.
"Elias—Elias, stop! You're destabilizing the whole block!"
I couldn't.
The bleed had taken control.
Images cascaded from my skin:
Ari on our first date.
My mother humming in the kitchen.
A girl holding my hand.
A nameless birthday party.
A childhood home burning.
A hospital room.
A contract signed in tears.
My brain under surgical lights.
Mnemosyne's logo stamped into my vision.
A voice whispering—
"Erase him.
He's too dangerous."
Lira grabbed me, shaking me violently.
"Elias—LOOK AT ME! STOP!"
The bleeding light flickered—
then died.
I collapsed.
Breathing in shallow gasps.
Lira knelt beside me, trembling.
"Elias… your eyes."
I looked down.
Tears dripped onto my hands—
not clear
not blood-red
but gold.
Memory bleed.
Lira's voice cracked.
"You're not just bleeding memories anymore…
You're generating them."
I looked up at her, terrified.
"So, what am I becoming?"
She swallowed.
Her voice was a whisper.
"A source.
A nucleus.
Something Mnemosyne told the world was impossible."
Above us, the carriers repositioned, preparing another strike.
The shadow slipped into the collapsing alley.
My sister was gone.
Either pulled by the distortion—
or taken by the shadow.
Lira pulled me up.
"Elias—if Mnemosyne captures you, they'll turn you into the core of a new vault. They'll plug your brain into the system."
I stared at her, dizzy.
"My mind… running Mnemosyne?"
"No," she said hollowly.
"Your mind being Mnemosyne."
My breath caught.
The retrieval carriers locked onto my heat signature.
Lira grabbed my hand.
"Elias. Run."
I ran.
With golden tears streaking down my face.