Ash stared at the new symbol on his skin—burning, shifting, alive.
It wasn't like the first mark.
This one moved.
Not literally, but like light trapped beneath the surface, swirling in patterns he didn't understand. The glow pulsed up his arm and into his chest, syncing with his heartbeat in a rhythm that felt wrong.
Too fast.
Too powerful.
Too… ancient.
Palo grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Ash—Ash, look at me! Are you okay?"
Ash tried to answer, but his voice came out broken.
"I—I don't know."
Silva forced herself upright, swaying.
"That's not a reset," she whispered.
"That's a reactivation."
Palo blinked.
"What does that mean?"
Silva looked at the symbol on Ash's arm with pure dread.
"It means he unlocked the part of Ash that was never supposed to wake."
Ash's vision blurred for a moment—shadows glitching at the corners like corrupted code. He pressed a hand to his head.
"I feel… different."
The Founder watched him calmly, hands clasped behind his back.
"That is your original programming. The part your mother tried to suppress."
A soft breath.
"The part that makes you capable of more than simply living."
Palo stepped in front of Ash again.
"Stop talking like he's a machine."
The Founder's eyes hardened.
"He is not a machine. He is my greatest work. But his mother believed he deserved a normal life."
His voice sharpened.
"She was wrong."
Silva whispered,
"You said Project ELARA failed."
The Founder nodded.
"It did. Because emotion interfered with function. Because consciousness interfered with obedience."
His gaze locked onto Ash.
"Because he interfered with the future I built."
Ash felt a surge in his chest—like a fuse burning too close to something explosive.
"What do you want me to do?" he forced out.
The Founder approached slowly.
"I want you to come back with me. Willingly. I need you awake, not erased."
Palo's jaw clenched.
"Why? So you can use him?"
The Founder didn't deny it.
"Ash is the template," he repeated.
"The original pattern from which the others were derived. But his code was incomplete. Now that I've reactivated the dormant segment—"
He nodded toward the glowing symbol.
"—he is fully operational."
Ash felt a cold tremor run down his spine.
"Operational for what?"
The Founder smiled faintly.
"To locate the core memory. The one piece I could never access."
Palo snapped,
"Ash doesn't have anything of yours."
"Oh, but he does," the Founder said softly.
"Inside him is the last recording your mother made. The true one. Before she hid him."
Ash froze.
"My… mother?"
The Founder nodded.
"She encoded a message inside your neural framework. I couldn't extract it without destabilizing you."
A beat.
"But now? The new activation makes access possible."
Ash felt the world tilt again.
A message from his mother.
Hidden inside him.
Locked away until now.
Palo shook his head fiercely.
"You're not taking him anywhere."
The Founder sighed softly.
"Palo… you truly believe you can protect him? You, who is now tied to his system? If Ash glitches, you collapse. Your lives are synchronized."
Ash's stomach twisted painfully.
"Stop threatening him."
The Founder raised a brow.
"It is not a threat. It is a fact. You are now linked. If one falls, both do."
Silva whispered:
"That's why he reactivated you. Not to kill you—but to bind you to him."
Ash backed away.
"No. No, I don't want that."
The Founder's eyes softened for a moment, almost sympathetic.
"You were never meant to choose, Ash."
And then—
A low rumble shook the forest floor.
Not from the Founder.
Not from Ash.
From deeper in the trees.
Silva's breathing hitched.
"No… no, he's awake too."
Palo grabbed her arm.
"Who?"
Silva's eyes filled with fear.
"The copy. The reactivation woke him as well. They shared the same dormant code."
Ash's heart stopped.
"He's coming?"
Silva nodded, voice cracking.
"He's not hunting you anymore. Now he's hunting everyone the code reacts to."
Palo whispered:
"And who is that?"
Silva stared at Ash.
"You. Him. Me."
Then she looked at the Founder.
"And especially him."
The Founder's expression finally flickered with something like concern.
"Then we must leave. Now."
Ash shook his head violently.
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
The Founder stepped forward, voice calm but urgent.
"Ash, listen to me. If the copy reaches you while your system is still stabilizing—"
The ground shook again.
Louder.
Closer.
Silva backed away.
"It's too late."
Ash felt the air change.
A presence approaching.
Palo grabbed his arm.
"Ash—we have to run."
Branches snapped violently somewhere behind them.
Silva whispered a single word:
"Hide."
But before any of them could move—
A figure stepped out of the shadows.
Tall.
Silent.
Eyes glowing faintly with the same light as Ash's new symbol.
The copy.
But something was different now.
His expression wasn't blank.
It was furious.
And when he looked at Ash, his voice came out deeper, layered, resonant:
"I told you…
you shouldn't have run."
---