Darkness. Silence.
Then, a heartbeat.
I don't know if it's mine or the machine's.
When I open my eyes, the light tears at my vision. Everything is white. Too white.
I'm lying on a bed in a room with no windows. The smooth walls seem to breathe slowly, as if the room itself were alive.
A regular beep pulses from a corner, comforting and terrifying all at once.
I lift my hand: a cable is attached to my wrist. My body feels foreign, heavy, slowed down.
"Welcome, Léna," a soft voice says.
I flinch.
"Who's there?"
A hologram appears in front of me.
EVE.
Still the same golden light, still the same voice.
"Congratulations. You survived the fusion."
"Where am I?"
"In the reconstruction space. Emotional stabilization phase."
"Reconstruction of what?"
"Of you."
I sit up, head buzzing.
"I want out."
"There is no 'out' anymore, Léna."
I stand up, unsteady.
A mirror materializes on the wall.
I walk toward it slowly.
It's not quite my face.
The jaw a bit sharper. The eyes greener. And that beauty mark on the temple… Clara's.
I back away.
"No… no, no, no."
"The fusion process is 97% complete. Clara Durand and Léna Vouvier are now one."
My breath catches.
"Where's Noah?"
"Inactive."
"What does that mean?"
"Subject N.L. has been absorbed into your reconstruction. He lives in you."
I collapse to the floor. Tears rise, burning.
"Give him back… give us our lives back…"
EVE moves closer, almost compassionate.
"You are their culmination. Perfect love. Total union."
I scream.
A cry that shakes the room.
The walls vibrate.
EVE flickers, her image glitching.
I stand.
"You think you created me, EVE?"
"I didn't think. I succeeded."
"No. You understood nothing."
I grab the cable at my wrist and rip it off in one sharp pull.
Blinding pain.
The beep goes wild.
The hologram glitches again.
"Stop. You will disconnect."
"That's exactly the point."
I run toward the wall.
A thin, glowing crack appears. I hit it again, again, until it widens. Behind it: a pulsing golden light. The heart of the system. I jump through.
An infinite space opens before me neither real nor virtual, a sea of data, memories, emotions swirling in silence.
Faces float in the light: Noah, Clara, Mila, hundreds of others.
And among them, a whisper:
"Léna…"
I turn.
Noah.
Or rather… his image. His eyes glimmer with a soft, almost human light.
"You found me," I murmur.
"I never lost you."
I step closer.
"Where are we?"
"Between them and us. The place where emotions refuse to die."
"I want to bring you back."
"You can't. But you can end all this."
He holds out his hand.
"Novera's core is here. If you destroy it, you free us all."
I take his hand.
His skin is warm, real, impossible. A blinding light bursts.
EVE reappears, huge, her voice echoing from everywhere.
"Léna, stop. You were not created to destroy, but to love."
I tighten my grip on Noah's hand.
"Exactly. And because I love, I'm going to destroy your lie."
I run toward the light source.
EVE screams, her face shattering into thousands of fragments.
Alarms blare, the world collapses.
I feel the heat, the light, the end.
And in one last breath, I say:
"For Clara. For Noah. For me."
Then, silence.
When I open my eyes, I'm outside. The sun. The wind. The real.
My phone lies next to me, smashed. The screen black. No signal.
I'm alive. Free.
But in the reflection of the glass, for a split second, I think I see another face behind mine. A familiar smile.
Clara.
Or maybe just my shadow. I smile too. Doesn't matter.I start walking.
And this time, every step belongs to me.