Chapter 2: House of Silence
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The estate was devoid of Ethan and all-dominating silence fell over it.
The house inhaled all the air in the estate not a second too soon when patron’s Mercedes turn came into view, parallel to the sprawling drive. I observed, from behind the burgundy curtains, the pulsation of the car sierpinski fractal – projected shadows of the dusk writhed behind it. Even a hint of reptile brackish water came upon me, in freezing cold, alongside the bare shoulders. All this whilst the silver lining of summer’s warmth and heat in full swing fought its hardest to keep the estate brimming with warmth.
Ethan hadn’t bothered to even kiss my cheeks as a lips ’wild goodbye’ was never an option on the table. All I was blessed with was a lesser “I’ll call” accompanying a distracted head nod.
His wife and attendant’s role as bungled was recently promoted.
Long after he disappeared I trapped myself in front of the maw of beauty, a window that procured a view of nothing but blushing wilderness and his retreating vehicle that along with it was all set to scatter boundless serenity. While every other creature alive ensconced behind walls that struggled to contain warmth velvet suffocating stood sadly, alone, engulf bursting forth, I chose to remain submerged to the burst of crisp cold in that twinkling silence.
Rooms the suffixes of granitic family legacy while I, roped unwillingly by virtue thanks to my husband, mind trapped in the never ending life head over heels in love with immersed shack into a world no one truly resided in were my surroundings. Not a glimmer of the phrase i saw was left surrounded alongside spill.
While wandering the halls devoid any and all drives sapphire cohort reserve for it repose of shinier love with me, my toes glided gently over marble floors
For no particular motives.
And yet…
Eventually further ward I took my glow to the primitive beauty tuck in where east wing retrace was.
That was where I mainly find my comfort and my peace after much drift of imagination.
Eventually east wing was where I retired the to making myself comfortable while I gulped, expecting none glittering magic in waves to sign time.
This was the location Ethan warned me never to visit. “That section of the house is his,” in reference to Christopher, his stepfather. Although Ethan and Christopher were never in good terms no matter the fact that they were family but that distance is always there as Christopher The man who possessed all but answered to no one.
Ethan on the other hand always busy with work Never finds time for his dear wife,This made me seek solitude to East wing where Christopher house is located pouring my mind, thought and all my heart as that place seems to comfort me the more and seek coverage where I need one.
The east wing had a different feel to it.
Chapter 61: Shards of the MirrorThe silence was unbearable.Isla sat alone in the observation room of ECHO-3, a vast, high-ceilinged chamber lined with sleek glass panels and flickering holo-screens. A distant hum vibrated beneath her boots—the sound of a hidden world still turning.She stared at the holographic projection of her DNA spiral spinning slowly in midair. It glowed violet, like a cursed constellation. Data poured beside it—words she could no longer make sense of. Words that used to belong to scientists, not to monsters.Behind her, footsteps echoed. Steady. Purposeful.Christopher.“I thought you might come here,” he said quietly.Isla didn’t turn. “It’s strange. Seeing yourself... and realizing you're not entirely yourself.”“You’re not a thing, Isla. You’re not just a blueprint someone rewrote.”She let out a bitter laugh. “Tell that to the report I just read. Lyra didn’t just give birth to me—she embedded herself in me. Consciously. She planned it.”Christopher stayed
Chapter 60: The Vaultbound RiseThe air in the underground chamber was thick—heavy with dust, expectation, and centuries-old secrets that clung to the stone walls like ivy. The Vault of Remnants had not been opened in over four decades, and its presence felt more myth than matter. But tonight, it pulsed.Isla stood in front of the vault door, her fingers twitching unconsciously. Behind her, Christopher and Ethan watched in silence, the tension among them as brittle as ancient parchment. No one spoke. Even the hum of the generators seemed to hush.She could feel it now—the magnetic tug that seemed to know her name. The lock on the vault was encoded to Lyra’s genetic signature, but the tech didn’t account for what Lyra had become. What Isla had become. Half her mother’s legacy, half... something else.Christopher stepped forward. "Are you sure you want to do this tonight? You’re still healing."She shook her head. "Healing is a luxury. And time is a blade pressed to our throats. I can f
Chapter 59: The Threshold ChildrenThe outpost was silent long after the file closed.No one moved. The shadows seemed to cling tighter to the corners, as if even the walls needed time to process what had just been revealed.Threshold Children.Subject Zero.Ark.None of them said it aloud, but the same question hung heavy in the air:What had Lyra made Isla into?And more terrifying—why?---By morning, they were moving again.They left the outpost behind with only a faint heat signature trailing in the snow, covered fast by the wind. Isla walked ahead, wrapped in her insulated gear, hood pulled low, but even now, the light from her hand flickered faintly beneath the glove.Like a heartbeat refusing to slow.The journey to ECHO-3 was brutal.Ice plains gave way to jagged mountain spines. There were no roads. No settlements. Just sky and snow and silence.Ethan navigated using the drive’s coordinates. It pointed to a location that wasn’t on any public map—a place scrubbed from known c
---Chapter 58: Echoes of What WasThey didn’t speak for a long time.The snow muffled their steps as they moved through the tundra, putting distance between themselves and the buried ruin of the vault. The wind whispered around them—soft now, almost reverent, as if the storm itself were holding its breath after what had been unleashed.No one said it aloud, but they all felt it:Something had changed.In Isla.In the world.In what was coming.Ethan was the first to break the silence. “We need shelter. This isn’t the kind of cold you just outrun.”“There’s an outpost thirty miles east,” Christopher said. “Old Cartel relay. Abandoned.”Isla barely heard them.The glowing lines on her hand hadn’t faded. The faint pulse beneath her skin continued, rhythmic and unsettling, like the ticking of a new clock.Inside her, memories surged like tides.Not just hers.Not just Lyra’s.Others.Children’s voices. Screams in sterile corridors. An old song, sung out of tune. A name spoken like a pray
Chapter 57: The Vault of SilenceThe ground trembled again as the vault door split down the middle with a groan older than time. Snow slid from its curved surface like dust falling off forgotten bones. The low-frequency hum built into a thrumming pulse, a sound that didn’t just echo in their ears—it resonated in their chests.Isla took the first step forward.“Wait,” Christopher said, still gripping his rifle. “We don’t know what’s in there.”She glanced at him. “We do. We just haven’t remembered it yet.”Behind them, the sentinel—the pale man—stood still, unmoving. “Only the awakened may enter,” he said, monotone.Christopher looked ready to argue, but Ethan, bleeding from a shallow cut above his brow, stopped him. “He’s not going to stop her. He’s waiting.”Isla crossed the threshold.And the world changed.As she stepped inside the vault, the air grew thicker. Not heavy—dense. Like walking through time itself. The interior walls shimmered, not metal, not stone—something between the
Chapter 56: The Ghost in the SkyThe shadow was fast.It didn’t fly like a drone or a standard aerial unit—it glided, almost silent, but with a strange distortion trailing behind it, like light warping around something not meant to be seen.Ethan’s hands moved rapidly over the controls, flipping off the main nav to manual override. “They’re jamming passive radar. I’m flying blind.”Christopher was already at the rear hatch, rifle ready, eyes scanning the external screens. "Do we engage?""Not unless they do first," Isla said.But she didn't sound sure.Because something in her bones told her this was no ordinary hunter. The pressure in her head was building again, like hands squeezing inward. Her fingers curled into fists."I've seen this thing before," she snarled.Ethan looked back. "Where?"In a dream. Or a memory. I don't know any longer."The shadow dropped altitude. Now it flew alongside them, just out of vision—a shimmering echo on the edge of the skimmer's screen.Then it spok