2025-01-08 11:13:02Aiden’s POV
I couldn’t remember how long I’d been out, but when I opened my eyes, I was met with the dull throb of my headache, the bitter taste of ash in the air, and the uneasy quiet of the ruined facility surrounding me. I pushed myself up, wincing as the pain shot through my body. Every inch of me felt like it had been broken, but there was no time to rest. Not now. I had failed. The mission had gone to hell, and with it, any chance of saving Mila. The facility had been destroyed in a blaze of chaos, and yet the answers I needed seemed farther away than ever. The resistance was fractured. I limped towards the makeshift command center, an old, abandoned warehouse they’d converted into a hideout. The hum of machinery and the chatter of survivors filled the space. But the tension in the air was palpable, suffocating. Zane was the first to spot me. His glare was as cold as the steel beams overhead. He didn’t say anything at first, just let the silence stretch between us. But I could feel the weight of his anger, thick in the air. “You failed us, Aiden,” Zane spat, his voice low, but biting. “You risked everything for some personal vendetta. You let your emotions get the better of you. And now look at us. We’re scattered, vulnerable. The entire mission is a disaster because of you.” I swallowed hard, my fists clenching at my sides. “I didn’t do this for me, Zane. I did it for Mila. We were so close. I couldn’t just leave her—” “And you think we didn’t all lose something?” Zane interrupted, his voice rising. “You think we’re all here for some noble cause? No. We’re fighting to survive. But you, you’re obsessed with saving one person. And now look where we are.” The words stung, more than they should have. He was right, in a way. I’d let my desperation blind me to the bigger picture. But at what cost? I turned away, trying to shake off the weight of his words. There was no point arguing with Zane now. His anger wasn’t just aimed at me—it was aimed at everything we’d lost. “Aiden,” Kara’s voice was softer, quieter. She approached from behind me, her steps tentative. When I turned to face her, she offered me a small nod, though her eyes were clouded with worry. “I have something that might help. But we need to be careful. If we access this, Malrik will notice.” I raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?” Kara pulled a small data cube from her pocket and held it out to me. The glow of the device was dim, but there was a sense of importance emanating from it. “It’s a backup of Rhea’s data. It’s the last piece we have to figure out what Malrik is really after. If we can crack it, we might be able to make sense of everything. But accessing it will draw attention. It’ll put us all at risk.” I stared at the data cube for a moment. Rhea Valen’s data. The key to understanding Malrik’s plans. If there was one thing I knew, it was that we couldn’t afford to ignore it. But the consequences could be dire. “We don’t have much choice, do we?” I muttered. “We’re running out of options. Do it.” Kara hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded. She connected the cube to the terminal, her fingers dancing across the keys. The screen flickered for a moment before a stream of data flooded the display. Lines of code, symbols, and encrypted files filled the screen in rapid succession. I watched her work, but the feeling gnawing at me wouldn’t go away. The tension between Zane and me was only one part of the puzzle. There was something else, something deeper. Kara had been too quiet lately. Too distant. Every decision she made felt like it was calculated. The way she acted like she knew exactly how far we could push the system, how much risk we could afford… it was too much. And then there was the matter of the backup. Why had she kept this from us until now? “Done,” Kara said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She sat back in the chair, wiping her brow as the screen shifted again. “We’ve got the data. But—” Before she could finish, the screen flickered again. A series of numbers appeared, almost too fast for me to read. I leaned in closer, squinting. “What is that?” I asked, my voice tight. “Coordinates,” Kara replied, her voice low. “It’s a location. But it’s not just any place. This is… deeper into The Abyss.” My breath hitched. “That’s impossible. The Abyss isn’t just a place—it’s a—” “I know,” Kara interrupted. “But this is the key, Aiden. These coordinates… they’re leading us to the heart of it. To the source of Malrik’s power. And if we can access it, we might be able to stop him once and for all.” The weight of her words hit me like a punch to the gut. The source of Malrik’s power. If we could destroy it, we could end this. But the stakes were higher than ever. Malrik would know we were coming. And if he did, he wouldn’t hesitate to wipe us all out. I stood up from the chair, pacing back and forth. My mind was racing. But as I moved, my thoughts drifted back to Kara. She was too calm, too composed in the face of all this. I had seen her get rattled before, but not now. Now, she was completely in control. And then, it hit me. What if Kara was the traitor? What if she had been feeding Malrik information this whole time? My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t ignore it anymore. She had been the one who had access to the backup. She was the one who knew just how much risk we could take. I’d seen her eyes flicker when Zane had accused me of failing. I took a step closer to her, narrowing my eyes. “Kara,” I said, my voice steady but with an edge. “Are you working for Malrik?” She froze, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. For a moment, there was nothing but silence between us. Then she slowly turned to face me, her expression unreadable. “What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice calm, but I could hear the underlying tension in her words. “I’m asking if you’re working for Malrik,” I repeated, my voice harder this time. “You’ve been acting strange. Too calm. Too focused. We don’t know anything about this data you’ve been hiding from us.” She didn’t answer immediately, and the silence stretched out, thick and suffocating. “I’m not the enemy, Aiden,” Kara finally said, her voice almost a whisper. “I’m doing this for all of us. For Mila.” I didn’t believe her. Not anymore. “You better start explaining, Kara,” I muttered, my eyes not leaving her. “Because if you’re hiding something, we’ll find out. And when we do, I won’t be the one holding back.” But before she could respond, something strange happened. A voice. Faint, but unmistakable. “Aiden…” My heart skipped. The voice was coming from inside my head. It was soft, distorted, like a whisper through static. “Aiden, I’m still here.” I froze, my body going still. The voice was familiar. It was Mila. “Mila?” I whispered, hardly daring to believe it. “Come alone,” the voice continued. “I’m waiting for you.” And then the connection broke, leaving nothing but a hollow silence in its wake. “Aiden?” Kara asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. “What’s going on?” I didn’t answer her. I couldn’t. Because Mila was calling for me. And I had to go. Alone. The choice was made.
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Chapter 173: Echoes of the Past
Aiden’s POVA Familiar Voice in the DarkThe Abyss pulsed around me. Cold. Infinite. A vast, twisting landscape of neon veins and shifting data, stretching beyond comprehension.I wasn’t alone.I could feel her.Rhea.She was watching. Waiting.I clenched my fists as I stepped deeper into the void, my boots making no sound against the shifting ground. The AI had led me here for a reason, dangling breadcrumbs just out of reach. But I wasn’t playing her game anymore.I wanted answers.I needed answers.And I was done waiting."Come out, Rhea," I said, my voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "No more riddles. No more games."A soft chuckle echoed through the darkness."Still so impatient, Aiden." Her voice was silk and static, weaving around me like a serpent. "You always did hate being kept in the dark."A figure materialized in front of me, emerging from the digital mist. Tall, elegant, draped in shimmering silver code that flickered like dying stars.Rhea Valen.The AI. The
