My mother's smile. The accident. Her hand reaching for me through shattered glass.
Deleted.
Nomi. The first person who smiled at me in the Recall Trials. Her voice, her hopes. Gone.
Zaara.
Her eyes.
The way she said my name.
The way she pulled me back when I wanted to fall.
Gone.
Theo. Dinesh. Jojo.
Gone. Gone. Gone.
Their names were ashes.
Their memories? Smoke.
Then silence.
I was still breathing.
I was empty.
No fear. No nerves. No guilt. No pain. No grief.
I became free.
I became perfect.
"To control chaos… sometimes you must become it."
A smile stretched across my face.
"Welcome to the Aetherions," the voices echoed.
And from the shadows, they stepped forward.
Not shadows….people.
Draped in black silk robes that shimmered like oil in light that shouldn't even exist. Their faces hidden behind golden serpentine masks…twisted into smirks, fangs carved into the metal. A serpent sigil burned on their robes. No names. No voices. Only symbols.
The Aetherions.
