Night fell on the edge of the Blackroot Forest. Ayra and Lira camped beneath a canopy of glowing trees—trees that fed off starlight and hummed with faint magic.
Ayra sat cross-legged, the fire flickering in her eyes. The bounty scroll burned slowly in her hand.
> "They're really trying now," she muttered. "Even offered a bonus for my head still attached. How thoughtful."
Lira tossed her a roasted mushroom. "We've got five hours before the next hired clowns show up."
> "Five?" Ayra blinked. "Getting slow, aren't they?"
---
The Hunters Arrive
Just as predicted, five figures crept through the trees. Silent. Professional. Not like the thugs from before.
Their armor shimmered with cloaking tech. Their weapons buzzed with multi-realm enchantments. And their leader wore a sigil not from this world—but from above it.
They were the Deadshade Unit—interdimensional mercenaries.
And they had files.
> "Subject: Ayra. Former Type-III civilization. Suspected creator of Project Phoenix Spiral. Reincarnated under unknown circumstances."
> "Threat level: MAXIMUM."
One of them whispered, "She's only a kid now… you sure she's the same?"
> "Doesn't matter. Kill her before she remembers who she was."
They stepped into the clearing—
And Ayra was gone.
---
A Fight They Didn't Understand
The trees shimmered. The fire turned blue.
> "Looking for someone?" Ayra's voice echoed from everywhere.
The mercenaries spun.
> "Eyes up!" barked their leader. "She's manipulating localized dimensional threads!"
Ayra stepped out of the air itself.
> "You guys have good files. I'm impressed."
One charged—Ayra didn't move. The man's body folded into a Möbius loop and fell back—conscious but screaming.
The leader fired a gun that erased atoms on contact.
Ayra caught the beam between two fingers.
> "Cute."
She crushed the energy into a star and tossed it aside.
> "I should thank you, though," she said. "You confirmed it."
> "Confirmed what?"
She smiled.
> "That even they are afraid of me now."
---
A Memory Awakens
After the last mercenary blinked out of consciousness, Ayra sat back down by the fire. Lira stared at her, speechless.
> "You didn't even try," she whispered.
Ayra was quiet. She held her necklace, which was pulsing again.
A whisper came—not from outside, but inside her soul.
> "My daughter… if you're hearing this, I'm gone. But your path leads to a kingdom you've never seen—yet it's your home."
A sudden vision flashed: a woman in royal robes, bloodied, handing a baby to frightened maids in a blizzard.
The woman clutched the necklace.
> "They will hunt you. But they will never understand you. You are more than my child. You are… my legacy."
Ayra gasped as the vision faded. The necklace stilled.
---
Far Away: The Universal Shadow
In a place beyond mortal skies, a room full of beings sat at a circular table, with galaxies spinning above them like mobiles.
> "The flare spiked again," one said.
> "She's evolving," another whispered. "The Spiral Project is waking up."
At the head of the table, a figure leaned forward.
> "Begin Phase Zero. Quietly. Let no one know the Multiversal Council is watching."
A single hologram floated: Ayra's face… surrounded by growing red lines.
---