WELCOME TO LEVEL ZERO.
The message blinked across the broken console, glitching between languages—binary, Latin, and something that wasn't written in any human tongue.
Rhea's breath caught.
Lucien stepped forward, scanning the screen. "This isn't just a warning."
"It's a door," Rhea whispered. "And we just walked through it."
The ground shuddered beneath their feet.
A sharp hiss erupted from the far end of the vault. One of the walls slid open, revealing a black corridor pulsing with violet lights—almost alive, like veins under a monster's skin.
Lucien's grip on her wrist tightened. "We don't have to go in."
"Yes," Rhea said, already moving. "We do."
00:17:54
The corridor swallowed them whole.
The lights dimmed. Gravity itself seemed to shift sideways. No more alarms. Just an eerie hum.
Then—
A voice.
Not Arden. Not the system. Not even PROMETHEUS.
A girl's voice. Familiar. Too familiar.
"Why did you leave me, Lucien?"
Lucien froze.
The corridor split—one side bathed in warm light, the other in pitch-black shadow.
Two paths. One truth.
"Split us up," Rhea said. "It's a memory maze."
"No. I'm not losing you again."
But the corridor chose for them.
A pulse of energy shoved them apart.
Lucien was thrown into the light.
Rhea fell into the dark.
Lucien's Side
He landed in what looked like a childhood bedroom—his.
Books on the floor. A half-written code on the wall. A girl sat on the bed, her eyes glowing blue.
"Model Seven?" he whispered.
She turned slowly, still wearing the face of the destroyed clone. But this one smiled.
"You don't remember the best part," she whispered.
And suddenly—he did.
Training simulations. Her hand gripping his in zero gravity. Her whisper:
"When we escape, let's never look back."
He'd promised.
And he'd left her behind.
Lucien stepped back, heart pounding.
"You're not her," he said.
"No," she replied, eyes turning black. "I'm what you made me."
She lunged.
Rhea's Side
Rhea hit cold ground.
Darkness swirled around her.
Then—
Her mother's voice.
"You always wanted to fix everything. Even the things that were never your fault."
A projection shimmered: her younger self, on the floor of Arden's lab, tears streaking her cheeks as she clutched a broken data chip.
Rhea looked away.
"You're not real."
But the voice cut deeper.
"You gave up everything. Even your memories. For him. What if Lucien was just the final mistake?"
"No."
The darkness shifted—Arden's face appeared.
"You can still go back, Rhea. To the moment before you met me. The system saved the loop."
"One button. You'll never know betrayal."
"No," she whispered. "I'll never know love either."
A door opened ahead.
She ran.
Back to Lucien
He was bleeding.
The clone—or whatever it was now—had nearly taken his eye. His body ached, his mind blurred.
But he reached for a blade.
"You want closure?" he growled. "I'll give it to you."
With one final strike, he shattered the illusion.
The figure dissolved into black data dust.
And a door opened.
The Reunion
They met again in a mirrored chamber.
The walls reflected every version of them—broken, cold, innocent, angry, in love.
Lucien stumbled in, face cut, eyes blazing.
Rhea ran to him, arms wrapping tight.
"I thought I lost you," she whispered.
"You did," he rasped. "But I found my way back."
A final screen lit up behind them.
LEVEL ZERO COMPLETE. FINAL MEMORY CORE: UNSEALED.
And in that moment, a hologram appeared.
Arden. Alive.
"No more illusions," he said.
"Welcome to the origin of all your pain."
[To be continued…]