Ashes of Our Flame
by RapwizzyDebaron
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Episode 95: "Heart of the Trigger"
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Kara dropped to her knees as light exploded from her eyes and fingertips. The entire chamber responded — glowing veins of energy surged through the walls like a nervous system reawakening. The Forge was alive.
And it was listening.
Adrian gripped her shoulders. "Kara! Fight it. Whatever it is, fight it!"
But Kara couldn't hear him.
Inside her mind, the world had gone silent.
She stood in a black void, suspended in a space where time had no meaning. Around her, floating fragments of herself — memories, emotions, whispers of pain and hope — shimmered like stardust.
From the darkness stepped the child version of herself again. But this time, she wasn't just a hologram. She was flesh and blood.
"I told you," she said gently. "The trigger is your choice."
"What choice?" Kara asked, voice trembling.
The child stepped closer. "To awaken the rest — to become the queen of the new world Lazarus wanted… or destroy the entire network. Including yourself."
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Meanwhile, outside her consciousness, alarms screamed.
Shade was typing furiously into a console. "She's in direct sync with the Core. I can't override it—it's not a system, it's her."
Tessa paced, gun drawn. "We take out the Forge. Blow the entire place before the signal goes out."
Adrian shook his head. "No. If we kill the Forge while she's linked, we kill her too."
Zero added, "And if we wait too long, the Sanctuary network activates. Best-case scenario? Thousands wake up worldwide. Worst case? They all come here."
The clock was ticking.
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Inside the void, Kara stood at a crossroads.
The child-Kara looked up at her with wide, ancient eyes. "They built us to obey. But you've always disobeyed. You fought your design."
"I don't want to rule," Kara said. "I just want to live. I want to be free."
"Then choose it," her younger self said, taking Kara's hand. "Let go."
Kara's real heart — the one hidden beneath programming, pain, and purpose — surged.
She remembered Adrian's arms holding her after nightmares. Tessa's laugh. Shade's loyalty. The family they'd forged from ashes.
She knew her answer.
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In the Forge chamber, Kara's body suddenly floated into the air, limbs spread, light bursting from her chest like a sun being born.
Adrian backed away as the Core flared, sending shockwaves through the metal floor.
Shade shouted, "What's happening?!"
"She's... making a decision," Adrian whispered.
And then—
Silence.
The lights went out.
The glow faded.
Kara collapsed into Adrian's arms.
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A deep, system-wide tone echoed through the Forge.
> Sanctuary Protocol Terminated.
All sleeper nodes offline.
Network dismantled.
Shade blinked in disbelief. "She did it… she actually did it."
Kara's eyes fluttered open.
Adrian smiled down at her, tears forming. "You came back."
She smiled faintly. "I never left."
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But peace didn't last long.
An emergency signal burst from the console.
Zero sprinted to the screen. "Uh… guys?"
Dozens of red dots were blinking.
Shade's face went pale. "What the hell…? That shouldn't be possible…"
Adrian read the message aloud:
> "Fallback Protocol Engaged: OMEGA REIGN."
Kara sat up fast. "What is Omega Reign?"
A voice, far more mechanical than Vane's, echoed through the chamber.
"Welcome, Subject K-001. While Sanctuary has ended… the Final Phase has begun."
From above, steel panels slid open in the mountain's ceiling.
And from the sky—
Came fire.
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To be continued…
🔥 Peace was only the begin
ning. The true war has just begun.
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