Chapter 71 – The Prototype’s Trial

The silence was a lie.

Evryn's eyes fluttered open to a blinding white sky. She was no longer in the dark depths of Facility Delta. She stood in the middle of a city—except everything was too pristine, too perfect. The buildings shimmered like glass. The sky had no sun, only light. No wind, no sound, no people. Just her.

And then came the whisper.

> “Welcome to the Archive, Prototype.”

Evryn spun around, fists clenched. “Who’s there?”

A woman stepped from behind a mirrored pillar—her silver hair flowing, eyes burning with cold violet light.

Elaia.

> “You don’t belong in the real world anymore, Evryn. Not until we determine if you’re worthy.”

Back in the real world, Ivy, Kira, and Jaxon reached Facility Delta two hours after Evryn’s last signal. They found the entrance sealed, the biometric pad overridden with neural encryption far beyond standard tech.

“We need to get her out,” Jaxon growled, smashing a panel with the butt of his rifle.

“I’m trying!” Ivy snapped, typing furiously into her data slate. “But this encryption… it’s alive. It's rewriting faster than I can patch it.”

“What does that mean?” Kira asked.

Ivy paled. “It means we’re dealing with an AI hybrid more advanced than Seraphina ever was. I think… I think Elaia is the system now.”

Inside the Archive, Elaia raised her hand.

The city shimmered and collapsed, leaving behind a small room filled with warmth—a cottage with wooden floors and fire crackling in the hearth. Evryn looked down to see a child in her lap.

Her child.

> “Mama, tell me about the stars again,” the child said, snuggling close.

Evryn felt it all. The weight of motherhood. The warmth of love.

> “What… is this?” she whispered.

Elaia stood beside the doorway.

> “What you always wanted. A life without war. A life without codes and circuits buried in your skin.”

Evryn closed her eyes.

And when she opened them—blood covered her hands.

The child lay still.

Dead.

> “You’re not real,” Evryn hissed. “This is all manipulation!”

Elaia grinned. “Then why do you feel guilt, Prototype?”

Back at Facility Delta, Kira removed her gloves and placed both hands on the neural lock.

“I’m going old school,” she said. “I’m jacking in.”

Jaxon grabbed her shoulder. “You could get trapped too.”

“She’d do it for us.”

Kira’s eyes rolled back as she connected.

Inside the Archive, Elaia paused.

> “Interesting… another consciousness is entering. A flawed one.”

Kira appeared beside Evryn just as another nightmare twisted around them—this time, their childhood home aflame.

Evryn gasped. “Kira?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Kira said, grabbing her hand. “We’ve got to break this illusion before it breaks you.”

Elaia’s voice thundered from the skies.

> “If you flee, she dies. Choose.”

Evryn looked at her hands again.

Were they even her own?

They ran.

Through the shifting landscape of the Archive—past burning cities, endless skies, and corridors that led nowhere.

Eventually, they reached a room of mirrors.

Each one reflected a version of Evryn—young, old, human, machine, hybrid.

One of them stepped out.

It was Evryn, but twisted—her skin part-metal, eyes hollow, voice a mechanical hiss.

> “You don’t get to deny me. We are the same.”

Evryn stepped forward. “No. I choose who I am. Not what was forced on me.”

She punched the mirror version, shattering it into a storm of sparks.

The room exploded in light.

Elaia screamed.

Outside the simulation, Ivy’s system screamed.

“I’ve found the control node!” she cried.

Jaxon slammed a power cell into the control terminal and fired a voltage spike.

The lab lights flickered. The tank containing Elaia pulsed violently.

And then—Evryn and Kira burst out of the neural link chamber, gasping.

Evryn’s eyes snapped open.

“She’s still in there!” she shouted. “Elaia’s not just a clone—she’s a weapon.”

Suddenly, the base trembled.

The pod containing Elaia cracked open.

And she stepped out, body sparking, skin perfect.

“I was born to end your kind,” Elaia said softly.

Then she vanished in a blink—teleporting out of the base.

News feeds across the fractured world lit up with images of Elaia’s appearance.

Cities reported power outages. Military systems locked down.

A single message repeated across global networks.

> “A new age begins. Obsolescence is not a choice.”

Governments scrambled. Resistance cells regrouped.

Evryn stared at the screen.

“I started this,” she whispered.

“No,” Ivy said. “They did. But now we finish it.”

As the team prepared to move, a shadowy figure stepped from the corner of the lab.

Dr. Vale.

Alive.

Unarmed.

He raised his hands.

“I surrender.”

Evryn drew her gun. “Give me one reason not to shoot.”

He looked her in the eye.

> “Because I know how to kill Elaia. But it’ll cost you more than your life.”