Echoes of the System

Dawn in the city wasn't golden or soft like in the stories Ember vaguely remembered from when she was younger. There was no warm light spilling over rooftops, no birdsong greeting the morning.

Here, dawn was gray. A dull, lifeless smudge that crept between crumbling buildings and reflected off metal surfaces coated in dust.

Perfect for hiding.

Kai led the way through narrow alleyways, his movements sharp and calculated. Ember followed, the chip tucked safely in the inner lining of her jacket, pressing against her heart like it belonged there.

Rhea was with them, of course, chewing on a piece of dried fruit like this was just another casual stroll through enemy territory. Ember had learned quickly that nothing fazed her.

They didn't speak much. Words felt dangerous out here, where the walls might have ears—or, more likely, hidden surveillance nodes embedded in the concrete.

Kai's pace slowed as they reached an old transit station, half-collapsed from neglect. Ember glanced around, her instincts prickling.

"This place feels… wrong," she muttered.

Kai gave her a brief, sharp look. "Good. That means you're learning."

Great, she thought bitterly. Paranoia as progress.

Inside, the station was a skeleton of its former self. Rusted tracks, shattered glass, and faded propaganda posters peeling from the walls. The kind that showed smiling faces under bold slogans:

"OBEDIENCE IS PEACE."

"TRUST THE REGIME."

Ember resisted the urge to tear one down.

They moved deeper until Kai stopped abruptly. He crouched, running his fingers along the dusty floor until he found what he was looking for—a hidden latch.

With a quick twist, a section of the floor creaked open, revealing a narrow staircase leading underground.

"After you," Kai said, motioning for Ember to go first.

She shot him a glare. "Coward."

Rhea snorted behind them.

Ember climbed down, her steps echoing softly. The air grew colder, thicker, and she realized she wasn't just descending into a basement. This was something older—forgotten.

At the bottom, dim lights flickered on automatically, revealing a hidden lab.

Rows of old computers lined the walls, their screens dark but not dead. In the center of the room stood a massive console, covered in dust and wires.

"This is it," Kai murmured as he joined her. "The Core's edge."

Ember frowned. "What's the Core, really?"

Kai hesitated, then answered quietly, "It's the Regime's brain. Their control hub. Every surveillance feed, every piece of data—they flow through the Core. If we can access it…"

"We can expose them," Ember finished, her heart racing.

Kai nodded. "Or destroy them."

Rhea moved past them, flipping switches and typing in codes. The machines groaned to life, lights flickering like the heartbeat of something ancient waking up.

Kai turned to Ember, his expression serious. "The chip. It's the key."

Her fingers trembled slightly as she pulled it out, staring at the small object that suddenly felt bigger than her.

With a deep breath, she slid it into the console.

The screens lit up instantly, data flooding the room in streams of numbers, images, and—

Faces.

Thousands of them. Profiles, names, records. Some marked as active, others as erased.

Then Ember's face appeared.

Her heart stopped.

But it wasn't just her face. There was information—lines of data she couldn't fully process. Birth records. Medical files. And a name she'd never seen before, flashing beside hers:

"Project E.M.B.E.R."

Not a person.

A project.

Her knees nearly buckled.

Kai reached for her, steadying her with a hand on her shoulder. "Ember…"

She shook him off, her vision blurring with a mix of rage and fear.

I'm not real?

Rhea's voice cut through the haze. "We've got company."

Ember turned to see the security feed—black-clad Enforcers pouring into the station above.

They'd been found.

Kai grabbed his weapon. "We fight."

But Ember wasn't thinking about the fight. She was thinking about the name on the screen.

Project E.M.B.E.R.

She wasn't just running from the Regime.

She was the Regime's creation.

And that changed everything.