Silent. Total. Complete.
Carina’s optics tried to compensate, cycling through low-light, infrared, thermal, ultraviolet— Nothing.
The entire EM spectrum was being smothered by the pulse of the Moth Relic.
Then—
A soft glow emerged.
Two violet lights.
Eyes. Her eyes. But not her.
The mirror-girl stepped forward, her silhouette forming in the dim, shifting blue radiance. The relic behind her pulsed in slow, hypnotic waves, illuminating her like a phantom perched at the edge of reality.
Carina kept her pistol steady. “You’ve got three seconds to explain what you are before I put a hole in your head.”
The figure tilted her head, amused.
“Still so violent.”
“Start talking.”
“I’m you,” the mirror-girl said. “Or… the version of you that never made it out of this tower.”
Carina’s jaw clenched.
“Nice try. I’ve never set foot in this dump.”
The doppelg?nger walked in a circle around her, bare feet whispering across dust-covered metal. The pulse of the Moth Relic grew stronger—vibrating inside Carina’s ribs like a distant explosion.
“Memory can be edited.” “Rewritten.” “Buried.”
Carina scoffed. “Not mine.”
The girl smiled wider—too wide.
Something primal crawled up Carina’s spine.
The mirror-girl stopped in front of the relic.
Its metallic wings lifted, unfurling slightly. Micro-filaments wriggled across its surface like veins. The blue light deepened into violet.
Her violet.
Carina swallowed.
Her heart hammered against her subdermal armor.
This wasn’t just tech.
It wasn’t just bio-ware.
It was both.
Or neither.
Something ancient in a way nothing man-made could be.
Something that felt—
Aware.
“The Moth Relic,” the twin said, placing a hand against its surface, “isn’t a weapon.”
Carina didn’t lower her pistol.
“Then what is it?”
The girl’s eyes glimmered.
“A chrysalis.”
Carina frowned. “For what?”
The mirror stepped closer, voice softening.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“For you.”
A chill sank into Carina’s bones.
“Bullshit.”
“You were here before,” the twin insisted. “You touched it. It copied you. Completed you. And one day… you left.”
Carina shook her head hard.
“My memories are intact.”
“Are they?”
The relic pulsed—
and Carina gasped.
Images flickered through her mind:
- A younger version of herself sprinting through the same tower
? A black-gloved hand shoving her toward the relic
? A flash of violet light consuming her vision
? Screaming that wasn’t her voice, but came from her throat
? Waking up in a clinic with no recollection of how she got there
Carina staggered.
“No. No, that’s—old glitches. Bad cyberware.”
“You know it isn’t.”
“Shut up.”
“You’ve always felt it, haven’t you?”
“That missing piece?”
“The reason you don’t stay anywhere long?”
Carina’s breath grew sharp.
Her pistol wavered for the first time.
“I’m what was cut out,” the copy whispered. “The part they took when they made you forget.”
The floor vibrated—deep, rumbling tremors traveling through the tower’s bones.
Carina steadied herself, switching the pistol to her off-hand long enough to grab her shotgun.
“Start from the top,” she growled, “before I erase your creepy ass for good.”
The mirror’s expression softened.
Not mocking.
Not alien.
Just… sad.
“You were a test subject.”
Carina froze.
“They used the relic on you,” the twin continued. “Thought it was some ancient power source. Thought they could weaponize it.”
Carina’s grip tightened. “Who’s they?”
“The client who hired you tonight.”
Cold fury unfurled in her chest.
Of course.
Of course this was a setup.
Of course the job was a lie.
Of course someone wanted her dead—or captured.
“They made you forget everything that happened here,” the twin said.
“But the relic didn’t forget.”
“It kept the part they removed.”
Carina’s pulse thrashed.
“Why call me back now?”
Her double stepped toward her, slowly, like approaching a frightened animal.
“Because they want to reunite us.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re incomplete.”
Carina’s teeth clenched. “I’m alive. That’s complete enough.”
The tower shook again—harder.
Far below them, heavy machinery roared to life.
The mirror-girl’s eyes widened.
“They’ve sent retrieval units.”
Carina swore. “Figures.”
“If they reach you,” the twin whispered, “they’ll tear out what remains of your humanity to finish the experiment.”
Carina raised her pistol again.
This time steady.
“Then tell me how to destroy this thing.”
Her twin looked hurt.
“Why would you destroy me?”
“Because you’re not me.”
“I am everything you lost.”
“Then stay lost.”
The mirror sighed softly.
Her form flickered—like static.
“If you destroy the relic,” she said gently, “I will die.”
Carina’s expression hardened.
“Then give me a reason to care.”
The mirror stepped close enough that Carina could see every perfect reflection of her face, her scars, her pupils.
“Because,” the copy whispered, “I remember the truth about you.”
Carina didn’t breathe.
“I remember why you came here the first time.”
The relic pulsed again.
Carina’s vision stuttered—
- Her younger self screaming
? A child crying
? Someone dragging her
? A voice promising: “We’ll put her back together. She’ll be perfect.”
Carina flinched violently.
“I—don’t—remember—”
“I know.”
“But I do.”
A metallic shriek tore through the floor below—like steel ripping.
Carina spun toward the stairwell.
Her optics zoomed.
Something was climbing.
Multiple somethings.
Heavy.
Armed.
Corporate retrieval mechs—full chrome exosuits—climbing like insects up the stairwell walls.
The same corporations that hired her.
A betrayal she didn’t even need proof for.
Carina cocked her shotgun with a vicious snap.
“I didn’t come here to die.”
Her twin touched the relic.
“Then take me with you.”
“No.”
“Then you won’t survive.”
Carina glared. “Watch me.”
The twin shook her head.
“Without me, you’re fighting with half a soul.”
“With me, you’re whole.”
Carina hesitated—
for one second
one heartbeat—
and the relic pulsed a violent amethyst glow.
She felt it reach for her.
Calling her.
Claiming her.
Finishing what it started years ago.
Carina snarled—
“No.”
She raised her shotgun—
A metal fist smashed through the doorway.
Corporate retrieval unit.
Armored.
Armed.
Too many behind it.
Carina fired, blast ripping into the first mech’s visor, shattering reinforced glass.
Her copy backed into the relic, eyes wide.
“Carina—!”
Carina grabbed a nearby pipe and slammed it into a control panel. Warning klaxons erupted. The relic’s containment field flickered.
The whole top floor shook.
She sprinted for cover.
Bullets chewed through the walls.
The mechs surged into the room.
The relic screamed—an eerie metallic wail.
The twin reached out for her—
“Don’t leave me—!”
Then the floor detonated beneath them.