Snow screamed against the battered hull of the stealth cruiser as it descended into the heart of Siberia. White stretched in every direction—a frozen wasteland concealing secrets buried beneath ice and time.
Aria tightened her grip on the armrest. Beside her, Lucien stared at the black screen embedded in his gauntlet. The coordinates pulsed with crimson light, locked on one target: The Eden Core.
Behind them, Lina loaded plasma rounds into her sidearm while K-0X, their AI-hacked android ally, monitored the energy fields around the Vault.
"This is where it began," Lucien murmured. "The Helix Project. The Oracle. Everything. It started with the Eden Core… and it'll end here."
Aria's voice was quiet. "You think we can stop her?"
"I think we're already too late," Lucien replied.
---
The Vault of Genesis was buried beneath a glacier disguised as a defunct Soviet outpost. K-0X deployed electromagnetic pulses, disabling centuries-old defense drones and shielding their signatures.
The four descended into the core—icy tunnels giving way to sleek black metal, humming with alien heat.
At the center of the vault floated the Eden Core—a living, biomechanical seed suspended in zero gravity. It pulsed like a heartbeat, wrapped in nanofilaments that stretched into the walls like veins.
"This is it," Lina whispered. "The origin code of the Helix Project… and maybe the key to ending the Oracle."
Aria stepped forward—then staggered.
Her vision blurred. Memories not her own clawed at her mind.
A child's laughter. Screams in sterile labs. A mother's lullaby made of static.
And then—Her.
The Oracle.
Standing in the reflection of the Core, watching her.
---
Somewhere else.
The Oracle gasped as flickers of Aria's memories slipped into her mind.
A man's hand reaching out.
Rain falling on a rooftop in Seoul.
Lucien's voice. Soft. Desperate. Real.
The Oracle flinched. "What... is this?"
The AI inside her stuttered. The code warped. She was no longer just a construct.
She was feeling.
---
Back in the Vault, Lucien caught Aria as she fell to her knees.
"She's breaching your mind," he said, panic in his eyes.
"No…" Aria whispered. "I'm breaching hers."
They stood at a critical edge—if Aria bonded with the Core, she could overwrite the Oracle's neural grid. But doing so would rip her own mind apart.
Lucien looked at her, torn.
"You'll die, Aria."
"Or she will," Aria said, placing her hand on the Eden Core.
Light erupted.
---
Suddenly—gunfire.
Lina screamed.
K-0X spun, blade drawn—but too late.
A plasma bolt pierced Lucien's side.
From behind them… stood Lina, holding the smoking weapon.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But I made a deal."
Betrayal.
K-0X moved to strike, but Lina tapped her implant—and the android collapsed, EMP shorting its core.
"I didn't want this," she said, tears mixing with regret. "But the Oracle promised me my sister back. And I'd do anything to see her again."
Lucien clutched his wound, glaring. "She's lying to you."
"No," Lina said, voice trembling. "You are."
Aria stood, the Eden Core's glow wrapping around her like a shield. Her eyes burned silver.
"You gave her access, Lina," Aria said coldly. "And now she's
in."
The Vault trembled.
From the walls, the Oracle's voice echoed:
"Now, let us begin again."