The ruins stretched before them, vast and silent, remnants of a city buried beneath the Architects' vision of control. The air was thick with dust and dampness, the scent of old metal and decay lingering in the cavernous space. Faint lights flickered overhead, powered by systems that should have died long ago.
Kiera trailed behind Aerin as they led the group deeper into the undercity. Each step felt like walking through a ghost's memory—broken signs, faded murals, shattered glass from storefronts that had once belonged to people who refused to conform. A reminder of what had been lost.
"How is this place still standing?" Rhys asked, his voice hushed as if afraid to disturb the silence.
Aerin didn't look back. "Because the Architects couldn't control it. So they buried it instead."
The ruins didn't just look forgotten. They felt like they had been ripped out of time itself, frozen in a moment before the Architects' reign had tightened its grip. It was unsettling, walking through a place where echoes of rebellion still clung to the walls.
Kiera's fingers brushed against the crumbling surface beside her, tracing a symbol etched into the stone. A jagged line intertwined with a star—the same one she had seen above ground. Something about it called to her, an echo of a time she couldn't quite grasp.
"That symbol," she murmured. "What does it mean?"
Aerin hesitated, then turned to face her. "It was the mark of the first rebellion. The people who fought back before the Architects rewrote everything." Their gaze darkened. "It was also your mark, Kiera."
The words hit like a shock to her system.
"My mark?"
"You don't remember," Aerin said, more of a statement than a question. "But before they took you, you were more than just a rebel. You were leading us."
Kiera's breath caught in her throat.
No. That didn't make sense. She was just—just another escapee. Another victim of the Architects' control. Wasn't she?
Rhys was staring at her now, his expression unreadable. Marek, ever the pragmatist, simply crossed her arms. "If that's true, why wouldn't they just kill her?"
"Because she knew something," Aerin replied. "Something so dangerous that instead of erasing her existence, they rewrote her."
The words sent a shiver down Kiera's spine. She had always suspected there was more to her past than what the Architects had left her with, but to hear it so plainly—so undeniably—felt like stepping off a ledge into the unknown.
They hadn't just stolen her past.
They had used her.
The memories that surfaced in brief flashes—white sterile rooms, voices speaking in cold, detached tones, the sensation of being rebuilt—were no longer just fragments of something distant. They were real. Pieces of her identity, forcefully reshaped into something else.
Kiera took a slow, steadying breath. "What did I know?"
Aerin hesitated. "We don't have the full picture. But whatever it was, the Architects feared it enough to keep you alive—and to turn you into one of them."
The truth felt like a weight pressing against her chest. A past stolen. A purpose erased.
But before Kiera could dwell on it further, the distant hum of engines cut through the silence.
Marek's head snapped up. "Drones."
Aerin's face twisted with frustration. "They found us faster than I thought."
Kiera's instincts sharpened instantly. Her muscles tensed, and the logical part of her brain took over—scanning, assessing, preparing. The urge to react was immediate, the Architects' programming still woven into her very core.
She pushed it down. She had to be more than what they had made her.
"Where's this person you were taking us to?" she asked, forcing her voice to stay steady.
Aerin pointed toward a collapsed subway tunnel in the distance. "Beyond there. If we move now, we can make it before they lock this place down."
No hesitation. No time to question.
Kiera clenched her fists and ran.
As they sprinted across the ruined cityscape, the distant hum of the drones grew louder, vibrating against the underground walls like an approaching storm. The Architects were relentless—they never let a rogue escape their grip for long.
They reached the tunnel entrance, a gaping maw of concrete and steel swallowed by rubble. Aerin moved quickly, pressing their hand to a barely visible panel beneath the debris. A small screen flickered to life, scanning their palm before releasing a low mechanical hiss.
A passageway slid open, revealing a hidden staircase leading deeper underground.
"Go!" Aerin urged.
Kiera didn't need to be told twice. She slipped through, Rhys and Marek close behind. The moment Aerin was inside, the entrance sealed shut again, concealing them from the outside world.
Darkness swallowed them. The air was thick, musty, untouched for years.
Kiera's heartbeat slowed just enough for her mind to start racing again.
She was more than an escapee. More than an experiment.
She had been a leader.
The Architects had tried to erase her.
But piece by piece, she was going to take herself back.