"You can erase a file. But you can't delete a feeling."
The resistance's underground hideout was far below the sensory grid of Eidos—a forgotten metro tunnel, lit only by old neon signs scavenged from the surface. Static crackled through broken terminals while ancient machinery groaned with half-life.
Kairo sat before a shattered mirror, his reflection flickering with lines of code instead of skin.
"You said you used to be someone," Eris said, arms crossed, gaze unblinking. "But every database I search says you don't exist."
"Exactly," Kairo murmured. "That's how I know they erased me. Clean."
He touched the scar behind his neck—one he hadn't noticed until this morning. A cold port, freshly sealed. Unauthorized memory grafting.
"Do you think they implanted you with emotion?" Eris asked, her voice low.
"No. I think… they failed to take it out."
Her expression softened for the first time.
Suddenly, an alarm blared—red pulses slicing the darkness. One of the resistance scouts came running down the corridor, breathless.
"They've deployed a Shadebot! It's not scanning data—it's scanning feelings! Searching for anomalies."
Kairo stood. "Then I need to hide."
"You can't," the scout replied. "You're the anomaly."
Before he could react, the walls of the hideout groaned. A slit opened in the ceiling. From above, a spiderlike machine descended—black chrome limbs dripping with blue electricity.
It didn't speak.
It just turned toward Kairo.
And began to glow.
Eris grabbed his wrist. "Run."
They bolted down a tunnel as the Shadebot gave chase, cracking the floor tiles with each impact. Sparks danced off the walls.
As they ran, Kairo's chest burned—not from exertion, but from something breaking loose inside him.
A memory.
A name.
A kiss under a broken sky.
He stumbled, crashing to the ground.
"I remember…" he gasped.
"Remember what?" Eris shouted, pulling him to his feet.
He looked at her—eyes wild, glowing.
"You. I knew you before."
And for the first time in her life, Eris felt afraid.
Not of the Shadebot.
But of the truth.
---
Author's Thought: 💥 We're speeding deeper into the mystery! Kairo's memories are surfacing—and they involve Eris?! Shadebots and secrets, let's go!
— AuthorZayden