When The Rain Fall

The alley was suffocatingly narrow, its walls damp from the lingering cold of the Vienna night. Mia's breath came in quick, uneven gasps as her mind reeled.

Dr. Celeste Veyne.

The name clawed at the edges of her consciousness, a specter of a past she couldn't fully recall. Her hands clenched involuntarily around the metallic cylinder Voss had given her, its cool surface grounding her amidst the rising panic.

Liam touched her arm, voice urgent. "Mia. Talk to me. Who is she?"

Mia swallowed hard. "I don't—I don't know everything. But I remember one thing." She turned to him, eyes dark with something between terror and realization. "She's the one who erased me."

Jonah's head snapped toward her. "Erased you?"

Evelyn kept her gun raised, scanning the shadows. "We can't do this here. Move."

They ran. Their footsteps echoed against the cobblestones as they navigated through the labyrinthine backstreets of Vienna. The old city, with its gothic structures and winding passages, felt like a ghost of the past, watching silently as they fled through its veins.

A sharp turn led them into a deserted courtyard, dimly lit by a single flickering streetlamp. Evelyn raised a fist—a silent command to stop. She turned, listening, eyes narrowed.

Silence.

Too much silence.

Jonah muttered, "They should've caught up by now. Why aren't they chasing us?"

Because they don't have to, Mia realized.

They weren't running away.

They were being led.

A cold gust of wind swept through the courtyard, carrying with it the scent of something metallic. Ozone.

Then—a single footstep.

And another.

Out of the shadows, a woman emerged.

Tall, elegant, and terrifyingly composed. Her sharp features were framed by dark auburn hair pulled into a loose bun, and she wore a deep blue coat, cinched at the waist. But it was her eyes that froze Mia in place. A piercing, unnatural silver—not from age, but from something far worse.

Not human.

Not entirely, at least.

"Hello, Mia."

Mia's breath hitched. She knew that voice. Soft, patient. The kind that could lull you into a false sense of security before tearing you apart.

Liam stepped forward, subtly shielding Mia. "Stay back."

Celeste tilted her head. "Liam Davenport. You shouldn't be here."

He didn't react, but Mia felt his pulse quicken beneath his skin. Celeste shifted her gaze toward Evelyn and Jonah, assessing them with quiet curiosity.

"A soldier," she said, nodding at Evelyn. "And a prodigy," she added, eyes flicking to Jonah. "Quite the collection of misfits you've gathered."

Jonah scowled. "If we're misfits, what does that make you? Some kind of puppet master?"

Celeste smiled faintly. "No, dear boy. I am merely an architect of necessary erasure."

A memory snapped into place.

Mia, strapped to a chair. Cold metal against her temple. Celeste's voice whispering—

"You won't remember this, but one day, you'll understand."

Mia stumbled back, heart slamming against her ribs. "You took my memories."

Celeste sighed. "Not just your memories, Mia. Your entire identity."

The world tilted. Mia gripped Liam's arm for support. "What do you mean?"

Celeste took a slow step forward. "Do you really think you were just another Echo wielder? Just some anomaly with an unusual gift?"

Mia's fingers dug into the metallic cylinder, knuckles turning white.

Celeste's gaze dropped to the object in her hands. "Ah. So Elias Voss told you something before he was taken."

Mia's breath hitched. "Taken?"

Celeste's expression didn't change. "Did you really think he'd be left alive after betraying the Veil?"

Jonah swore under his breath. Evelyn tensed, her gun aimed directly at Celeste's head.

Celeste merely sighed. "Violence won't help you, dear. You should know that better than anyone."

Evelyn didn't lower her weapon. "Try me."

Celeste turned her attention back to Mia. "The cylinder. Open it."

Mia hesitated.

"Don't do it," Liam warned.

Celeste tilted her head, amused. "Do you really think he knows what's best for you, Mia?"

The way she said it—so familiar, so knowing—sent another jolt of fear through Mia's spine.

Celeste knew her. Knew her in a way that even she didn't.

Mia's hands trembled as she slowly, hesitantly, twisted the cylinder. With a soft hiss, the top unlocked, revealing a small, glass vial filled with shimmering silver liquid.

Liam inhaled sharply. "Is that—?"

"Yes," Celeste said. "It's a piece of the Harmonic Nexus itself."

Mia stared at the swirling substance, entranced. It pulsed—as if alive.

Celeste stepped forward. "This is why you were erased, Mia. You are the only one who can synchronize with the Nexus. The only one who can unlock it. But you weren't ready."

Mia's mind spun. "You're lying."

Celeste smiled, almost pityingly. "Am I?"

The streetlamp above them flickered. Shadows stretched unnaturally across the ground.

And then, without warning—the liquid inside the vial surged upward, out of its container.

It hovered, pulsing like a heartbeat. Then—it rushed toward Mia's chest.

She screamed as the substance struck her skin, not burning, not freezing—something far worse. It was absorbing into her.

Liam lunged forward, but an invisible force sent him crashing into the wall. Jonah and Evelyn were slammed backward as well, pinned down by some unseen pressure.

Mia collapsed to her knees, gasping as visions flooded her mind.

A vast labyrinth of light. Endless corridors of sound and resonance. Voices overlapping, merging into a single unearthly melody.

And at the center—

A figure.

Not human. Not entirely.

Mia…

A voice echoed through her skull. Her own.

Then, a shattering noise—

And the visions stopped.

Mia gasped, blinking wildly. The silver substance had vanished. It was inside her now.

Liam was the first to recover, scrambling to her side. "Mia! Talk to me."

She looked up at him, eyes glowing silver.

Celeste exhaled, pleased. "Finally."

Evelyn and Jonah forced themselves upright, weapons still drawn.

Liam glared at Celeste. "What did you do to her?"

Celeste merely smiled. "I've only returned what was taken."

Mia's vision wavered. Her body felt weightless, her mind a storm of fragmented memories trying to reassemble.

A single phrase echoed through her mind, spoken in a voice identical to hers—but not hers.

"You are not who you think you are."

Then, darkness swallowed her whole.