When The Rain Fall

Mia's consciousness drifted through a void. It wasn't darkness—it was something more terrifying. A realm where time had no meaning, where sound didn't exist but somehow thrived in the silence. It felt like floating inside a shattered song, each broken note carrying an echo of something lost.

And then—a whisper.

Mia…

The voice was hers, but distorted. Fractured, like two versions of herself speaking in unison but out of sync. The moment she tried to respond, a pulse of pain cracked through her skull. Images flooded her mind—blurry memories, erased faces, places she couldn't recognize but felt deeply familiar.

A hand touched her shoulder. Cold.

Mia… wake up.

Mia's eyes snapped open.

She wasn't in the courtyard anymore. A dim, flickering industrial light swung above her, casting erratic shadows against rusted train tracks and broken concrete. The air was thick with the scent of metal and old oil.

She tried to sit up but felt wrong. Something was different—her body, her mind. It was as if a thousand invisible threads had reattached themselves to her thoughts, pulling her in directions she didn't understand.

"You're awake."

Liam's voice. Tense, relieved, but guarded. He was crouched beside her, his hand clenched into a fist. His knuckles were white—he had been holding himself back.

Jonah and Evelyn stood nearby, their backs pressed against a rusted control panel, weapons still in hand.

Mia blinked, trying to steady herself. "What… happened?"

Jonah exhaled. "You tell us. One second you were normal, the next you were glowing like a goddamn supernova."

Evelyn folded her arms. "And then you collapsed. That was almost six hours ago."

Six hours?

Mia rubbed her temples, feeling the residue of something unnatural humming beneath her skin. The silver liquid.

She shuddered. "Where's Celeste?"

Liam's expression darkened. "She left. Said she'd give you time to 'adjust.'" His jaw tightened. "Like this was all part of some sick experiment."

Mia clenched her fists. "That's exactly what it was."

She didn't know how she knew that, but she did. And the certainty terrified her.

She had been altered before.

Not just erased. Rewritten.

Her heart pounded as more fractured images returned—snippets of conversations, surgical lights, Celeste's voice murmuring something about the Nexus, about "aligning resonance."

And then—a room. A chair. A machine.

Mia sucked in a sharp breath. "There was a lab. Not just the one in Vienna—there was another one. Before that."

Evelyn straightened. "Where?"

Mia closed her eyes, trying to force the memory into focus. "It wasn't a normal facility. Underground. Hidden. I think… somewhere in Eastern Europe."

Jonah frowned. "You 'think'?"

Liam placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mia, you don't have to force it."

But she did. Because something was clawing at the edges of her mind—a name.

A place.

Then, like a melody finally clicking into place—it surfaced.

Mia whispered, "Rügen."

Jonah's head snapped up. "The German island?"

Mia nodded slowly. "It wasn't just a research lab. It was something more. And I think… I think that's where I died."

Silence fell over the group.

Jonah was the first to break it. "What do you mean 'died'?"

Mia shook her head. "I don't know. But I feel it. That place—something happened to me there. Something so big that they had to erase me completely."

Liam exhaled sharply. "Then that's where we go next."

Evelyn pushed away from the control panel. "We don't even know if it still exists."

Jonah tapped something on his phone. "I can check. Give me a sec." His fingers danced over the screen, hacking into satellite data faster than should've been possible.

A few moments later, he cursed. "Son of a—okay, this is weird."

Liam leaned over. "What?"

Jonah turned the screen toward them. "Rügen. There's a black zone there. No satellite imaging, no records, nothing."

Evelyn frowned. "Black zones are usually military. But if it was abandoned, there should be old data."

Mia's pulse quickened. "Unless it wasn't abandoned."

Jonah nodded grimly. "Exactly."

Liam's eyes met Mia's. "If that place is still active, it means someone is keeping your past buried."

Mia exhaled, feeling the weight of that truth sink in. But why?

And then—another puzzle piece clicked into place.

Celeste's words: You are not who you think you are.

The Nexus. The silver liquid. The erased memories.

And the single, terrifying realization that burned into Mia's mind:

She wasn't just an Echo wielder. She was something else entirely.

Something dangerous enough to be erased.

Something worth hiding on a blacked-out island.

Mia took a deep breath. "We have to go to Rügen."

Jonah sighed. "Oh yeah, sure. Let's just break into a highly classified, possibly still-active facility where you apparently died. Sounds like a great plan."

Evelyn smirked. "Welcome to the team."

Jonah groaned. "I hate all of you."

Liam gave Mia a steady look. "Are you sure about this?"

Mia met his gaze, something new and unshakable burning behind her silver-glowing eyes.

"Yes."

Because no matter what waited for them on Rügen—it was time to finish what had been erased.