The alarm continued to blare throughout the entire building. Red lights flashed along the corridors, making everyone’s faces look even more tense.
Lyra didn’t take her eyes off Raven.
“Less than twenty-four hours until what?”
Raven stayed silent.
“Answer me.”
“You’re not ready to hear the answer.”
Lyra stepped closer.
“I’ve lost so much because of your secrets. I lost Arka, lost my trust, and almost lost myself. So don’t tell me I’m not ready.”
Raven stared at her for a long moment.
For an instant, Lyra saw something different in his eyes.
Not arrogance.
Not guilt.
Fear.
“Kronos will fully activate in less than twenty-four hours.”
Nadia frowned.
“What does ‘activate’ mean?”
Ezra answered in a quiet voice.
“If the system activates, all the stored experimental data will run automatically.”
Lyra looked at Ezra.
“And what happens then?”
Ezra didn’t answer right away.
“That depends on the final target.”
Lyra felt uneasy.
“Who’s the final target?”
Raven looked at her.
“You.”
The room seemed to freeze.
Lyra didn’t move.
“Me?”
Raven nodded.
“Kronos was created for one final purpose: to find a way to alter someone’s decisions by influencing their memories.”
“I don’t understand.”
Raven took several steps toward her.
“Eight years ago, you were the only person who survived the process.”
Lyra let out a small laugh.
“So now I’m supposed to believe I was the successful experiment?”
“No.”
Raven shook his head.
“You’re the reason the project was shut down.”
Lyra fell silent.
“What does that mean?”
Raven looked at the screen that was still glowing.
“Because after the process was carried out, you were supposed to lose your memories of everything.”
Nadia looked at Lyra.
“But you still remember.”
“Yeah.”
Ezra stared at the screen.
“That’s what frightened them.”
Lyra tried to recall her past.
But the harder she tried, the more pieces seemed to be missing.
“Something’s gone.”
Raven nodded.
“Because they didn’t manage to erase everything.”
“Who are they?”
Raven didn’t answer.
Lyra knew immediately.
“You know.”
“I know some of it.”
“And you’re still keeping quiet.”
“I’m keeping quiet because if you find out too much right now, you could make the wrong decision.”
Lyra glared at him.
“You’re still the same. You always think you have the right to decide what I’m allowed to know.”
Those words left Raven silent.
Nadia stepped between them.
“If you want to argue about the past, do it later. Right now, we have to find Arka.”
Lyra immediately refocused.
“Right.”
She looked at Raven.
“Where is he?”
Raven looked toward the underground passage.
“He’s still here.”
Everyone was instantly shocked.
“What?”
Lyra didn’t wait for an explanation.
She immediately started walking in the direction Raven was looking.
“Wait,” Ezra said.
Lyra stopped.
“What?”
“If Arka is still here, that means whoever’s holding him is still here too.”
“I know.”
“And that’s dangerous.”
Lyra looked at them.
“I’ve known that from the beginning.”
They descended toward the deeper underground room. This place was different from the room before—colder, darker, and much quieter.
At the end of the passage stood a massive door.
Raven stopped.
“Behind that door.”
Lyra tried to open it.
It wouldn’t budge.
“What’s the key?”
Raven looked at Arka’s watch.
“Use that.”
Lyra looked at the watch.
“That makes no sense.”
“Arka deliberately left it for you.”
Lyra brought the watch close to the small panel beside the door.
A few seconds later, a green light came on.
The door opened.
Inside the room, Lyra immediately saw someone sitting in a chair.
“Arka.”
Arka lifted his head.
He looked exhausted, but he was still conscious.
Lyra ran straight to him.
“Are you okay?”
Arka gave her a faint smile.
“I knew you’d come.”
Lyra held back her emotions.
“You’re seriously the worst.”
“I know.”
“You disappeared without an explanation.”
“I know.”
“You made everyone worry.”
“I know that too.”
Lyra shot him an annoyed look.
“Stop saying you know.”
Arka laughed softly.
For the first time in days, Lyra saw Arka smile.
But the smile didn’t last long.
“We have to get out of here.”
Lyra helped remove the equipment attached to Arka.
“What did they do to you?”
Arka looked at Raven standing behind her.
“He knows everything.”
Lyra turned around.
“Raven?”
Arka nodded.
“But he’s not the person we need to be afraid of.”
Everyone fell silent.
Ezra immediately asked,
“Then who is?”
Arka looked at the screen in the room.
A name appeared.
DR. VAREN.
Lyra frowned.
“Who’s that?”
Arka looked at her.
“The person who created Kronos.”
Raven’s expression turned serious.
“He’s back.”
Nadia looked from one of them to the next.
“You all know him?”
Arka nodded.
“He was the leader of this project.”
Lyra stared at the screen.
“If he’s back, why?”
Arka took a breath.
“Because he wants to finish the experiment that failed eight years ago.”
“And that experiment was me?”
Arka looked at Lyra.
“Yes.”
Lyra fell silent.
“Why me?”
Arka stepped closer.
“Because you have something no one else does.”
“What?”
Arka looked into her eyes.
“You can still choose, even when they try to control your choices.”
Lyra didn’t answer.
Suddenly, the entire room began to shake.
The alarm changed into a warning siren.
The time on the screen changed.
23:59:59.
23:59:58.
23:59:57.
The countdown began.
Nadia looked at the screen.
“This isn’t just a warning.”
Ezra nodded.
“It’s already running.”
Lyra stared at the numbers as they continued to drop.
Raven stepped closer.
“Lyra.”
She looked at Raven.
“What?”
“If you want to stop this, you have to go back to the place where it all began.”
Lyra understood what he meant.
The place where her memories changed.
The place where everything began.
Arka looked at her worriedly.
“You don’t have to do this.”
Lyra looked at everyone in the room.
Then she stared at the countdown as it continued.
“I’ve been running for too long.”
She took a deep breath.
“This time, I’m the one who decides how the story ends.”
And as the numbers on the screen continued to fall, Lyra finally decided to face the past she had spent so long avoiding.