Ashes of Our Flame
by RapwizzyDebaron
Episode 33: "Fragments of the Forgotten"
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Gunfire echoed through the sleek marble corridors of the Haven District vault as Kara sprinted toward the exit. Her breath came in shallow bursts, heart racing with panic and adrenaline. Behind her, the world she'd just uncovered—the mother she'd thought dead, the sister she never knew existed—was being swallowed once again by the violence that haunted her life.
Adrian's voice crackled through her earpiece. "South exit! We're holding them back!"
Kara burst through a glass doorway, boots skidding across polished tile. Just ahead, Ronan crouched behind an armored pillar, rifle blazing in rhythmic bursts. Tessa ducked behind a stone bench, eyes wide with terror but still clutching her laptop, data cables snaking out behind her.
"Where's your mom?" Adrian yelled, grabbing Kara's hand and pulling her toward the van.
"They put her back under… she's too weak," Kara said breathlessly. "But she remembered me. She called me her flame."
Adrian's grip tightened.
Then came the scream of tires.
Three black tactical vans skidded to a halt at the end of the street. Dozens of soldiers in riot gear poured out, their armor glinting beneath the streetlights.
"Move!" Ronan shouted. "We're boxed in!"
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Inside the van, chaos reigned.
Tessa worked furiously, typing code to try and jam the signal grid.
"They're tracking us through satellite triangulation," she muttered. "Give me one more minute!"
Adrian slammed his palm against the dashboard. "We don't have a minute!"
Kara peered through the back window. "We need a distraction."
Ronan smirked and reached into his vest. "I've got something fun."
He tossed a small orb into the street behind them. Seconds later, it erupted in a blinding wall of white flames—light, not heat, igniting the entire avenue and momentarily blinding their pursuers.
"Go!" he shouted, punching the accelerator.
The van tore through the streets.
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Miles later, they regrouped in a parking structure beneath an abandoned stadium.
The silence was deafening.
Kara leaned against a column, eyes fixed on the floor.
Adrian sat across from her, elbows on his knees. "You okay?"
"No," she whispered. "I found my mother… and learned she had another daughter before me. I'm a copy, Adrian. A replacement."
"You're more than that," he said gently. "You've made choices she never got to. You broke the pattern."
"But what if I'm still just a pawn? What if all of this—my life, my pain, our love—it's all engineered?"
Adrian got up, walked over, and cupped her face in his hands.
"Then let's burn the script they wrote for us."
Her lips trembled, but she nodded. "Okay."
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Meanwhile, in a remote surveillance room, a figure in a dark suit leaned over a monitor.
"Subject Kara encountered the dormant phase of Prototype Zero-One," he said into a commlink.
A voice replied: "Activate the secondary failsafe. We cannot allow her to uncover the full Lazarus archive."
"Yes, Director."
The screen flickered.
A red indicator blinked beside the image of Kara's mother.
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Back in the hideout, Tessa broke the silence.
"There's more," she said, motioning for the others to gather around her screen.
She played another file. A hidden video recorded inside the Haven vault.
It showed a man—tall, white-haired, with a cybernetic implant over one eye—speaking softly to Kara's mother while she lay unconscious.
"She doesn't need to know the truth. Let her believe the daughter survived. It will keep her docile."
Then came another voice. Cold. Mechanical.
"Prepare for Phase Omega."
Adrian frowned. "Who's the white-haired man?"
Ronan answered grimly. "Doctor Elias Vane. The one who started the Lazarus Protocol."
Kara clenched her fists. "He's still alive?"
"Looks like it," Tessa said. "And he's the key to unlocking everything."
Adrian nodded. "Then we go after him."
"But not recklessly," Ronan warned. "Vane doesn't just run the Lazarus Protocol. He is the protocol. He's rumored to be the first successful subject."
Kara looked up. "You mean… he died?"
"And was brought back," Tessa whispered. "Over and over again. Every time, stronger. Smarter."
Adrian's jaw clenched. "Then we find the one place he can't control."
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Later that night, as rain tapped softly against the broken windowpanes, Kara sat alone in the corner, staring at her reflection in the mirror.
Noticing things she hadn't before.
The flicker in her eye when she got angry.
The way her wounds healed faster than anyone else's.
The way her heart never seemed to stop aching—like it remembered pain that wasn't hers.
She pressed a hand to her chest.
What am I?
Behind her, Adrian approached.
"I thought you were sleeping," he said softly.
"I can't sleep," she murmured. "Too many questions. Too many ghosts."
He slid down beside her.
"I don't care what they made you from," he said. "All I see is you. Brave. Broken. Still standing."
She turned to him, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Do you still love me, even if I'm not… real?"
He pulled her into his arms, pressing his lips to her temple.
"You're the realest thing in my world, Kara."
And she let herself fall into him—just for a while.
Because in a world built on lies, love was the one thing they chose for themselves.
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To be continued…
🔥 Love or lie, flame or
shadow—what would you choose?
Don't miss the next scorching chapter of Ashes of Our Flame by RapwizzyDebaron.
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