Chapter 24: The Cost of Being Seen
They didn't stop running until the city thinned into broken streets and abandoned structures—places Emberlight's maps marked as irrelevant.
Cyan finally slowed, breath sharp but controlled. He ducked them into a half-collapsed transit hub, sealing the entrance behind them with a quiet pulse of code. The darkness that followed wasn't comforting, but it was temporary safety.
Mira leaned against the wall, closing her eyes for a brief second.
One Subject offline. Possibly more.
The weight of it pressed against her ribs.
"They took one of them," she said.
Cyan didn't answer immediately. His hands trembled as he pulled up the network—what remained of it. Several signals were still active. Scattered. Frightened. But alive.
"Not all," he said finally. "They didn't get all of them."
Mira opened her eyes. "That's not enough."
"No," Cyan agreed. "But it's something."
A weak signal pulsed near the edge of the map—unstable, fading. Cyan zoomed in, heart dropping.
"Injured," he said. "Barely holding the connection."
Mira was already moving. "We go to them."
Cyan looked at her sharply. "It's a trap risk."
"Everything is a risk now," she replied. "They answered us. We don't abandon them."
For a moment, he said nothing. Then he nodded.
They found the Subject hiding beneath a collapsed overpass, blood staining their sleeve, eyes wide with terror at every sound. Mira knelt beside them without hesitation, her voice low, steady.
"You're safe," she said—not as a promise, but as a decision.
The Subject shook their head weakly. "They… they knew my name."
Mira's jaw tightened. Emberlight always did.
As Cyan worked to stabilize the connection and erase the trail, Mira stayed there, grounding the trembling figure, absorbing their fear without flinching.
This was the cost.
Not just being hunted—but being responsible.
When they finally moved again, dawn was breaking faintly across the sky. Pale light filtered through the ruins, revealing a city that looked the same as it always had.
But Mira knew better now.
The world hadn't changed.
They had.
Cyan glanced at her as they walked. "Once this started… there was no safe ending."
Mira met his gaze. "I didn't want safe."
He exhaled slowly. "Neither did I."
Behind them, Emberlight regrouped.
Ahead of them, the Forgotten waited.
And between those two forces, Mira and Cyan kept moving—carrying the weight of every name that had finally dared to be seen.