Myth Rewritten: Fallen Cosmos

Mira's mind reels as fragments of forgotten memories swirl in a storm of confusion. The world beyond the lab-glimpses of places she has never seen, yet feel eerily familiar. Visions of herself as someone else, of a life beyond this cold facility. She sees flashes of a different sky, hands reaching for hers, voices calling a name she barely recognizes as her own. A home, a past-scattered remnants of something she was never meant to remember. But among all the distortions, one constant remains.

Caleb.

A name that has anchored her through the fog. A silhouette, faceless yet unmistakable, reaching out to her through the haze of her mind. A presence that lingers even when all else is erased.

Caleb's voice draws her back to the present. "The lab's systems have been destroyed. We can use this chance to escape."

She looks at him, her mind still fragmented, hesitant. "I don't know who you are. I only know your name."

His expression doesn't falter. "I'm Caleb. Your friend."

The word feels foreign. Yet something within her doesn't reject it. Friend. A whisper of a feeling-something warm, something lost.

"All you need to know is that this isn't our first time escaping."

A flicker of something-a memory just out of reach. The rush of air against her skin. The sound of alarms. The grip of a hand pulling her forward.

"I remember... escaping with Caleb before."

He seems taken aback for the briefest moment, but then his hand extends toward her, unwavering.

"I promise this will be our last escape."

A piercing alarm wails through the ruined halls.

Othanbot's automated voice echoes across the collapsing facility. "The test subject A-01 has escaped! Requesting interception immediately!"

The walls shudder under bombardment as security drones activate, red lights flaring to life. Steel doors slam shut in an attempt to contain them. The pathways are constricting, filled with reinforced defense units.

For the first time, Mira fights not in an open battlefield, but in an enclosed facility, where the walls threaten to crush them. The calculated combat training buried within her activates as if on instinct, her body moving before her mind can fully comprehend.

Energy pulses surge through the narrow corridor as she dodges incoming fire, her limbs reacting with unnatural precision. Caleb moves beside her, his gravity field distorting the projectiles aimed at them, sending metal shards and debris crashing into the reinforced walls. The confined space makes his power volatile-the very air around him distorts, pulling loose objects into an erratic orbit before sending them hurtling away.

Mira glances at him between dodging attacks. "Why are they after me? Who are they?"

Caleb deflects another incoming strike, his voice steady despite the chaos. "They're rebels. And I am the ultimate weapon they are after."

The realization sinks in. She isn't just a captive. She is a target. A weapon both sides are desperate to control.

"Then why do they want me?"

Caleb's gaze flickers toward her, something dark and unreadable beneath his calm exterior. "Because if I am their ultimate weapon... then you are something even greater."

A shiver runs through her. There's no time to process the weight of his words. The facility is crumbling.

Fighting their way past the waves of defense drones, they reach a sealed hatch. Caleb's palm slams onto the control panel, overriding its access restrictions with a forceful surge of his power. The doors groan open, revealing a dimly lit underground hangar.

Inside, sleek metal glistens under flickering emergency lights. Amidst the wreckage and discarded machinery, a single aircraft remains intact-hidden away from sight, its streamlined form built for speed. Its design is unfamiliar to her, yet Caleb moves toward it without hesitation, as if he had planned this escape long before now.

Caleb wastes no time, leading Mira inside as security forces close in behind them. The engines ignite with a low hum, vibrating beneath their feet as the hangar doors begin to retract.

Gunfire erupts from the incoming security teams, sparks ricocheting off the reinforced plating of the ship. Caleb grips the controls, maneuvering through the tightening space as alarms blare through the hangar.

The ship lurches forward, breaking free from the facility's confines. The weight of gravity shifts as they ascend, the sky rushing toward them.

Below, the laboratory shrinks, consumed by fire and smoke. The world they once knew disappears beneath them, swallowed by the destruction.

For the first time in what feels like eternity, they are no longer prisoners.

But freedom comes with a price.

Caleb's voice cuts through the silence. "I promise, this will be our last escape."

And for the first time, Mira dares to believe him.