Chapter 9 Sister Of The Storm

The silence in the vault grew suffocating. Liora stood frozen, hand pressed against the pod's glass, staring into the eyes of the sister she had buried in memory years ago. The girl within was older now, matured by the same cruel science that had sculpted Liora. Her hair floated like spun mercury, and her irises glowed with the same infernal gold that marked those born or made with the Regime's genetic code.

"She's alive," Liora whispered. "By the gods, they kept her alive."

Kael was at her side, quiet, calculating. "We can't be sure what they did to her."

"I know her." Liora turned to him, voice trembling. "She's not a weapon. She's... she's Sera."

Kael's expression didn't soften. "And you weren't supposed to be a weapon either."

The words stung, but they weren't untrue. Liora remembered the experiments, the commands whispered into her subconscious, the trigger phrases, the pain. If they had done the same to Sera...

But something in those golden eyes said no. Sera hadn't forgotten her.

"We have to wake her," Liora said.

Kael hesitated. "We don't know what waking her will unleash."

"Neither did they. But they did it anyway."

She turned to the console and began tapping through the interface, fingers dancing over ancient commands coded into her muscle memory. The screen flickered, then flared to life. A holographic display of Sera's vitals spun into view: heart rate stable, oxygenation perfect. She wasn't in stasis.

She was waiting.

Liora bypassed the failsafe. The fluid inside the pod began to drain with a hiss, steam curling around the base like fog. Sera's body slumped as the support systems disengaged. Her eyes fluttered, and for a moment, Liora saw the ghost of the little girl she used to braid wildflowers into her hair.

Then those eyes snapped open.

"Liora," she said. Not a question. A statement. A recognition older than time.

"I'm here," Liora whispered. "I found you."

Sera stumbled out of the pod, collapsing into her sister's arms. Her skin was cold, but her grip was iron.

"How long?" she asked.

Liora swallowed hard. "Years. I thought you were dead."

Sera looked past her, to Kael, then to the ruin around them. "No. I was buried. They buried me alive in memory and steel."

Kael stepped forward. "We have no time. The Regime is moving fast. Can you walk?"

Sera nodded, slowly rising. She wore only a regulation shift, but the fire in her eyes made her seem clothed in storm.

"Can I walk?" she said with a small, sharp smile. "I can burn."

Above ground, Ruinspire bustled with life. Wolves and shifters alike reinforced the crater's ridges with broken metal and boneshards. Mira met them at the vault entrance, eyes widening as she saw Sera emerge behind Liora.

"Another one?" she asked sharply.

"Not another," Liora said. "The other. My sister."

Mira didn't argue. She could sense the storm brewing behind Sera's silence.

"She trained too?" Mira asked.

"We trained together," Sera said, stepping forward. "But I survived alone."

Fenrick joined them, his voice gruff. "Then you'll fight with us?"

Sera tilted her head. "You plan to hold this ruin against the Regime?"

"We don't plan to hold it," Liora said. "We plan to change it."

"Into what?"

Liora looked up at the broken sky. "A sanctuary. A warpath. A home."

Sera said nothing. But her silence held weight. She looked back at the vault, then at her sister, then to the wolves gathering like shadows around them.

"Then you'll need more than teeth and claws. You'll need a storm."

The night that followed pulsed with tension. The shifters sensed it in their blood. The earth vibrated beneath their feet as if warning them of what came. Fenrick's scouts returned with grim news: Regime drones were moving through the dead cities to the north. Steel fliers circled the ruins like vultures.

War was imminent.

In the war chamber, Liora stood at the map table, drawing new lines of defense. Kael leaned over her shoulder, offering quiet strategy. Mira sharpened her blade by the fire. Sera stood in the shadows, silent and observant.

Then, suddenly, she spoke.

"They're watching us."

Liora looked up. "What do you mean?"

Sera closed her eyes. "I can feel them. Not with sight. Not sound. But with what they left in me. I'm still connected. At least... partially."

"You're linked to the Regime?" Kael asked sharply.

"No. I'm echoing their signal. Which means I can jam it."

The room fell silent.

"You can cloak us?" Mira asked.

"For now," Sera replied. "But they'll notice. Sooner or later."

"Then we move first," Liora said.

"We launch an attack?" Fenrick asked. "Here?"

"No," Kael said. "We draw them out."

Liora's gaze sharpened. "We hit their nearest base. Take their comm tower. Cut the signal off completely."

"That's suicide," Mira muttered.

"It's evolution," Sera countered. "We don't hide anymore. We hunt."

Kael nodded slowly. "Then we leave before dawn."

That night, Liora and Sera stood atop the crater's edge. The moon was full now, shining down like a judgment. The wind whipped Liora's hair back, and beside her, Sera stood like a mirrored flame.

"I missed you," Liora said quietly.

"They tried to erase you from me," Sera said. "They made me forget your face. But I remembered your name. Every time they put me under, I whispered it."

Liora reached out, taking her hand. "We're together now. We won't be broken again."

"No," Sera said. "But we will be reborn."

Far in the distance, a Regime outpost pulsed with cold blue light.

The storm had begun to gather.