The Recall Trials Chapter 59: The Stranger They Once Knew

My mother’s smile. The accident. Her hand reaching for through shattered glass.

Deleted.

Nomi. The first person who smiled at in the Recall Trials. Her voice, her hopes. Gone.

Zaara.

Her eyes.

The way she said my na.

The way she pulled back when I wanted to fall.

Gone.

Theo. Dinesh. Jojo.

Gone. Gone. Gone.

Their nas were ashes.

Their mories? Smoke.

Then silence.

I was still breathing.

I was empty.

No fear. No nerves. No guilt. No pain. No grief.

I beca free.

I beca perfect.

"To control chaos... sotis you must beco it."

A smile stretched across my face.

"Welco to the Aetherions," the voices echoed.

And from the shadows, they stepped forward.

Not shadows....people.

Draped in black silk robes that shimred like oil in light that shouldn’t even exist. Their faces hidden behind golden serpentine masks...twisted into smirks, fangs carved into the tal. A serpent sigil burned on their robes. No nas. No voices. Only symbols.

The Aetherions.

They circled slowly.

The Illuminati had secrets. The Aetherions? They had control.

Control over minds. Over mories. Over ti itself.

"You’re one of us now," one of them whispered into my mind.

"You’ve ascended."

"We are the unseen."

"We are the puppeteers."

"We are the gods behind the ga."

They circled . Hands behind their backs.

And I...Vincent Aston...felt nothing but power humming through my veins.

One leaned in close. I could see their breath fogging under the mask.

"Your mind is rare. Adaptable. Resistant to sedation. Resistant to corruption... so far."

"You’ve broken every simulation. Shattered every protocol."

Another stepped forward. "Imagine what we could build with a mind like yours... if it were finally under control."

"We’re architects," the serpent-masked figure replied. "We see the trials as evolution."

I looked up.

And smiled wider.

"What’s my first command?"

.....

The doors to the trial chamber hissed open. I stepped through, barefoot, clothed in the sa grey uniform as the others...but inside, I was nothing like them.

No heartbeat trembled in my chest.

No panic gnawed at my thoughts.

No na, no past, no self.

I was... reset.

The Aetherions had done what they promised.

They erased the boy. The grief. The rage. The love.

Vincent Aston died on that table.

What remained now was their creation.

Caras blinked in every corner. Above us, the glass sphere pulsed with red light.

But I didn’t flinch.

Emotion was a concept. Not a feeling.

I was back where it all started.

I was an echo wearing skin.

Every eye turned to .

I stood there, unmoved.

The others had gathered in the shadows. All of them watching. Watching . Their stares weren’t of reunion or relief... but dread.

They stared like they’d seen a ghost.

People whispered my na.

Then I saw her.

Her.

She ran across the floor, barefoot, a thin cut on her leg like she’d been running for hours.

Black hair. Slim face. Skin pale like porcelain.

Bluish-green eyes locked onto mine. Desperate. Drenched with sothing I once might’ve understood.

Salt. Water. Weakness.

I think they call it tears.

Her arms flung around my neck before I could move.

"Vincent! Thank God, I was worried sick...it’s been hours, where were you?"

Her voice cracked at the edges like a record that’s been played too much. Familiar, maybe. But aningless.

I stood there.

Still.

Rigid.

My arms didn’t move.

Her warmth ant nothing.

I glanced at the wetness on her cheek. Salty.

Disgusting.

I gently pulled her off .

Cold.

She stepped back, confused. Hurt. Like she was waiting for a hug or sothing.

My head tilted slightly.

I stared at her like a riddle with no answer.

"Who are you?" I asked.

She blinked once. Twice. The way soone blinks when the ground vanishes from under them.

"Vin... stop playing. It’s ....Zaara."

The na didn’t register. All it did was echo through the dark void inside my skull.

Not anymore.

I tilted my head.

"You’re crying," I noted, like it was weather.

She took a step back, shaking her head. Her bottom lip trembled.

"No... No, what did they do to you?" she whispered.

I turned from her.

People were still watching. Whispering.

Suspicion oozed from their eyes like venom.

They felt threatened.

Good. I like the sound of that.

I walked forward, like I owned the ground beneath .

Then

SLAM.

The doors burst open.

Panting. Broken. Covered in dirt and bruises.

Her knees buckled the mont she entered the room.

Everyone turned.

"Jojo!" The zaara lady scread.

A guy with tattoos rushed forward and caught the Jojo before she fell. Her lips were cracked. Her arms scarred. Her eyes..

Her eyes scanned the room wildly.

Then landed on . She ran to .

The bruises on her jaw twitched.

Her lips parted.

She yelled.

"Vincent...?"

I didn’t blink.

Didn’t move.

No flicker of recognition. No twitch in my jaw.

"Do I know you?" I asked plainly.

The silence that followed that sentence... it was thunderous.

Jojo’s mouth opened slightly, like she’d just been stabbed.

Zaara stepped back, shaking her head in disbelief. Her hands were really trembling.

Soone else muttered, "What the hell did they do to you?"

Jojo tried to move forward. A middle age looking man held her back.

Her voice was fragile..

"No. No, no, no, that’s not you. That’s not your voice. That’s not how you look at . Vincent, it’s ...Jojo. You saved , rember? You..."

I tilted my head again.

"I don’t rember saving anyone."

She dropped to her knees.

"They got to you," she whispered.

"You’re not him anymore. I swear I’ll get you back. I saw you in that room. I tried talking to you."

The intercom buzzed overhead.

"Contestant 001 has re-entered the fold."

"Upgraded. Cleansed. He’s now perfect."

Gasps filled the room. A guy cursed at them.

"They turned him into the monster he was running from," jojo whispered.

I felt nothing.

I looked up at the cara, knowing exactly who was watching.

And smiled.