I spent so long avoiding my own reflection that, when I finally faced it, I didn't recognize the man staring back at me. What I saw wasn't the young doctor I once was, but a shadow of him—withered by time and buried under the ashes of ambition and regret.
Once, my only goal had been to serve the Community of Thirteen. But those days are long gone.
The last time I saw my face in that fractured mirror, I made a choice that would alter everything: I descended into the intermediate level of the laboratories
—a space suspended between science and monstrosity.
There, I was tasked with developing a treatment in the "Special Cell Unit" to halt human aging. But I always knew that wasn't my real mission. Not truly.
That's where I first saw the photograph—blurry, barely legible, and yet it haunted me.
A woman. *Zaira.*
Even through faded film, her skin glowed with a strange vitality. And her eyes… her eyes carried something no test subject should possess: humanity.
Something in that gaze shook me. She wasn't just a specimen—she had a story. One I would never fully understand.
*"What are we doing here?"* I whispered into the sterile silence.
But the answer was always the same.
*"Progress justifies any sacrifice."*
### 33 Years Later
When I was sent to Zone Zero—a prison designed to crush even the strongest—I thought I had been discarded. I scratched the walls of my cell with a pencil, counting the days for thirty-three years. But the faces I destroyed never left me. Especially hers.
Especially Zaira's.
Her eyes, once so haunting, now served as the only anchor to my crumbling sanity.
When I was finally released, it wasn't mercy. It was necessity.
The Community still needed me.
Back in the lab, I scanned the files in a hurry, desperate to recover pieces of my past research. Amid the silence, something stopped me cold—a name. Zaira. A file, sealed and classified.
"What have you done?" I whispered to myself as I read through the documents.
A week later, I heard a cry that shattered the sterile stillness of the lab. Trembling, I approached a dark chamber where an incubator glowed faintly. Inside, a newborn wailed—a fragile yet fierce voice. Clumsily, I lifted her. Something about her face felt… hauntingly familiar.
Back at my desk, I pulled up more records. A photograph of Zaira stared back at me. On the back, scrawled in faded ink, were two names: hers... and mine.
I opened the baby's file. My world collapsed.
Donors: Zaira / Darian.
"It can't be…" I murmured as a flood of emotion surged through me. My ambition had turned me into a tool of the Community—and now I had to face the consequences.
I knew I couldn't leave her there.
I planned everything. Boarded the yacht the Community had reserved for my "retirement," hiding the child aboard. I sailed toward the remote Niihau archipelagos, desperate to find a safe haven.
An old woman offered shelter and cared for the girl while I searched for refuge. Her words pierced me:
"You're a good father. A father's love is eternal."
But I wasn't a father. Not truly. And yet, in that moment, I decided—I would protect that child at any cost.
Peace didn't last long.
During a church mass, I spotted men from the Community. My heart froze. I handed the girl to a nearby young man with white hair, pleading silently with my eyes.
"Please… keep her safe. I'll come back for her."
As I tried to flee, I was intercepted. I felt the cold barrel of a gun at my back before I was dragged to another dark cell.
In that isolation, Zaira's eyes and my daughter's cries were the only lights piercing my darkness. I had failed—but a sliver of hope still clung to me.
"If it's the last thing I do, I will protect your life, Aisha."
Part 2: Reborn in Shadows
Time stopped as pain claimed every inch of my body. I tried to move—agony exploded through my limbs like electricity, tearing muscle and shattering will. A scream tore from my lips. It didn't even sound human.
My eyes opened slowly, catching the reflection of something monstrous—my own body, suspended midair, hooked to machines draining and replacing my blood with something dark and viscous. I could feel life slipping away, rewritten by an unnatural process.
The lights flickered on. A mirror reflected what I had become. The old man I'd known was gone. In his place stood a younger version of me—stronger, leaner… colder. A stranger.
"It's good to see you again, Dr. Darian," said a mocking voice.
A tall man, steel-eyed and imposing, stared at me with disdain and authority.
"Who are you? What have you done to me?" I rasped, my voice a ghost.
"I'm from House Björn," he said as two guards unshackled me. "Your own people gave us everything we needed to hold you. You're ours now."
His words struck like a hammer. I could barely wrap the offered robe around my rejuvenated body, still reeling from the transformation.
"What do you want from me?" I spat, anger lacing every word. "Why return my youth?"
Björn smirked.
"Because the Community still finds you useful. But now, your mistakes come with a price."
He led me into a grand hall where the figures of the Community of Thirteen waited. Their eyes were as cold as the marble underfoot. Emmanuel, the spokesman, stepped forward.
"Dr. Darian, your freedom is conditional. You will care for and train the child until she turns four. Fail… and you return to isolation."
My lips quivered with fury.
"Why should I take care of a child? She's not my responsibility!" I shouted.
Luciano K., another imposing figure, answered flatly.
"She is now. Accept it—or go back into the dark."
Reluctantly, I agreed—not out of obedience, but because I needed time. I needed access to the files that would reveal the truth about my brother Louis' death.
Days bled into nights as I sifted through classified archives. Eventually, I found it: a video of Louis, cradling a girl—right before he was executed on the Community's orders. His face, filled with terror, burned into my mind.
"There is no forgiveness for them," I whispered. "Nor for what I've become."
I discovered the child was in the care of Falco Valuare, a Community hunter. I arranged my transfer immediately, determined to retrieve the girl who shared my blood.
When I arrived at Falco's home in France, time stood still. The door opened… and there she was. Dark hair. Shining eyes.
Aisha.
Falco greeted me with frost in his voice.
"Aisha, this man… is your father."
The words fell like iron weights. The girl looked at me with a curiosity so pure it pierced my defenses.
"It's nice to meet you, sir," she said with a shy smile.
I tried to speak—tried to be firm. But something cracked inside me.
"You've grown beautiful, Aisha," I whispered.
In the days that followed, Aisha reached for me. Each word, each gesture was a reminder of what I had lost—and what I could still save. But Falco remained wary.
"I know what you are, Darian," he said one night. "But I also know Aisha deserves the truth."
I remained silent. He was right. I was dangerous. But I knew the Community wouldn't stop until she was nothing more than another experiment.
That night, as she slept, I watched her breathe—and realized something: I would defy everything I had once believed in to give her the freedom Louis never had.
At dawn, I closed the last file on my terminal. I was no longer the brilliant scientist who once walked into the Community of Thirteen.
Now, I was something else.
A man forged by rage, grief… and a love I never thought myself capable of.
My mission is clear:
Protect Aisha. No matter the cost.