Private “Ashes to Aleen”

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer's blood ran cold.
"What… does that mean?"

But the ILA was already turning.

Her final words lingered as her form dissolved again into pale mist:

"The vessel breaks. The echo remains. Beware the original — for it does not forget its design."

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Sommer and Alyssa stood in the empty chamber, breathless.

"What the hell does that mean?" Alyssa said.

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer shook her head, voice barely audible.
"I think I'm not who I thought I was???"

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sometime Later

The cave had long since gone quiet.

Above them, the jungle rustled with night wind and insect song, but the Force hung in the space around Sommer and Alyssa like wet cloth — heavy and clinging. Neither of them had spoken since the ILA vanished.

Sommer stood near the now-silent pool, her reflection gone. Her fingers clenched and unclenched.

She broke the silence first.

"When I was in Signa-Ki custody, they kept me under for… I don't know how long. They never let me see anyone's face. Just gloves. Machines. The voice of Commander Linn Dobson through a speaker."

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa stepped closer. The name stirred something—Linn Dobson. A harsh, calculated strategist. Not just Signa-Ki's commander, but a perfectionist in their experimentation sector. Alyssa had seen her only once. Cold eyes. Rigid posture. Reputation for results at any cost.

 

[Sommer Dai]

"She said I was lucky," Sommer continued bitterly. "That they saved me, I think..... That I was successful, even though the others weren't. I was eval'ed. Studied every fabric of my being."

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa's stomach knotted.
"What others?"

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer looked up.
"Clones. They were trying to replicate me.. My connection to Azis. They called it the VIREX Program?. But something went wrong. The clones… Died. Self Destructed. The lab self-destructed during the breach...Andrew...Then... All of it gone."

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

A cold rush of air swept down the cave tunnel — or maybe it was just Alyssa's blood draining from her face. Her mind spun, not with emotion, but with logic. The pattern. The clues. The silence of Signa-Ki after the breach. The way Linn Dobson never publicly acknowledged Sommer. The way no one claimed her after the Vault incident.

And then the ILA's words.

"You are not the first to sing with this soul."

Alyssa blinked, trying not to let the fear show on her face.

"Sommer," she said slowly, carefully, "what if… what if you were one of the clones?"

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer froze. Her breath hitched.
"…What?"

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa paced a step away, heart pounding.
"Just listen. What if the original—you—was taken. And the version I'm talking to right now is one of the only successful clones that survived?"

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer's mouth opened. No sound came out.

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa continued, her voice quieter.
"What if the real Sommer Dai… is still missing?"

 

[Sommer Dai]

Silence Falls Again

The thought hung in the air like a dagger. Sommer stumbled back a step, hands to her temples.

"No. No, that's not… I remember everything. My training. The Vault. My childhood. Zori. Everything—"

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

"But if you were cloned from her at a critical point, those memories could be copied. Bio-imprinted. You wouldn't know the difference."

 

[Sommer Dai]

Sommer looked as though the ground had shifted beneath her feet.
"Then who am I?!" she asked, a tear slipping down her cheek.
"What the hell am I?!?!"

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa reached out and pulled her close again, but her thoughts churned.
If Linn Dobson had created a perfect copy… and destroyed the rest…

Where was the original?
Was she buried? Hidden? Or worse — contained?

And if Azis had marked that original first…

Was this clone a safety net… or a weapon left unchecked?

 

[Sommer Dai]

The Force stirred. Faint but undeniable.

From the roots above, a droplet of glowing sap fell into the pool — plink. The surface shimmered and parted.

And then a second reflection appeared beside Sommer's own.

It was her. But older.

Hair streaked with silver. Eyes dimmer, haunted. A long scar ran from temple to jaw. Her posture wasn't fluid like Sommer's — it was rigid. Hardened. Caged.

The reflection didn't move. But its presence radiated grief. Burden.

Sommer took a step back.
"…That's not me."

 

[Alyssa Kydd]

Alyssa whispered,
"I think it is. Or was. Or will be."

 

[Sommer Dai]

The night stretched longer than it should have.


The jungle above had quieted, the festival now a distant memory of smoke, laughter, and song. But in the cool hush of Aleen's lower forest paths, Sommer Dai walked in silence — her fingers brushing the moss-covered trees as if trying to anchor herself in now.


Alyssa walked behind her, the tension between them unspoken but thick. Neither had said a word since leaving the root-cave. Neither wanted to be the one to name the fear aloud again.

Until Sommer did.

"You think I'm a ghost wearing someone else's life."