Chapter 89 The Other Prototype (Demilia’s POV)
There’s a kind of fear that doesn’t shout. It moves quieter than that settling in, asking those questions that never really leave you alone: Who else is out there like you? Who else got shaped by hidden hands? And what did they want them to turn into?
After Adrian dropped the truth on me, it felt like my story wasn’t mine alone anymore. Somewhere maybe close, maybe halfway across the world there was another version of my beginning. Someone else, built by the same secret machine. Another life, engineered on purpose. And the worst thought? They could already be watching.
I didn’t sleep that night. Every noise outside felt off. Every ping from my phone made me tense up. Any name I didn’t recognize looked like a warning. By sunrise, I was done, tired, but running hot with this need to do something. The second I saw Adrian, I didn’t waste words. “Find them. Whoever the other one is—I need to know.” He gave me a look that told me he was already on it.
Liora leaned in. “There’s something you have to get, Demilia.”
I met her eyes. “What?”
“These kinds of programs never just make one person. They want contrast. They build opposites. Rivals. Something to balance the scale.”
That hit hard. My chest got tight.
“So you’re saying they designed someone to go against me,” I said.
She nodded. “Or to challenge you.”
Ethan’s voice was quiet. “Or to replace her.”
That word replace hit colder than I expected.
Adrian brought up a set of files on the screen. “This is early, but we think we’ve found a match.” A shadowy figure showed up. No face, just a fuzzy outline and some data:
Subject ID: R-0213
Program Branch: Counter-Narrative Development
Status: Active
My heart jumped.
“Counter-narrative?” I asked, barely above a whisper.
Adrian explained, “They didn’t just want someone inspiring. They wanted someone who could steer the public if anyone like you got too strong.”
“So this person could’ve been trained to take me apart,” I said, quietly.
He nodded.
I gave a bitter half-laugh. “So I’m not just a survivor. I’m a chess piece.”
Images flashed by headlines, public figures, talking heads, corporate faces.
“We think the other subject works in public influence,” Adrian said. “But with a different vibe. Different beliefs.”
“Show me,” I told him.
He hesitated, then cleared the image. The blur became a face.
And the moment I saw them something in me just knew. Not in a logical way. Not like I’d ever met them. More like looking at myself in a cracked mirror.
Their name was Riven Hale. Public strategist on the rise. Charismatic media voice. The kind of “truth-teller” who pokes holes in activist movements.
“They’ve made a name out of skepticism,” Adrian said. “Breaking down emotional stories with cold logic.”
I stared at the photo. Sharp eyes. Controlled. A smile that looked rehearsed.
“They break down people like me,” I said.
Liora’s voice was soft. “And they’re really good at it.”
A chill worked its way down my back.
“So they were trained to counter people like me,” I murmured.
“Yes.”
My stomach flipped.
“All this time, I thought my voice was mine,” I said, bitter. “But they were preparing someone to cancel it out.”
The thought made my skin crawl.
“What do they know about me?” I asked.
Adrian let out a slow breath. “Probably everything.”
Ethan slammed his hand on the table. “That’s not okay.”
“They could’ve been watching you for years,” Liora said, quietly.
I stared at Riven’s image. “They don’t look like villains.”
Adrian shook his head. “They almost never do.”
Later, I couldn’t help myself. I fell down the rabbit hole, watched Riven Hale’s interviews, and listened to their voices. Smooth. Calm. Their logic was sharp, almost surgical. Their arguments are so precise, so controlled. Where I spoke from the heart, they held back. Where I tried to make people feel, they made them question. Where I called out the system, they spun it into something else.
And the scariest thing? They weren’t wrong. They weren’t cruel. They were just... dangerous. Not because they lied—but because they could make the truth sound like something you shouldn’t want.
That night, I told Ethan, “I feel like I’m staring at an alternate version of myself.”
He frowned. “You’re nothing like them.”
I looked away. “I could’ve been.”
He didn’t say anything. The room fell quiet.
“They asked for a meeting,” Adrian went on. “Private. Off the record.”
My heart hammered in my chest.
“They know,” I breathed.
He nodded. “Yeah. Or they’re pretty damn close.”
Liora crossed her arms. “That’s dangerous.”
“Or it has to happen,” I shot back.
I said yes to the meeting. Not because I felt brave honestly, I was anything but. I just needed to know.
We met somewhere neutral, a quiet lounge with no cameras. Nothing fancy, just careful.
When Riven walked in, the whole place felt different. You see their photos and think you get it, but in person there was more. More presence, more edge.
“Demilia,” they said, voice smooth as glass. “I’ve been wanting to meet you.”
Their tone was calm. Too calm.
“Riven,” I answered, trying to match them.
We sat facing each other, both of us sizing the other up.
“You’ve uncovered things,” they said, “about systems that were never meant to come to light.”
“I never asked for any of this,” I told them. “To be watched. Molded.”
A hint of a smile flickered across their face.
“Neither did I.” Their voice barely above a whisper.
That landed harder than I expected.
“So you know,” I said.
They nodded. “I’ve always known.”
My chest tightened.
“They told you?”
“No. I worked it out. The patterns, the sponsors, the guidance that wasn’t just guidance.”
Riven leaned back, studying me.
“They raised us differently,” they said, “but with a purpose.”
I stared, trying to read them.
“And what’s that purpose?”
Their eyes darkened.
“To see which story people would follow.”
The air between us stretched thin.
“You were built to inspire,” they said. “To move people. Start things.”
“And you,” I shot back, “were built to hold it all in check.”
A small smile touched their lips.
“To stabilize,” they corrected.
“So you’re here to stop me.”
“Not stop you. Challenge you.”
I couldn’t help it, a bitter laugh slipped out.
“So we’re just an experiment. A test for the world.”
“Maybe. Or maybe we’re the twist they never saw coming.”
I leaned in, searching their face.
“Do you agree with them? What did they do to us?”
Something changed in Riven’s expression. For a split second, I saw the person underneath.
“No,” they said, voice rough. “I hate them for it.”
I wasn’t ready for that honesty.
“They stole our freedom,” Riven went on. “Before we even understood what freedom meant.”
“Then why fight me?” I asked.
Their gaze locked on mine, steady and unblinking.
“Because I think unchecked emotion destroys. And you think it saves.”
They paused, something softer in their face.
“Maybe we’re both right.”
The more we talked, the clearer it became that Riven wasn’t my enemy. They were my reflection. My opposite number. Someone the system shaped, just like me, only sent in a different direction.
And the real enemy? That was never us. It was the people who built us this way.
As Riven got up to leave, they hesitated.
“This isn’t the last time we’ll meet,” they said. “The world will try to turn us against each other.”
I met their eyes.
“Then maybe we decide the rules ourselves.”
A smile real, this time flickered across their face.
“Maybe that’s the first real choice we’ve ever had.”
I watched them go, and something new stirred inside me. Yeah, I felt afraid. But also, for the first time, I saw the possibility.
This wasn’t just about me anymore. Now it was two voices, engineered and unleashed, standing on either side of influence.
So the question isn’t who wins. It’s whether we’ll become rivals, or finally turn against the system that made us.
Next up? The world finds out about Riven’s connection to me. The media spins a rivalry we never wanted.
And suddenly, we’re both staring down a scandal that could turn us into enemies at least in everyone else’s eyes.