~Damon~
We passed through a biometric security gate into the most secure section of the facility. Here, the integration of nature and technology reached its pinnacle—living trees growing through the stone floor, their trunks embedded with technological components that monitored environmental conditions.
At the center stood a transparent isolation chamber unlike the others. Inside, a woman sat in meditation, silver light flowing like liquid beneath her skin in patterns identical to those I'd seen on Elara moments ago.
Elara froze, her heartbeat accelerating so rapidly I could hear it from six feet away.
"Mom?" she whispered, pressing her hands against the transparent barrier.
The subtle vibration of Helen's containment chamber hummed beneath my fingertips as I watched Elara break apart
