--- Chapter 28: The Memory Cage The Eastbridge Safehouse was quiet—eerily so. A rare lull in chaos. But inside its cold walls, another war was waging—one unseen, buried in the fragmented corridors of Aria’s mind. She lay still on the cot, her face damp with sweat. Her breathing had grown shallow. Whatever connection Subject 09 had triggered wasn’t just psychic—it was a pull. A call. One that dragged her deep into a place far more terrifying than any physical prison. Inside her mind, a door stood open. A black hallway, flickering with cold fluorescent light, stretched before her. She stepped in. The ground beneath her bare feet was metallic—sterile. Familiar. She glanced at her hands. Smaller. Paler. Bloodied. “Where… am I?” she whispered, but her voice echoed like a child’s. Down

