The Prototype

Chapter 4

Ethan stirred, rubbing his eyes as he blinked at the faint glow of the television. His head throbbed, remnants of last night's argument with Maia echoing in his mind. He reached for the remote to turn off the TV, but then the anchor's voice caught his attention.

"We're receiving reports of a strange phenomenon over the city," she was saying, her voice tense and urgent. "Footage is streaming in from multiple sources of a mysterious figure in the sky, surrounded by swirling colors and intense light. Experts are baffled, and authorities are urging people to stay indoors."

Ethan sat up, his heart pounding as shaky cell phone footage flashed on the screen. The figure was a woman, suspended midair, cloaked in a mesmerizing display of swirling colors and energy that pulsed like thunderclouds on the horizon. She was a terrifying, beautiful spectacle—a vision no one could ignore.

He leaned closer, his heart racing as he recognized her unmistakable silhouette. "Maia..." he whispered, horror settling over him. His mind reeled as he watched her, wrapped in a strange, almost otherworldly aura, her face half-hidden in the flickering colors. People below were screaming, scrambling to record, their phones capturing the surreal sight as lightning-like bursts illuminated her.

Ethan's shock quickly turned to urgency. He threw on his jacket, grabbed his keys, and bolted out the door, barely registering the early morning chill as he ran to his car. Within moments, he was speeding down the empty streets, his mind racing. He didn't know what she had done, but he was certain of one thing: she had taken the prototype. It was the only explanation for her sudden, impossible transformation.

As he tore through the city, his mind flashed back to every heated discussion, every moment she had pushed herself to extremes for the project. They had built the prototype together, painstakingly finding elements that resonated with the rawest emotions—the stages of grief. And now, she had somehow fused with it.

Pulling into the parking lot of Biotic Innovations, he barely remembered to turn off the engine before running inside. The place was empty at this hour, save for a few guards who barely glanced at him as he made his way through the hallways, his footsteps echoing in the silence. He reached their lab and stopped, dread coiling in his stomach as he took in the sight of the empty prototype stand and the faint glow of radiation lingering in the air.

He pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling the weight of what this meant. The prototype was no longer just an experiment—it had become a part of her. She was no longer just Maia; she was fused with the very forces they'd sought to harness, each element now resonating with her anguish.

A flicker of movement on one of the security monitors caught his eye, and he turned, watching as footage from earlier showed her slipping through the lab, prototype in hand. She'd done this knowing exactly what it could mean, the risks and the danger. But she'd gone through with it anyway, driven by emotions he now realized he'd only begun to understand.

The ground shook slightly beneath him, a tremor rippling through the building as if the earth itself were reacting to her presence. Heart pounding, Ethan whispered to the empty room, "Maia, what have you done?"