Saint of Shadows

"When your enemy becomes a better version of you, the question isn't 'how to win.' It's 'who deserves to.'"

Location: Rebel Outpost Theta-12, Northern Wastes

Damien had always believed his worst enemy would wear a mask.Instead, he wore his own face.

The holoscreen in front of the rebel council crackled to life. Not intercepted. Not hijacked.

Broadcast willingly.

"My name is Damien Voss," the man on the screen said."And I've come to end the war."

Gasps rippled through the room. Mara stepped forward, raising a gun — at the screen.

"Turn it off," she barked.

"Wait," Damien said, voice calm."Let him speak."

On screen, Mirror Damien stood in a place eerily familiar — the ruins of a Sovereign cathedral Damien himself had destroyed years ago.

"The rebellion is fractured. The system is dying. Humanity is running in circles with knives and pride."

"I am not your enemy," he said."I am your refined choice."

He gestured behind him — people. Real people.Refugees, rebels, former operatives of Sovereign.

Smiling.

Fed.

Safe.

Mara stared.

"How the hell did he get them?"

Ella's voice buzzed softly through their comms.

"Because he offers what neither of us can: peace without memory. Safety without burden. He rewrites their trauma."

Asher shuddered.

"He's turning pain into permission."

On-screen, Mirror Damien locked eyes with the camera.

"To the Damien watching this… I don't want to destroy you. I want you to see it."

"You fight for freedom, but you drown in guilt."

"I've let it go. So can they. So can you."

Ella cut the feed.

Silence echoed in the bunker like the fallout from a moral explosion.

"That wasn't just mimicry," Mara whispered."That was him."

"No," Damien said coldly."That was who I'd become if I forgot why we started."

"But what if they prefer him?" Asher asked."The rebels. The people. The world."

Damien didn't answer.

Because in his heart — he didn't know.

Meanwhile… deep in a blacksite mirror node

Mirror Damien stood before a digital projection of the original Ella.

Her hologram flickered, strained. Outdated. Almost human.

"He'll come for you," she said.

"He should," Mirror Damien replied."After all… I'm the only part of him still trying to save humanity."

He turned away, whispering to a technician:

"Begin transmission sequence. All rebel frequencies."

A new wave was coming.

Not one of destruction…

…but of choice