From the day Leyla had managed to squeeze a few answers out of Helen, her life had slipped back into its usual routine. Still, the need to uncover the rest of the story never stopped haunting her.

  For several days now, instead of wasting the whole morning in bed, Helen had been helping her get up. Clutching the walker, Leyla would make her way across the room, from one end to the other, pushing herself to stay on her feet as long as she could. The new routine filled her with confidence: soon, she’d be walking on her own. At the same time, though, it fueled her determination to dig up every last detail about her life in Edenlost. Every step was a victory, but also a reminder of how much she still didn’t know.

  Helen knew the girl well by now, and she could sense that another outburst was always just around the corner. Leyla wasn’t the kind to settle for half-truths, and to keep things from blowing up again, Helen felt she owed her a little more.

  “You know, Leyla,” Helen began, her tone aiming for reassurance but wavering with hesitation, “I’ve never looked after anyone who came in at your age before. When we were brought here, we were all much younger. Some were newborns, others maybe fifteen at the most. We can’t know for sure, but it’s not hard to guess you’re around twenty. Me, for example, I don’t even remember the moment I arrived. They told me I was really little, maybe just over a year old.”

  Leyla froze, caught by Helen’s words, as if every syllable were a missing piece sliding into place. She didn’t want to miss a single detail, a single clue that might help her make sense of this strange place and the life she’d lost.

  “Why was it different for me?” Leyla asked, genuine curiosity cutting through her voice. “Why did they wait so long to rescue me from the torture of my old life?”

  The woman let out a sigh, as if she’d been expecting that question all along. “I don’t know. They never gave me all the answers either, even though I’m one of the few who can actually communicate with Uttermost’s personal assistant.”

  Seeing Leyla drift into thought, she softened her tone, almost teasing. “I have to admit, you’re a special one, different from the others your age.”

  Leyla’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

  Helen smiled, amused by her reaction. “Since the day you woke up, not a single day has gone by without you peppering me with questions. And yet, despite how many there are, every single one has been aimed at finding logical explanations for your life here in Edenlost. That’s… not exactly common.”

  Leyla folded her arms, her expression serious but not offended. “Helen, I don’t see anything strange about that. Spell it out for me.”

  “I mean you’ve shown very little attachment to material things,” the woman went on, studying her with quiet admiration. “For instance, what struck me was that you never once asked me for a mirror. When I finally brought you one thinking of girls your age, who usually check themselves a dozen times a day you just told me you could live without it.”

  Leyla burst out laughing, the sound ringing off the walls like a bell. “Helen, memory wipe or not, I still have common sense,” she shot back, her tone dripping with irony. “I only said that because after finding out what they did to my brain, I kept wondering what my face might look like now. I didn’t want to risk coming face-to-face with something I wouldn’t even recognize anymore.”

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  Helen laughed with her, genuine warmth lighting up her features. “No doubt about it, you really are one of a kind, Leyla! But now I want to satisfy one of my own curiosities: why you’ve never asked about the bracelets I wear?”

  Leyla’s reply came sharp, almost stinging. “You’ve never answered a single question about me, no matter how much I begged, so why the hell would I care about you?”

  Her words cut through Helen like a blade straight to the heart. Noticing the effect, Leyla quickly softened her gaze and added. “But hey, I’m listening now. Go on, I’m all ears.”

  The woman lifted an arm, showing the two bracelets circling her wrist. “One’s mine. The other’s yours. I’ll give it to you as soon as you’re ready to leave this room.”

  Leyla furrowed her frowned. “Okay, now you’ve seriously got me curious.”

  “We all wear the exact same bracelet,” Helen explained. It was oval, thick and rigid, forged from pure titanium with a polished silver sheen. In the center, a small display glowed faintly with a string of numbers. “See this value? At midnight, on the last day of every month, whatever’s left resets, and you get reloaded with one thousand credits. That’s what you’ll use to get everything you need: food, clothes, and if you want, a few extras.”

  “Seriously? That’s awesome! What is this, some kind of paradise?” Leyla exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

  Helen threw her hands up, exasperated. “No, Leyla! Don’t get the wrong idea. Those thousand credits are your pay, for the work you’ll be expected to do.”

  “What job? What am I supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know,” the woman admitted. “They haven’t told me yet. For now, try to rest. I still have a lot of visits to make, and you’ve already had more than enough information for one day. Don’t worry, you’ll learn everything you need to know, soon enough.”

  Helen headed for the door, but before stepping out she turned back once more. “There’s one last thing I need to tell you before I go. You’re the only one who was left paralyzed after the procedure. They explained to me that some nerves were accidentally damaged, which temporarily compromised your mobility. Looks like it’s reversible, thankfully.”

  “If you say so! I’ll try to believe that counts as lucky,” Leyla muttered, rolling her eyes at the ceiling and shrugging, her frustration plain.

  Helen gave her a smile, warm but tinged with worry, and slipped out. The door clicked shut, leaving Leyla alone with her thoughts and the weight of the questions crowding her mind. She glanced around, the image of those bracelets still seared into her mind like a riddle still waiting for its answer. She wondered what else awaited her in this strange place called Edenlost, and a shiver ran down her spine.

  She sat on the edge of the bed, her gaze unfocused, lost somewhere beyond the walls. The room felt too neat, too quiet to hold the storm inside her. Reaching toward the nightstand, she picked up the mirror. She stared at it, but she wasn’t searching for her reflection. She was searching for a sign, a trace, something that could whisper to her about the past.

  A lighter strand of hair, almost golden, caught the moonlight. She didn’t recognize it. And yet, it was hers. That tiny detail tightened her throat. Who had decided who she was supposed to be now?

  She switched off the light. Darkness swallowed her, erasing every distraction. She grabbed brushing her hair in slow, mechanical strokes, as if each pass could loosen the knots in her thoughts. The rhythm soothed her. It gave her a fragile kind of peace.

  Then, a tremor. Faint, almost imagined, rippled through the mirror, enough to catch her breath.

  Leyla froze. An instant later, light burst from the glass, cold, sudden, unreal, like a breath held far too long. Leyla screamed, a raw, primal sound that seemed to rise from somewhere deep inside she didn’t know she had.

  The glow swelled outward, silent but charged with intent. A summons.

  And just like that, the fear was gone. What took its place was hunger, sharp, unfamiliar, impossible to contain. She stepped forward, drawn as if by a dream dissolving at dawn. Each step, uncertainty. Each breath, a question.

  She stopped, close enough to feel its warmth, except it wasn’t warmth at all. It was… a presence.

  “Who are you?” she whispered, knowing no voice would answer. “What do you want from me?”

  The vortex flickered, wavering, as if considering her words. Then, in a heartbeat, it vanished.

  No sound. No trace. Only darkness.

  Leyla stood frozen, her heart pounding, her hand still outstretched into nothing. For a long moment, she couldn’t tell if what she’d seen was real, or just a reflection of something inside her, finally stirring to life.

  And yet, one truth cut through the silence: she was no longer alone.

  If you’d like to continue Leyla’s story without waiting, Edenlost – The Borderless City is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook ??? https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0FFN36JV3