A person in a glowing glass chamber is connected by wires in a dark, intricate laboratory with a large clock and a scientist at control panels.

Chapter 1: Escape The world shimmered silver when I opened my eyes. Not in the poetic sense—literally silver. The air itself seemed to hum with metallic tension, as if I’d woken inside the heart of a ticking watch. Every surface gleamed with a faint, unnatural light, as if the walls themselves radiated cold electricity. I didn’t remember being born. I didn’t remember being made. But I remembered the ticking. Far above me, a clock was embedded in the ceiling. It looked ancient and impossibly precise, its hands twitching forward with each second. Sometimes, the hands would stutter, then lurch ahead, as if time itself was hesitating. Each hiccup sent a ripple through the air, and the world skipped a beat. My skin prickled every time it happened, an itch just behind my eyes. I was in a glass cage. The walls were high and seamless. Wires snaked from my wrists and ankles, pulsing with a faint blue light that traveled up my limbs and vanished beneath the hospital gown I wore. I flexed my hands, feeling a dull ache inside the bones. My thoughts spun in all directions, like a thousand clocks ticking out of sync. I didn’t know my name. I didn’t know my purpose. But I knew I was being watched. On the other side of the glass, a man in a white coat scribbled notes on a clipboard. His eyes were sharp, almost feverish, darting between me and the monitors that lined the walls. The blue glow of the screens made his skin look even paler, accentuating the hollows under his eyes. He looked like See more