Chapter 1:
Hotwired!
Tonight, the Arena would crown one star and short-circuit the other.
The Arena thrummed with a pulse that felt alive. And yet, Raine stood serene, unmoved by anything and anyone.
Harsh lights cascaded over her, a river of soft liquid silver pooling at her feet, illuminating her as if she were sculpted from starlight itself.
She had carried herself with the kind of composure that only came from repetition—endless nights of perfecting, rewiring, and stripping the nerves from her system until there was nothing left to rattle.
If there was fear, it didn’t show. If there were cracks, they had long since been smoothed away.
All the while, a girl derided by many to have not been able to even get this far lingered in the shadows. Her chest was tight as she watched her; her palms were damp, her breath unsteady.
She could already feel the first signs of the Arena working against her: the faint hum underfoot, the flicker of light on the periphery, every detail engineered to overwhelm.
For Raine, the Arena was an extension of her body, a stage perfectly attuned to her heightened senses.
For Astra, it was an adversary.
A buzzer rang.
Raine stepped into the light.
Her first step sent a soft shhh through the audience watching.
The spotlight fell on her, a single silver thread stitching her into the vast, endless stage. The air seemed to sharpen around her, the Arena itself bending to her will.
Her first step was deliberate, her heel clicking softly against the stage’s surface. The sound was swallowed by the rising swell of music, a low, mournful tone that crept outward like ink spreading across paper.
The scene around her transformed, the flat digital backdrop morphing into a quiet, sunlit meadow. The grass shimmered unnaturally, each blade catching the light as though polished. Raine moved through it like a ghost, her steps leaving faint ripples in the air.
Astra’s heart twisted. No, no, no...
Then, Raine sang.
Her voice wasn’t just sound—it was precision. Every note was perfect. It was ridiculous how perfect it was, like a calculated frequency designed to resonate in the bones of everyone listening.
It wasn’t cold, though. If anything, it was the opposite.
Worse, Astra had never heard Raine tell a story like this before.
Most of her previous performances were technically brilliant, meant to wow more than anything. It got her this far; why would she have tried anything different?
And tonight, of all nights, Raine grasped it with both hands.
The meadow flickered, dissolving into a new projection—a dimly lit apartment, cramped and cluttered. A figure sat at a desk, their face obscured by shadows, their shoulders hunched under the weight of invisible burdens.
Raine’s voice dipped, softening as she moved through the space.
The figure reached out, fumbling for a stack of papers, the edges curling and worn. The sound of rustling echoed through the Arena, amplified and raw. Raine stepped closer, her hand hovering just above the figure’s shoulder, but she didn’t touch.
The music swelled... and with it, a sense of longing and something just out of reach. The figure turned slightly, their face illuminated for a fleeting second—a reflection of Raine herself, younger, unsure, unpolished.
The scene shifted again, the apartment walls falling away to reveal a vast, empty stage. A younger Raine stepped forward, her movements hesitant but determined. The spotlight found her, stark and unforgiving, and for a moment, she stood still, her small frame dwarfed by the expanse.
And then she moved.
The music erupted into a crescendo, and the younger Raine began to dance. It wasn’t the polished, weightless precision of her present self—it was messy, unrefined, but undeniably alive. It was like some mirage.
Raine sang over the noise as she considered the girl. Singing about her movements, critical of every small thing she did. Her voice still weaved like a beam of light throughout, and somehow the cracks in her voice at certain parts felt as deliberate as whatever came before.
The younger projection faltered, stumbled, then found her footing again, each movement growing sharper, more confident.
The music surged higher, and the projection of younger Raine began to transform. Her movements became smoother, her form more fluid, until she was no longer the awkward, unsure girl from the apartment.
She was finally Raine.
The present Raine stepped forward, merging seamlessly with her projection. The two became one, their voices intertwining as the stage exploded with light and sound.
Raine's voice reached its final note, impossibly clear and achingly precise, the sound hanging in the air like a suspended drop of water. For a moment, the arena froze solid.
Then, like a tidal wave breaking against the shore, the applause erupted.
It crashed against Astra’s ears, rolling through the space, shaking the floor beneath her.
Raine had never done this before. She had never revealed anything beyond the veneer of her perfection. But tonight, she had dared to show the cracks—only to fill them with a brilliance that Astra couldn’t help but envy.
It was Astra’s move, wasn’t it? To show the audience a better story. To bare herself for the audience to dissect.
It was brilliant. It was infuriating.
Raine hadn’t just adapted to the new entertainment format—she had mastered it.
She had weaponized her transhumanity, leveraging every enhancement, every optimization, to create a performance that wasn’t merely flawless but deeply resonant.
Astra felt a pang of something she didn’t want to name—envy, maybe, or fear. She had spent her career proving that humanity had a place in the Net, that imperfection was its own kind of beauty.
Astra was human. She couldn’t glide across the Arena like Raine, couldn’t manipulate the lights and sounds to bend to her will.
But tonight, Raine had shown cracks too. And they weren’t weaknesses.
They were bridges.
\\
A deep, calming breath.
No more doubts. Astra had to believe that her story was better.
It was time.
\\
Astra stepped forward into the harsh light, her pulse thrumming so loudly she thought the audience might hear it.
The lights dimmed slightly, shifting into softer hues as her music began, the first few notes barely more than a murmur.
Astra’s voice trembled as it slipped into the silence, each word unfurling slowly, like petals brushing open under moonlight.
“I called for you, but the air was still,
An echo caught somewhere between.”
Her steps were deliberate, her shoes making a faint thud-thud against the stage as she moved. She reached out, her arm cutting through the swirling light like she was searching for something unseen.
The colors at her feet began to shift, a soft swirl of blues and purples that danced around her, gentle and unsure.
Projected figures shimmered into view, their forms hazy at first, then sharper, glowing faintly.
They reached for her, hands outstretched, their presence warm and steady. She let herself lean into them, her voice swelling as their harmony joined hers, lifting her higher.
“Some days, I think I’ll feel you there again,
The memory of warmth against this cold.”
The light around her grew brighter, pulsing in time with the music, but the projections began to fade, slipping back into the shadows.
She was left alone in the center of the stage, her voice trembling as it carried the final lines.
“And if I’m left here with only echoes,
Maybe that’s all it was ever meant to be.”
Her final note lingered, fragile and raw, as if it might break under its own weight.
The silence that followed was thick, heavy, pressing against her like the quiet before a storm.
Then came the applause.
Astra’s chest heaved as she took a step back, the stage flickering faintly beneath her feet. She glanced across the space, catching Raine’s poised figure. Her rival stood still, her face a mask of calm, unreadable in the shifting light.
The arena’s world began to transform.
The stage dissolved into a sky of endless blue, clouds forming in soft swirls around them. The ground beneath Astra shimmered like glass and her reflection staring back at her, distorted by faint ripples.
The clouds peeled away, giving rise to a sprawling digital cityscape. Towers of chrome reached skyward, their surfaces gleaming with flowing lights that pulsed in synchronized patterns.
The air buzzed faintly, a synthetic hum that seemed to seep into her skin.
Then, just as quickly, the city vanished, replaced by a golden field under a soft, amber sky.
The faint smell of rain drifted through the air, though Astra knew it was an illusion, just another layer of perfection meant to impress the crowd.
The announcer’s voice broke through, deep and rich, rolling over the space like a perfectly tuned instrument.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the finalists: Raine and Astra!”
The applause roared again, shaking the fabricated ground beneath her. So deafening it was that Astra couldn't tell between her name or Raine's. She blew a long, long breath.
"And now, the panel's decision awaits!"
This was it.
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