Broken Code. Part 1. English Edition

Sirena Amirel

Broken Code. Part 1. English Edition

Chapter 1

The eyes watched.

Calmly. Patiently. It was as if time itself had frozen in their bottomless depths for centuries.

They had witnessed the birth and fall of great empires. They had seen light rise to meet a timid hope, and darkness cloak the world in its cold embrace. They had seen brutal wars born of blind fear, and the fragile peace that arrived only through profound understanding.

Those eyes had been witness to countless eras. They knew all too well that light does not always bring good, and darkness does not necessarily spawn absolute evil. Yet, relentless time revealed something else entirely. From the fierce clash of light and shadow, something greater was born—something neither side had anticipated.

And so, in this very moment, that ancient, wisdom-filled gaze swept across the countless intertwined threads of human fate, settling upon just one. Upon a woman who was walking down a bustling street in Los Angeles, genuinely believing this day to be as mundane and dreary as any other.

If only she knew how many unseen eyes were tracking her every step.

If only she had any idea who she was destined to become…

But the morning had turned out far too ordinary. And it was precisely this ordinariness that irritated her most of all.

Eva walked leisurely down the street of Los Angeles, entirely oblivious to both the blinding sun and the ever-rushing crowd around her. Time and again, her thoughts kept racing back to the recent incident.

Her light, ash-blonde curls shimmered softly in the midday sun. Oversized dark sunglasses safely concealed her icy-blue eyes. To any bystander, the image she projected was flawless, almost ideal: delicate, chiseled features, impeccably fair skin, and a noble, somewhat distant, cool beauty.

All around her, the usual city hustle and bustle was in full swing. Passersby moved in a frantic, automatic rhythm—everyone hurrying somewhere, each utterly absorbed in their own life. No one paid attention to anyone else. It was a gray, predictable routine… and right now, Eva was desperately clinging to it like a lifeline.

"This will be over soon," she whispered to herself, barely audible.

The car. She just needed to pick it up from the auto shop, and then everything would finally fall back into place. No more suffocating public transit, no more perpetually late taxis, and no more strange, suspicious people around. Finally, her sense of control would return.

Eva took a slow, deep breath, as if carefully testing her own state of mind.

She was calm.

She was composed.

She was still in full control of everything.

Almost…

But at that exact moment, her ruthless memory struck yet another devastating blow.

***

The loud, furious rain rattled against the windshield with sheer force.

The wipers worked frantically at their absolute limit, yet the cascading streams of water blurred the road ahead all the same.