Scene 1: Letters and Lab Coats
Two years passed like smoke.
By the time she was thirteen, Zafira bint Hakib was a whispered name in engineering circles across the Middle East.
She never registered in schools—yet professors spoke of a "ghost apprentice" who corrected equations on public boards and rewired military-grade drones to perform ballet-like movements in underground showcases.
One day, in a dusty old lab near Jeddah's tech bazaar, she found a package waiting on her broken workbench.
No return address.
Inside: a hand-bound notebook filled with complex equations… and a sealed letter stamped with the emblem of the Baxter Foundation.
She opened it with oil-streaked fingers:
> "Your mind moves faster than ours. Your designs show understanding beyond taught science. We'd like you to come learn where limits don't exist."
— Reedah Richards
Zafira exhaled slowly.
> "So… they've noticed."
She didn't hesitate. Her bag was already half-packed.
---
Scene 2: Reedah and the Rift
The Baxter Building was a world of glass, light, and impossible machines. Zafira arrived cloaked in desert robes and wide-eyed suspicion.
Reedah Richards welcomed her with a polite smile and eyes full of curiosity.
> "You're not just a genius," she said after their first test. "You're dangerous."
> "Good," Zafira replied. "That means I'm finally useful."
Over the months, she worked alongside Reedah, Benaya Grimm, Sue Storm, and Johnny Blaze. She modified their dimensional gate prototype, integrating mystic geometry into its stabilizer design.
Reedah was fascinated. But cautious.
> "You're tampering with forces we can't explain."
> "That's the point," Zafira said. "The laws you live by—maybe they don't apply to people like me."
But Zafira was growing restless. The lab felt like a cage.
One evening, she stood atop the roof, pendant glowing under the moonlight.
> "They're scared of me," she whispered.
And deep within the building, another figure watched her from shadows. His name was Victor Stone—a rival prodigy—and he envied her deeply.
---
Scene 3: The Rift and the Fall
They called it the Veil Project—a dimensional gateway to reach alternate realities. A bridge between possibility and power.
Zafira called it "playing god with a blindfold."
The lab buzzed with electricity as the team gathered around the containment field. Zafira adjusted the matrix stabilizers, her fingers dancing over the console like it was a living thing.
Reedah stood beside her, calm but tense.
Victor Stone loomed behind, arms crossed, eyes cold.
> "Everything's green," Zafira reported. "But I still don't trust the pulse delay."
> "We'll control the surge," Reedah replied. "You designed the override failsafe."
Zafira frowned.
> "I didn't say it would work. I said it might."
The machine screamed to life. A circular rift opened mid-air—a swirling tear of light and code. Inside: colors that didn't belong in this world. Fractals shaped like cities. A realm both ancient and unborn.
Zafira stepped closer. The pendant on her neck began to burn.
> "Wait," she murmured. "Something's wrong…"
Victor, impatient, pushed forward and triggered the surge.
The failsafe collapsed.
A shockwave hit the lab like a divine slap. Glass shattered. Screams echoed. Gravity twisted.
Zafira's body was yanked forward, halfway into the rift. Reedah tried to reach her.
> "ZAFIRA!"
> "Shut it down!" Zafira roared. "Shut it down now!"
Victor hesitated—but Reedah pulled the plug herself.
The rift collapsed.
And Zafira—was gone.
---
She fell through a place without time.
Memories splintered. Dreams twisted. She saw kingdoms in fire, stars bleeding, her own reflection wearing a crown of wires and steel.
She hit ground with a scream that shook the void.
Then... silence.
And footsteps.
From the shadows emerged a woman cloaked in red and gold, her third eye glowing faintly on her brow.
The Ancient One.
> "You should not have survived the crossing," she said softly.
Zafira looked up, bleeding, breathing hard.
> "I don't die easy."
> "No," the Ancient One said. "You begin again."
---
To be continued...