STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Harun was hunched over the table, checking the data drive again. His grin had faded, replaced by a deep crease of exhaustion on his brow.

And Lyra – she looked as sharp and determined as ever, but there was something in the way she moved, a stiffness in her shoulders that spoke of the mission she wasn ’t letting herself feel yet.

Lucien swallowed hard. We ’re all in this now. No going back. But at what cost?

The streets had been crawling with Stewards on their way back to the safehouse. Drones had hovered low over the alleyways, their spotlights scanning the cracks and crevices of the city. Lucien had seen people stopped at checkpoints, their faces pale as the Stewards waved their devices over them, searching for anything out of place.

The rebels weren’t the only ones paying the price for this. The entire city was on edge, its fragile harmony threatening to splinter under the decisiveness of the Order’s retaliation. How many innocent people are going to suffer because of this? Was it worth it?

He thought of the whispers in his dreams, the strange visions that had begun haunting him since he met Lyra. The cosmos, the infinite expanse beyond the stars, the voice that wasn ’t his but somehow felt like it belonged to him. There ’s more to this. I know there is. Something bigger, something... deeper. But what if I’m wrong? What if I’m losing my mind?

***

A sound pulled Lucien from his thoughts. He didn ’t look up at first, but he felt her, close. Why does her presence ground me?

Lyra lowered herself onto the sofa beside him, her movements measured but welcoming. Her shoulder was a breath away from his, the warmth of her body radiating through the small space between them.

Lucien stirred, sitting up straighter. The adrenaline coursing through him all night seemed to ebb, leaving him tired but restless. And yet, he couldn ’t ignore the way her energy seemed to settle against his, steady and unshakable.

Neither of them said anything. The muffled voice of Harun talking to himself, but here, in this small bubble, the world felt still.

Lyra placed a steaming mug of something – coffee, maybe – on the table in front of them. The scent of roasted beans mixed with the ever-present dampness of the safehouse air hit him. Yes, coffee.

She leaned back, her arm brushing his as she settled against the worn

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