STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Lucien glanced around at the faces surrounding him. Harun, tired but still grinning. Corin, guarded as always, but his posture a little more relaxed. And Lyra... her expression unreadable, yet something flashed behind her eyes. Resolve. Determination.

The moment wouldn ’t last—he knew that. But for now, it was enough.

As the whiskey warmed him from the inside out, Lucien let himself believe, just for a little while, that they still had a chance.

***

Lucien set the glass down and stood, his movements slow as he made his way to the small bathroom. The others had already dispersed to their sleeping quarters, leaving the safehouse wrapped in an uneasy silence.

The narrow room was dimly lit, the edges of the mirror fogged from the damp air seeping through the cracked walls. He turned the shower on, the steady stream of water filling the room as steam began to curl around him, thick and clinging.

Undressing with mechanical precision, Lucien's thoughts churned beneath the surface, tangled with the images burned into his mind —the erased charts, the cold, sterile voice of AstroSYS, the small, suffocating room where lives had simply... disappeared. It’s real. All of it.

He stepped into the shower, the hot water hitting his skin like a shock. He thought he might unravel completely, melting into the heat.

Something shifted.

A strange sensation stirred beneath his ribcage—subtle at first, but growing stronger, coiling tighter with every breath. It wasn’t like the whispers or the visions. This was different. Physical. Raw.

His balance wavered. The steam thickened, filling his lungs, making the space feel smaller, the edges of the room blurring into soft shapes and muted colors. Lucien held his breath as the sensation intensified, swelling inside him like a starburst igniting beneath his skin.

He staggered, his back nearly colliding with the slick tiles, hands slamming against the cold surface just in time to catch himself. His pulse thundered in his ears, his breathing rising and falling in sharp, uneven bursts. His body alive with electricity, every nerve communicating.

He stood frozen, forehead pressed against the wall, water cascading down his back. The ache in his ribs wasn ’t pain exactly—more like something unfamiliar waking up inside him, stretching into the spaces where certainty

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