STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Lyra stepped in, her voice level but firm. “This isn’t about cleaning up a mess. It’s about giving people a choice. If you can’t see that, maybe we were wrong to trust you.”

Silence.

“We’re with you,” he said cautiously. “But if we’re doing this, we need a real plan.”

The conversation pushed forward, strategies forming —at least for now. But Lucien barely heard it.

He drifted toward the edge of the room. His pulse felt uneven, his body grounded at least but his mind floating somewhere else.

Lyra approached, her brow furrowed. “You okay?”

He hesitated, then forced a small smile. “Yeah. Just... tired.”

She didn ’t look convinced, but she didn’t push.

How do I even explain this?

That I’d seen something beyond all of this—beyond AstroSYS, beyond the rebellion, beyond everything we thought was real.

A sharp burst of static from the comm device burst through the room, jarring Lucien.

Harun grabbed it, his expression darkening as he listened.

“They collapsed Building 17 in the lower districts,” he said, his voice tight. “Controlled demolition. No warning.”

The air went still.

“Casualties?”

Harun replied. “No. But does it matter to them? They’re sending a message. ”

Lyra’s fists clenched. “Then so will we.”

The rebels closed in around the table as Harun sketched pathways and infiltration points on a worn scrap of paper. Plans unfolded, strategies formed, voices layered over each other in sharp, focused discussion.

But Lucien barely heard any of it.

He stood at the edge of the room, his mind caught between here and somewhere else. The words from his vision still echoed inside him.

Step through the cracks.

It was pulling him. Again.

Like gravity stretching in two directions—one anchoring him to the rebellion, to this fight, to the tangible work of dismantling AstroSYS. But the other … the other was something else entirely. It was cosmic. Infinite.

It was more.

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