STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

Chapter 18

The knock was brief but firm —the kind that didn’t wait for an invitation.

Lyra was already on her feet, eyes sharp as she crossed the room and yanked the door open.

Corin stood in the hallway, his usual gruff demeanor softened by the exhaustion lining his face. He stepped inside, giving Lucien a once-over before speaking. “Morning. We’ve got updates.”

“Good news or bad?”

Corin’s lips twitched, somewhere between a smirk and a scowl. “Depends on how you look at it.”

Lucien and Lyra joined the others as Corin pulled a small device from his pocket, tapping it to project a holographic map of the city onto the wall. The grid flared to life, glowing with scattered red and yellow markers—trouble spots spreading outward like fractures in glass.

“Small groups are forming. Workers are refusing shifts. Street artists are tagging walls even in high-security zones. Word ’s moving faster than we expected.”

Lyra studied the projection, arms folded. “And the Order?”

Corin gestured to several red clusters. “Doubling down. More Stewards on the streets. Earlier curfews. They ’re trying to stamp it out before it spreads.”

Lucien ’s brow furrowed. “It’s spreading anyway.”

Corin nodded grimly. “Yeah. But it’s messy. People don’t know what they ’re fighting for yet—just that they’re angry. And that’s dangerous. Anger without direction burns everything.”

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