STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Then, finally —he nodded.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “But it wasn’t… normal.”

Lyra tilted her head slightly, studying him. “How?”

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It felt like a place, ” he admitted. “Like I wasn’t dreaming—I was there. I could feel it. The air, the ground … everything.”

Lyra ’s brows furrowed. “What kind of place?”

"I don ’t know. It wasn’t anywhere I’ve ever seen before.” His voice was quieter now, like saying it out loud made it feel even less explainable.

“It felt… bigger than me. Like I was standing inside something vast. Something infinite.”

Lyra didn ’t dismiss it.

She didn ’t laugh, or tell him he was being ridiculous.

Instead, she studied him, considering.

Then she smirked. “Maybe you were.”

Lucien blinked. He had expected skepticism —not that.

“You believe that?”

She shrugged, the smirk lingering at the corner of her lips.

“I believe there’s more to this world than what AstroSYS tells us. Maybe you ’re starting to see it.”

A pause.

The city hummed below them, a low murmur of distant sirens and shifting crowds.

Lucien broke the silence.

“The voice said, ‘You opened the way.’”

Lyra turned fully toward him, arms dropping to her sides.

“To what?”

Lucien flicked back to the starburst in the sky, its edges shimmering like something alive.

“I don’t know.” His voice was steady now. “But I think I’m going to find out.”

Lyra didn ’t hesitate.

She reached out, resting a hand on his arm.

“You’re not doing it alone.”

Lucien met her gaze.

For the first time since waking, the weight in his mind eased.

Not gone.

But lighter.

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