STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Council to send us a few of those little helpers. Let the bots fix the buildings while we fix the people.”

Aarik smirked. “Assuming they don’t rig them to spy on us first.”

Selene folded her arms, thoughtful. “Even if they do, they’ll only see what we’re building.”

She glanced around the room.

“And that’s what they’re afraid of.”

***

Lucien lingered at the table as the group began to leave, his thoughts swirling. The system isn ’t broken. It works as it was designed. But maybe that’s the problem.

He knew they were making progress. The demands they ’d finalized were bold, almost impossible. And yet, for the first time, he felt like the pieces were falling into place. He should have felt triumphant, or at least hopeful. But instead, his mind drifted – away from the room, away from the demands, away from the city.

He felt light, but not in a freeing way – more like he was on the verge of floating away. The memory of the dream returned, sharp and vivid.

And then, the feeling.

That unnamable bliss. The overwhelming sense of being everywhere and nowhere at once. Of dissolving into something infinite, yet somehow still himself. It had felt like slipping out of time, into a space where nothing mattered except the static of the universe.

A hand touched his shoulder gently, pulling him back. “Lucien?”

Her voice carried an edge of concern. He blinked, shifting his gaze to her. “What’s going on? You’ve been... distant. Even more than usual.”

He hesitated, the words caught somewhere between his thoughts and his tongue. How could he explain it? How could he describe something so vast, so impossible? He sighed and leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know if I can explain it. It’s like... my mind keeps pulling me somewhere else. Somewhere that’s not here.”

Lyra frowned, pulling out the chair next to him and sitting down. “What do you mean, ‘not here’?”

He gestured searching for the right words. “I mean... it’s like being in another space. Another... dimension, maybe. It’s not a place, not really. It’s everything and nothing at the same time. When I ’m there, it’s... peaceful.

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