STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

clouds. ”

Lucien let out a strained laugh.

It was good to see her. Really, it was.

But as he looked at her—at the nervousness in her expression, at the way her words carried something unsaid —he couldn’t shake the feeling that things had changed forever.

That they had all changed forever.

***

A short while later, Lucien and Lyra made their way to the sector ’s electrical hub. It was a squat, windowless building at the edge of the district, its exterior covered in layers of grime and graffiti. A maintenance bot trailed behind them, carrying a toolkit on its flat surface.

Inside, the air was stale, thick with dust and the silence of dormant machines. Lucien moved toward the central console, wiping years of grime off the surface. “Alright. Let’s see how bad this is.”

Lyra leaned against the wall, watching him work. “You really do come alive around machines, don ’t you?”

Lucien smirked, his fingers dancing over the console as he pulled up the schematics. “Machines make sense. They don’t lie, they don’t pretend to be something they ’re not. You fix what’s broken, and they work.”

Lyra tilted her head, her tone teasing. “If only people were that simple.”

Lucien chuckled but didn ’t respond. He began rerouting the power grid, carefully diverting electricity from the central districts into their sector. The room buzzed as the dormant systems hummed back to life.

When he activated the main switch, a surge of energy coursed through the building. The lights flickered before steadying, the air suddenly alive with power.

Lucien froze, his breath catching in his throat. It’s just electricity. Just wires and circuits coming alive. So why does it feel like this? Like the current is running through me as well.

His hands gripped the edge of the console as a memory hit him—sharp, sudden. The swirling energy he’d felt during that smoke break, the way it had shot through his body like lightning. It wasn ’t just similar. It was the same.

Lyra’s voice broke through his daze. “Lucien? Are you okay?”

He blinked, his fingers flexing against the console. “It’s strange. This... reminds me of something. The day I had that... experience. The energy I felt...

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