STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Lyra had nodded. “That’s what we’re building. Something real.”

Lucien had nodded along, but even as he listened, unease gnawed at the edges of his mind. He should have felt pride, even relief, at the progress they had made. Instead, it all felt fragile—a façade of stability stretched thin over something breakable.

***

As evening settled over the sector, he wandered alone, his boots scuffing against cracked pavement. He passed the old sensor array tower near the plaza’s center.

He paused there, resting against the cool metal base, and let out a slow breath. The murmur of voices drifted through the air, blending with the distant trickle of water from the newly repaired fountains. It should have been peaceful.

But his thoughts churned.

The dreams had returned with a vengeance.

At first, they had been fleeting —shards of light, whispers that dissolved on waking, the floating sensation of drifting in an endless void. But now they came every night, vivid and unrelenting. The stars burned impossibly bright, their light searing into his mind like a brand. Each morning, he woke with the sensation of falling, heart pounding, skin slick with sweat.

And always, there was the voice.

Not a voice in the way most would understand —no words, no language. A presence, inside his consciousness. It called to him, silent yet insistent, pulling at something deep and unspoken within him.

You ’re changing, it seemed to say, though it never truly spoke. You’re becoming something else.

Lucien ran a hand over his face, trying to shake the haze. He hadn ’t told Lyra. He didn ’t know how to explain it. He wasn’t even sure he could.

But the worst part was that the visions were no longer confined to sleep.

Two days ago, while helping Jaris inspect the north side of the sector, he had paused mid-conversation, his head snapping upward as if pulled by an unseen force. The world around him had vanished, replaced by the crushing vastness of the stars. He had stumbled, breathless, his pulse hammering in his throat. Jaris had given him a look —curious, maybe even concerned—but said nothing.

Now, standing in the tower’s shadow, that same feeling settled over him. His head tilted back almost involuntarily, eyes locking onto the darkening sky.

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