STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

between them.

The touch—his pulse quickening under her scrutiny, the impact of her presence settling into him like hooks, sinking deeper.

It ’s as though his body is pulling the memory through time, as if he’s there again, in the gallery, in that moment, and yet here, in the courtyard, all at once.

A sudden jolt shot through his body, sharp and electric, like a lightning bolt striking the base of his spine. His eyes snapped open, his breath catching as a wave of energy surged up his spine and through his head, the cigarette dropping from his fingers as his body tensed involuntarily.

He staggered back, his hand gripping the railing with desperate force as his vision warped, colors bending unnaturally at the edges. A high-pitched ringing screamed through his ears, drowning out everything else. It wasn ’t just in his head —he could feel it in his bones, his veins, his teeth.

Everything— the Bureau ’s machinery , the pine of the trees, the acrid smoke in his throat —vibrated in perfect, unbearable clarity, as though the world had been tuned to a frequency he was never meant to sense.

His body stretched, pulled outward, vast and infinite, as if every atom in him was reaching, searching... expanding beyond what his mind could grasp. The universe opened before him, endless and unknowable. He felt on the verge of bursting apart, scattering into the void.

And then, as suddenly as it happened, it stopped.

Lucien collapsed against the wall, gasping for air, his chest heaving with ragged, desperate breaths. Sweat clung to his skin, his shirt sticking to his back. His hands trembled violently as he pressed them against his ribs, feeling the frantic rhythm of his heartbeat.

What the fuck was that? What’s happening to me?

He scanned the courtyard with wide, darting eyes, expecting—hoping—to see someone else, anyone, a witness to confirm that he hadn’t imagined it. But he was alone.

His shaking hand plunged into his pocket, closing around the black disk.

Solid. Cool. Real.

He clutched it, as though it was the only thing holding him down, keeping the unravelling edge of reality from growing.

***

Lucien stumbled back into the Bureau, his pulse still erratic, the world around him feeling off-kilter. The fluorescent lights were too bright, the air too thin,

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