STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview
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STARLIGHT UNBOUND
“AstroSYS doesn’t just predict your fate. It shapes it.”
His fingers hovered over the keyboard, her voice weaving into his thoughts. A cold realization settled deep in his soul: he was complicit. Every day, he worked to maintain the very system that dictated people ’s lives. The system that erased choice.
How many charts have I adjusted?
How many lives have I helped control without even realizing it?
The thought coiled inside him, suffocating.
Darius’s voice broke through the quiet, snapping him back. “You okay?”
Lucien blinked, realizing he ’d been staring blankly at the screen. “I’m fine. Just... tired. ”
Darius frowned. “You sure? You’ve seemed off. Tired all the time. If you need a break, take one. You don ’t want the algorithms flagging your alignment discrepancies, right? ”
He meant it as a joke, but the word alignment hit Lucien harder than expected, twisting in his gut.
He forced a chuckle, swallowing down the unease. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”
***
By midday, the suffocating rhythm of the Bureau became too much.
Every keystroke, every data stream felt like a shackle, the steady spinning the servers grinding against his nerves. He couldn't breathe in here —not today.
Lucien slipped away during lunch, moving through the empty corridors. The white walls felt closer than usual, the cool lighting overhead buzzing softly like an omnipresent observer. He kept his head down, his footsteps too loud in the hollow quiet.
Eventually, he found himself in a small break room, staring at the glossy surface of the table. His hand drifted to his pocket, fingers brushing the cool, familiar edge of the black disk.
Lyra said the system is a lie.
He turned the disk over between his fingers, feeling its smooth surface.
But what if she’s wrong? What if I’m throwing everything away for nothing?
The thought gnawed at him, relentless. His life had always been mapped out, each step following the next in perfect harmony. The system worked. It had to. Didn’t it?
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