STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

It was still there—soft edges, warm colors—a quiet refuge in stark contrast to the raw chaos of her other works.

Why did I paint this?

Her fingers drifted over the surface of the canvas, tracing its gentle contours. The house felt... wrong. Out of place. And yet, it tugged at something deep inside her, something she couldn ’t name.

But tonight, the house wasn ’t what called to her.

A blank canvas against the far wall caught her eye, and without thinking, she reached for a brush. The motion was instinctive, the balance of it familiar in her hand. Deep crimson swirled as she dipped the bristles into the thick paint.

At first, the strokes were careful, deliberate—jagged shapes emerging in sharp bursts of color. But soon, her hand moved faster, her breath syncing with the rhythm of each sweeping motion.

Dark shades of red and orange erupted on the canvas, rising in violent waves. Streaks of black and gray followed, creeping tendrils of smoke and ash swallowing the fiery landscape.

A volcano.

The mountain stood sharp and unyielding, its peak exploding with molten fury that bled down its sides in chaotic streams.

But there wasn ’t only fire in her minds eye.

Dipping the brush into a deep, chilling blue, she swept broad strokes across the lower half of the canvas, her movements urgent and wild. Waves crashed against each other, jagged crests rising high, swallowing everything in their path.

A tsunami.

Lyra stepped back, breathless. The volcano and the tsunami clashed —two unyielding forces colliding in an endless storm of destruction.

This is us.

The thought surfaced, slipping into her mind before she could push it away. Her grip tightened around the brush, eyes fixed on the turmoil she had created.

But who is the volcano... and who is the tsunami?

Her breath came shallow, the unspoken question hanging in the air like smoke.

Then, she felt it.

A pull—insistent, electric. It stroked against her skin like a whisper she couldn ’t ignore.

He’s still awake.

Lyra ’s eyes snapped to the door, her heart pounding. She didn’t know how

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