The Enhanced Dimensional Gateway Environment. Commonly known as The EDGE. It was not a place of comfort, nor a place for questions. It was a world between worlds, a mirrored reflection of Earth that seemed to stretch forever, suspended in a state of cold perfection and harsh survival. No one remembered exactly how long it had been since humanity's original Earth had fallen. The past was a misty haze, too far buried to matter. What mattered was the present. What mattered was living. Surviving. In the Edge, no one was allowed to question the truth they were given. The leaders shadowed figures of authority, dictated every aspect of our lives, weaving a web of rules and routines that kept them in check. The architecture was sterile and geometric, perfect in its angular lines, yet barren. No warmth. No color. Everything was grey or silver, brushed with a sheen that was almost too clean. Even the sky above, too smooth, too flawless, was a reflection, a lie. And all

Vehlarā moved like a shadow in the night. The narrow alleyways of the Edge seemed emptier than usual. Her footsteps echoed, but only softly. The path to the Decentral Archive Annex was one she had memorized years ago, back when she worked as a systems translator. That life had ended the day she chose complaint over compliance. But tonight, she walked those halls again. She expected patrol drones. Cameras. Maybe even guards with facial scans and heat sensors but the corridor was abandoned. Too abandoned. No one. Not a flicker of surveillance. No moving lights. Not even the usual hum of energy grids. It felt wrong. Cold. Quiet. Still, she kept moving. She had to. The Annex door responded to her outdated clearance chip. That, too, felt strange. It shouldn't have worked but it did. Like the system wanted her to go in. She hesitated. Trap? Maybe. But she stepped through the threshold anyway. The door slid closed behind her with a whisper. Inside, the room was a relic o

.. The sun bled gold across the sky as Sireya-Val stood on her balcony, gazing at the capital city. From here, the city looked perfect. Silver towers glowed in the fading light, and streams of sky-traffic moved in orderly lines between spires. The air was clean, the streets calm. For anyone else, this view would have been paradise. For Sira, it felt like a cage made of glass and light. The faint alien markings along her arms shimmered as the sunlight shifted. Her luminous blue eyes reflected the sky, but her thoughts were far beyond it. She could still hear her father’s voice from their conversation an hour earlier, deep, firm, immovable. Earlier That Evening The senator’s study was massive, the walls lined with holographic archives and alien script etched into the polished black stone. Xurell-Val stood by the tall window, his robe trailing across the floor. “You’ve had the best tutors. You understand law, politics, and diplomacy. When I step down, you will take my pla

Inside the mini-ship, the sound of the engines filled the small cabin like a steady heartbeat. Aellion sat on the passenger seat, dripping wet, his hair still plastered against his forehead. His chest rose and fell quickly, not only from the chase but from the fact that he was now sitting only a few feet away from the strangest girl he had ever seen in his life.Her hair was blue, not dyed or glowing, but naturally blue, falling over her shoulders like strands of crystal water. Strange markings traced along her arms and neck, faintly pulsing with light, like her very skin carried hidden energy. And her eyes bright, luminous blue, almost seemed to see through him.Sira gripped the controls tightly, her jaw tense. She pushed the ship faster, weaving between jagged rocks and the scattered ruins of the outcast lands. After a long silence, she finally let out a breath and spoke."That was a close one," she said, shaking her head. "Those creatures... they don't usually come that close to