The steady rhythm of machines filled the room, a mechanical heartbeat, alien yet oddly comforting.Rian sat in silence long after Doctor Selene had gone, his thoughts drifting between two lives that didn’t quite belong to each other.He turned his gaze toward the panoramic glass wall beside him.Beyond it, the city unfolded like a dream painted in neon. Silver towers rose into the clouds, their sides streaked with liquid light. Airships drifted through the mist, leaving trails that shimmered like shooting stars. I’m starting to think I’m in a world of wonders.Beneath the beauty, though, he could feel something deeper,nthe hum beneath the surface, the pulse of spirit energy flowing through every wire and circuit.It wasn’t just technology. It was life, refined and repurposed. I think there’s more to this world than meets the eye.He pressed his palm to the glass. The surface vibrated faintly, like it recognized him.“Spirit energy,” he murmured. “Condensed, refined… and controlled by

The lights of the Director’s chamber still flickered in Rian’s mind long after he left. The echo of that crystalline voice, “You’ll either save this world or destroy it again.”, lingered like a curse stitched into his pulse.Outside, the corridors of Starlight Academy were silent. Transparent walls shimmered with streams of data, and faint motes of blue light drifted upward, disappearing into the high ceilings. To most, it was simply the hum of machinery. To him, it was a heartbeat. A world breathing through metal and memory.I’m starting to think this place is alive.He paused before one of the large observation windows. The city stretched far below, towers made of glass and light, crisscrossed by ribbons of floating trains. The artificial sun beyond the barrier dome was rising, painting the horizon in pale gold. Beauty crafted by logic. Life manufactured by design.I’m starting to think they built perfection just to hide their fear.“Still brooding?”Lyra’s voice came from behind hi

The night had not yet faded, but the academy was already whispering his name.Rumors spread like sparks through dry air, the boy who tore the arena apart, the anomaly who wielded the stars. To some, he was a myth reborn; to others, a threat disguised as a student.Rian ignored it all. He moved through the dim corridors in silence, the glow from the wall panels reflecting faintly across his skin.I'm starting to think peace doesn’t exist for people like me.Lyra waited by the transport gate, dressed in her field uniform. The faint blue from the emergency lights caught in her hair. When she looked at him, there was no judgment in her eyes, only the weight of someone who already knew what he carried.“You sure about this?” she asked quietly.Rian nodded. “Selene’s data can’t wait. If the chamber beneath the city is tied to the Star Core, then the longer we stay here, the more the Nexus will notice the signal.”Lyra keyed the panel beside her. The air shimmered, forming a translucent port

The path below the vault was not meant for the living.I’m starting to think we crossed a line that can’t be undone.After the collapse, they followed the tunnels that spiraled deeper, where the air grew colder and the walls began to hum. The lights in their visors flickered from interference, energy bleeding through layers of metal and bone.Lyra led the way, weapon drawn, her eyes scanning every shadow. “No signal from the upper grid. We’re off the Nexus network entirely.”“That’s good,” Rian murmured. “It means they can’t trace us.”Selene walked behind them, her expression pale under the glow of her wrist-lamp. She held the cracked data core close like a fragile heart. “It also means if we die down here, no one will ever find the bodies.”Rian gave a quiet, humorless chuckle. “Motivating.”The tunnel eventually opened into a chamber carved from obsidian. Runes crawled across the walls like veins, pulsing with faint blue light, alive, rhythmic, almost breathing.“This isn’t natural

The morning came shrouded in gray.Fog rolled across the ruins of the old city, swallowing what little light the rising sun tried to offer. From the upper deck of the observatory base, Ren watched the haze drift over broken towers and silent streets. The world seemed frozen between two breaths, a fragile moment suspended before chaos.I’m starting to think peace is just a pause between storms.He adjusted the strap of his combat vest, fingers brushing against the scar beneath his jaw, a thin, pale line carved by an old wound. It was a small mark, almost invisible, yet every time his reflection caught it, he remembered why he kept fighting.I’m starting to think scars are just stories we survived.“Ren,” came Lyra’s voice from below.He turned to find her already suited for the mission, her armor a balance of grace and function, its surface glinting silver under the dim light. Her hair, still damp from the morning mist, framed her face in soft waves. There was a calm in her eyes that d