Oblivion's Edge: Voidborn

4 The Perfect Lie

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The Annex door responded to her outdated clearance chip.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 of forgotten tech. Dust-covered terminals, tangled wires, and silent machines filled the chamber. She walked toward the oldest corner, a locked cabinet with a faint blue glow behind its glass.

There it was.

The Class-IV codec.

It was small, sleek, with bronze edges but still functional.

She took it gently, cradling it like something sacred.

High above, hidden behind a wall panel, a camera lens blinked.

Recording.

Watching.

Vehlarā never saw it.

She turned and left the same way she came.

Still no resistance.

Still no alarms.

-Info: All male born in the Edge are specifically trained to become soldiers from birth in hopes of reclaiming Earth back from the aliens.

Back home, Aēlion waited by the window, eyes fixed on the dark rooftops. When the door opened and Vehlarā stepped in, he stood up so fast he nearly knocked over the old dining chair.

"You got it?" he asked.

She nodded and smiled softly. "There was no one there. No guards, no drones, nothing. It was almost.. too easy."

Aēlion frowned. "Too easy is never a good thing."

She handed him the codec anyway. "Be quick. We don't know if they let us walk into a trap."

Aēlion didn't wait. He sat by the hidden compartment in the floor and pulled out the old slate. His hands were shaking slightly as he attached the Class-IV codec to the slate's port.

The screen flickered.

An icon swirled.

Then light.

Not just words.

Images.

Old footage.

Video.

Real people.

He watched with wide eyes. Men and women, both human and alien, standing together. They were smiling, laughing, shaking hands and sharing food. Children of both kinds playing in wide, green fields.

A message played in faded English text:

"Unity Accord: Year 2046 - Human-Alien Alliance Signing Ceremony"

Then another line:

"Together, we rebuild. Together, we rise."

Aēlion couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He replayed it. Again and again. The same message. The same handshake. The same joy.

No weapons.

No fear.

This wasn't a war.

It was peace.

A true alliance.

"Mother..." he whispered.

Vehlarā leaned over his shoulder, eyes trembling with emotion.

"They told us the aliens were monsters," Aēlion said slowly. "That they destroyed Earth. That they enslaved us."

Vehlarā nodded. "They made us believe that the Edge was the last safe zone. That the outside world was dangerous."

He turned to her, voice breaking. "But they were wrong. No, they lied about it, about everything."

"They've been lying to us all since day one," she whispered. "I always suspected... but I was too afraid to say it."

He replied, "It's not hard to see. We've all been living in a perfect lie. This world called the Edge is a perfect lie."

Aēlion stood. He walked to the corner of the room and looked out through the small square of glass that served as a window. It showed only sky.

A sky that felt artificial and dim.

His thoughts raced.

Why did they lie?

Why go through all this trouble to hide the truth?

What were they trying to protect?

Or worse...

What were they trying to control?

"If the world outside isn't full of monsters," he murmured, "then what is the Edge?"

Vehlarā sat down beside him. "A prison, mi amor. A prison with perfect walls."

Aēlion shook his head. He felt dizzy, angry, betrayed.

He had trained every day since childhood to fight a war against enemies who, as far as this file showed, were once friends.

Maybe still were.

Everything in the Edge was fake. The training, the stories, even the languages. They were forbidden to speak Earth tongues like English or Spanish because why?

To forget who they really were?

His mind wouldn't stop spinning.

Vehlarā touched his arm. "You need to sleep. Let it settle, don't overthink."

He pulled away gently. "I can't. Not now. Not after this. Nothing makes sense anymore"

He sat alone for a long time, knees pulled to his chest, the codec and slate between his feet like some kind of ancient artifact.

How could he go back to training tomorrow like nothing had happened?

How could he see Veydran's face again and not want to scream?

And Prime-Dēxus...

He wasn't just hiding something. He was protecting a lie. For how long?

Who else knew?

Aēlion closed his eyes. He saw again the handshake, the joy on both human and alien faces. It was real. He felt it in his gut.

He opened his eyes.

"What do I do?", he said faintly.

Now it seems...

There is only one clear thing to do.

He has to leave.

He has to get out of the Edge. Go beyond the perimeter. Find the truth with his own eyes.

See if the world outside was still alive.

And if it was..

He would take his mother and never come back.

His mind was now made up.

He is going to the real world no matter what.

...