Page 184 of GlitchBorn Heart

For a moment, even the lab feels softer, less sterile, like maybe the world outside isn’t ending, but beginning again. My eyes fill as I look over at Kael.

Maybe the stars decided we were fated. Maybe StarFell was meant to happen, but I know that nothing in my life has ever felt this right.

This is where I’m supposed to be. Here and in Kael’s arms.

I know this...

71

Extract.exe

Playlist: See You Again - Rufus Du Soul

Kael

My hand moves abruptly. The feed sputters, then fades. Ash’s grin, the music, the glow of the lanterns all collapsing into black.

The dream dies, and the war begins.

Lyra turns to me, disappointed that I’ve suddenly cast darkness on the light of the moment. Her eyes widen. “Kael?”

“We start now.” My voice is final, rushed, but we only have hours to complete our plan, and the clock is already ticking. I pull up the programs and schematics, lines of code unfolding on all screens, and tap my comm to get the all clear from Ember back at my penthouse.

Lyra is silent, and for a long moment, she doesn’t move. She steps closer. “This may be goodbye.” Her eyes are glossy, emotion spilling into her expression. The monitors behind her begin to drip static droplets like wet paint, shades of red and deep amber.

I rush to meet her. “It isn’t.” I reach up, brushing my knuckles along the edge of her cheek, the holo-light bending to meet me, warm and electric. “Stay linked to my voice. Don’t wander, no matter what you hear.”

I drop my arms, sliding my hands into my pockets so she won’t see them shake. This feeling of fear is completely foreign to me. I’ve walked casually through viruses and crashes of systems without flinching, but this? This is different.

I’ve never held the delicate balance of someone’s life in my own hands. The anomalies were different. Some weren’t meant to hold the immense power they were given. I can live with the idea that I couldn’t save them all. But that’s really why I deferred them to Jett—so I could clear my conscience of playing god.

Now look at me. I laugh at the irony. My hands, once thought to be clean, are now permanently stained with the fate I tried so desperately to avoid, and for Lyra, I even welcomed it.

“Once you’re inside DreamNet, go to the beach and wait. Jett will guide you through the core sectors. He’ll find your signal. That’s when his SoulReaver powers will take over. You’ll feel it. Follow him.”

She begins backing up. The want in me tugs my body so strongly, I have to walk away to keep from holding her. “I used to think I could save everyone,” I murmur. “That all this”—I motion to the core, the monitors, the entire lab—“was a way to fix our broken world. But I’m done trying to save everyone now, Taiyō. Now I know I only want to save you.”

Her voice comes out small, almost a whisper. It cracks. “You already have.”

Her lips part, trembling, but no other words escape. She just tilts her head, magenta highlights cascading down her shoulder, the look in her eyes enough to hollow me out.

I activate my hacked DreamBand. Its glow matches the faint pulse of her magic. “Ready?”

“Not even a little.” A tear slips down her cheek, and gods, I want to capture it and keep it for all eternity.

“Good,” I joke, because we both need courage at this moment.

She reaches up, her fingers curling into a tiny wave as her hologram begins to unravel into tiny particles of white light. I hold her gaze as her form begins to dissipate, floating light like the lanterns from earlier, until she’s gone.

I close my eyes and let it haunt me.

I’m left standing in the echo of her absence, her last words still buzzing like phantom code in the air:

You already have.

“LINK!” I snap out of the stillness, my voice slicing through the lab. “The Corporation has deemed this a blackout for the eclipse holiday. I’ll need to take you offline for the next twelve hours.” I bark my command. I can hear a strange beat of static before her voice echoes through the system, mechanical, like it’s supposed to be.

YES DR. RYUDON