Page 190 of GlitchBorn Heart

My world collapses in that single start of a sentence. I need to calm myself. She has to process all the data I’ve inputted into her, her memories; it will take a few minutes for the neural data to load.

Calm, Kael. Give her time. Do not react.

Behind me, I hear Jett gasp. “No, no, no...Kael.” From then on, what he says is like jumbled sounds and the mashing together of words because I can only see and hear her.

She’s alive, real, and breathing. Everything I wanted for her, every piece of data input, every code written, every hour spent in front of a keyboard, all worth it. My magic led my fingers to create all the stimulus to be received, guiding me through the process, and now she’s looking at me like I’m a complete stranger, a monster...a threat.

My knees nearly buckle, but I force myself to stay steady for her. I lift my hands as if surrendering, but my voice barely comes out. “It’s me,” I whisper. “Lyra...it’s Kael.”

She recoils harder, her magic flickering violently and bleeding all over every screen in the lab. If it weren’t for the complete blackout, it would be all over every screen across the city. I don’t know how to feel because I’ve never let myself come this far, be this vulnerable.

I think I feel broken.

Lyra stands up so quickly, the air snaps around her. Her body moves before thought, a blur of precision, like a video feed processing at three times the speed. She remains in the corner, but pivots, eyes narrowing, taking in exits, threats, angles. Instinctive analysis of her surroundings, just like a machine, just like LINK. Even worse, I’ve seen this look in Vikktor’s cyberbots.

I watch her head tilt, eyes never leaving mine, like she’s hearing a sound I can’t. Maybe the hum of the battery-powered electricity running through the lab. She moves again, and the air flickers and ripples around her, as if she’s breaking through it. In the blink of an eye, she’s across the room, standing in front of Jett, chest rising and falling like she’s assessing his threat level as well.

Her fingers curl once, the neural mesh under her new skin glowing briefly, a faint magenta-gold pulse that spirals up her arms then fades. It’s followed by several tiny blips of other colors chasing after. She’s testing her strength, reborn, recalibrated, and terrifyingly aware of it.

Jett moves carefully, that shit-eating grin across his face letting me know he’s planning something self-serving. He lets out a low whistle, slow and dangerous.

“Well now, Lyra...look at you.” His eyes rake over her, not only with lust but also with the kind of calculation a general gives a newly forged weapon. He steps closer, hands in his pockets, to not threaten her. “Do you have any idea what you are now? What you could be?”

Another step closer, and I notice his smile widening like a general seeing a war turn in his favor. “The rebellion won’t just rise with someone like you.” His gaze locks with hers. “It will win. You’re incredible.”

He circles her like she’s a sight he just can’t look away from. “Damn, sweetheart.”

And I hate every fucking word. I move before the sentence even finishes leaving his mouth, a blur, silent, just like I’ve been trained to do. My hand closes around Jett’s collar, and I slam him back into the wall.

He doesn’t flinch, just lets me pin him, a laugh threatening to escape his traitorous lips. “Back off.” My voice is low and dangerous. “Do not call her that. Have some respect.”

Jett laughs at me mockingly. It only makes my grip tighten. “She’s not your weapon, not your cause, and she sure as hell isn’t yours to circle like you’re choosing a prize.” I grit my teeth. Someday, I will end up killing him.

A faint pulse of orange streaks across my vision, my magic threatening to surface. Jett notices. “Good,” he murmurs, his eyes squinting. “Hold onto that. You’ll need that when she finds out what you’ve done to her.”

I shove him once more, threatening to crush his collarbone. “You mean what we’ve done, SoulReaver.”

Jett smooths his shirt, eyes gleaming. “This is going to get interesting.”

Lyra freezes. Even her breath stops. Her translucent eyes widen again as she stares down at her hands, as though they’re not hers. Because they aren’t. Not fully. Not yet. She’s still calibrating. Still loading signals into her neural framework.

She takes another step, faster than the human eye can track and much faster than she was expecting. She catches herself on the counter, palm slapping down with enough force to dent steel, but the table doesn’t even shake. She’s stronger than she realizes. She’s faster than she should be.

And every instinct in me screams that she’s becoming something more than either of us can fathom.

A weapon. A prophecy. A machine.

A human version of LINK.

Her gaze lifts to mine sharply, and her question comes out accusatory. “What did you do to me?”

Epilogue ASunThatShouldn’tRise

Playlist: Sun Don’t Shine - Extended Mix - Klangkarussell, Jaymes Young

Lyra

I’m lying on my beach, waiting. Pulse pounding, heart beating excruciatingly fast. It starts as a whisper on the breeze. Then a vibration deep in the grid, like someone shaking the sand around me.