The sky was… blank.
No countdown.No notifications.No rating stars.
Just white.
Lyra stood beneath the empty heavens, her pulse strangely calm. Her skin no longer glowed with system-approved runes. The air had no background hum. It was the sound of actual silence, not code pretending to be peace.
Kael looked up and muttered, "Where are the stars?"
Lyra turned slowly. "Gone."
For the first time since she'd existed, there was no algorithm watching. No silent eye ranking her worth. No data sheet predicting her arc.
She should've felt free.
But freedom, it turned out, felt a lot like falling.
Without the system, there was no enemy.Without an enemy… who would she be?
Her mother stood quietly nearby, arms crossed, still glowing faintly with residual flame.
"I never imagined I'd see it erased."
"Not erased," Lyra said. "Paused."
The world around them shimmered like ink on damp parchment—still settling, still soft.
