anomalies

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The Fractured Mind

Dr. Elara Voss had never believed in ghosts. The sterile hum of the lab’s air filters filled the silence as she adjusted the electrodes on Kael’s temples, her gloved fingers brushing against the damp skin of his scalp. His eyes…

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Chromatic Bloom

## The Chromatic Bloom Rain hammered the corrugated steel roof, a relentless percussion against Elara’s world. A damp chill clung to her skin despite the unnatural heat blooming from the firestarter paper clutched in her hand. The paper didn’t burn…

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The Taste of Ash

## The Taste of Ash The flour dusted Elara’s hands, a comforting weight. She kneaded the dough with practiced ease, the rhythmic push and pull familiar as her own heartbeat. Outside, rain lashed against the bakery’s windows—a relentless drumming that…

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Static Bloom

## Static Bloom The chipped Formica of the diner booth felt cold under Elias’s forearms. Rain hammered against the plasteel windows, blurring the neon glow of “Stella’s Fuel & Feed.” He hadn’t touched his synth-coffee. The scent of burnt protein…

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The Sulfur Bloom

## The Sulfur Bloom Geneva traced a finger along the shimmering blue line on the computer screen. Seismic data. Not like anything she’s ever seen. Public sensors registered a steady drumbeat, the earth breathing normally. But *this*—captured by the experimental…

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The Bloom & the Blade

## The Bloom & the Blade The scent of dried chrysanthemum and aged paper clung to Mei’s fingers. Dust motes danced in the single shaft of sunlight slicing through the high window of the Imperial Library’s Annex. She traced a…

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The Bloom Weaver

## The Bloom Weaver Dust motes danced in the shaft of sunlight slicing through the grimy window. Old Man Tiber, they called him, though he couldn’t have been more than sixty, lived in the husk of what used to be…

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The Weight of Wings

## The Weight of Wings Dust motes danced in the single shaft of sunlight slicing through the warped planks of Old Man Tiber’s cabin. Silas traced the lines on the worn map with a calloused thumb, the parchment smelling of…

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