Bloom
## Bloom The desert shimmered, a heat haze distorting the distant mesas. Dust devils danced across the cracked earth, mimicking the chaotic churn of data flooding Dr. Aris Thorne’s console. He squinted at the screen, the red spikes a frantic…
bloom
Read MoreBloom
Bloom & Fracture
## Bloom & Fracture The hum vibrated through Elara’s bones, a constant thrum beneath the manufactured dusk. Sixteen leagues down, past the shimmering algae vats and hydroponic forests, lay Section Gamma-Nine. Her shift began. Not that it mattered much anymore.…
The Bloom
## The Bloom The air tasted of iron and wet stone. Rain, not gentle drizzle but a solid sheet, hammered against the corrugated roof of Elias’s workshop. He ignored it, focused on the moss growing in intricate patterns across the…
The Bloom & the Gear
## The Bloom & the Gear The rain smelled of wet earth and something else—something sharp, metallic. Elara clutched her threadbare shawl tighter as she hurried down Willow Creek’s main street, the damp clinging to her like a second skin.…
The Cartographer’s Shadow
## The Cartographer’s Shadow The dust tasted of old parchment and regret. Elara spat, wiping a smear across the worn leather of her glove. The shard pulsed beneath her fingertips—a frantic heartbeat in the cavernous Archive. It depicted a harvest…
The Static Bloom
## The Static Bloom The chipped Formica countertop felt cold under Leo Maxwell’s elbows. Rain lashed against the diner window, blurring neon signs into smeared streaks of color. He hadn’t slept properly in days, not since the shift, though “sleep”…
The Resonance Bloom
## The Resonance Bloom The rain tasted of iron. Elara wiped her face, the droplets tracing paths through the dust clinging to her skin. The sky bled grey above Oakhaven, a relentless drizzle mirroring the damp chill that settled deep…
Coral Cartographer
## The Coral Cartographer The air hung thick, saturated with salt and the insistent hum of unseen insects. Elodie traced a finger across the damp canvas, charcoal smudging against worn linen. The coral beach shimmered ahead, a chaotic sprawl of…
The Bloom
## The Bloom The air hung thick, sweet with pollen dust that clung to my throat. It tasted like sunshine and something else—something ancient, almost metallic. I ran a hand across the velvety petal of a Skybloom, its color shifting…
The Echo Bloom
## The Echo Bloom Rain lashed against the ferroconcrete of Sector 7, each drop a tiny hammer blow. Elara huddled deeper into her threadbare coat, the damp chill seeping through despite layers of worn synthetics. She watched a Nomari courier…
The Static Bloom
## The Static Bloom The chipped Formica of the diner booth stuck to Leo Maxwell’s elbows. Rain smeared the neon sign outside, turning “Rosie’s” into a blurry pink wound against the gray Tuesday night. He hadn’t tasted coffee in… well,…
The Bloom Weaver
## The Bloom Weaver The chipped porcelain of the mug warmed Elias’s hands, but didn’t touch the chill clinging to his bones. Rain lashed against the window of the Archive, mimicking the rhythmic throb behind his eyes. He hadn’t slept…
The Static Bloom
## The Static Bloom The chipped Formica countertop smelled of stale coffee and regret. Wren traced the hairline crack with a fingertip, ignoring the ache in her temples. Three days since she’d last slept more than ninety minutes at a…
Echo Bloom
## Echo Bloom The air tasted of static and regret. Elder traced a finger across the hull of the *Dust Moth*, its metal cool even through his worn gloves. Outside, the nebula bled purple and bruised orange, a cosmic bruise…
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…