Desert

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Echo Bloom

## Echo Bloom The desert wind tasted like rust and regret. Rain hadn’t kissed Redemption Ridge in eight months, not that anyone expected it to. Dust devils pirouetted across the cracked earth as Wren knelt, tracing a faded glyph carved…

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Echo Bloom

## Echo Bloom The wind tasted of salt and dust, a familiar sting on Elara’s skin. She adjusted the woven sun-shield over her eyes, squinting at the shimmer rising from the Sapphire Waste. Ten moons it had been since the…

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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…

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Dustfall

## Dustfall The wind tasted of iron and something else—something old, like dried leaves pressed between the pages of a forgotten book. Elias ran a gloved hand over the corrugated metal wall, feeling the faint tremor beneath his palm. Project…

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The Cartographer’s Bloom

## The Cartographer’s Bloom The desert wind tasted of grit and sun-baked stone, a familiar sting against my lips. I squinted at the shimmering horizon, dust devils dancing like restless spirits across the ochre expanse. This wasn’t just any desert;…

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The Longwave Echo

## The Longwave Echo The dust tasted like static. Wren coughed, pushing a strand of faded-blue hair from her face as she surveyed the abandoned diner. Chrome gleamed dully beneath a thick layer of grime, vinyl booths cracked like ancient…

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The Weight of Lilacs

## The Weight of Lilacs The desert wind tasted like sand and regret. Elias traced the lines on his calloused hand, watching dust devils dance across the cracked earth of Redemption Gulch. It was a town clinging to existence, its…

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Glitchpoint

## Glitchpoint The desert shimmered, heat rising from cracked earth like a phantom city. Rain hadn’t kissed this stretch of Arizona in six months. Jax wiped sweat from his brow, the gritty film clinging to his skin. He squinted at…

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Dust & Chrome

## Dust & Chrome The Lockheed Electra shuddered, a metal bird fighting the Gulf Coast chop. Amelia traced the coastline with a gloved finger on the sectional chart, her gaze distant. Not toward Florida, not today. South. Far south. The…

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The Gardener’s Grid

The rain tasted like iron and ozone. It hammered against the corrugated steel roof of the Bio-Nexus, a persistent drumbeat accompanying the low thrum emanating from within. I watched it fall on the moss-slicked windows of Sector 7, my fingers…

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The Severed Flow

The grit tasted of regret. Ada spat, the fine red dust coating her tongue like a second skin. Eldan hadn’t just *fallen* to the storms; it had been *eaten*. One moment, carved sandstone buildings gleamed, the next, swallowed whole by…

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The Skyfall Echoes

The peaks clawed at a bruised sky, broken teeth against the fading light. Dust devils danced across the shale, ghosts of arguments long settled. Old Man Tiber, they called me, though I hadn’t earned the name through age. It was…

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