empathy

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The Chroma Bloom

## The Chroma Bloom The humid New York air clung to Leo like a second skin as he hurried past the boarded-up bookstore on Bleecker Street. He didn’t register the peeling paint, the faded lettering proclaiming “Rare & Obscure.” He…

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The Echo Bloom

## The Echo Bloom The air tasted of sulfur and iron, a familiar tang to Lyra. Her boots crunched on obsidian dust as she descended the geothermal stairwell, the rhythmic pulse of the earth thrumming against her ribs. Above, the…

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The Bloom Collector

## The Bloom Collector The salt spray tasted like ghosts. Wren traced the chipped Formica of the galley table, knuckles white against the faded blue. Outside, the *Cerulean’s* hull hummed, a low thrum against the perpetual gray of the Pacific.…

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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 Inheritance of Frost

## The Inheritance of Frost The snow fell like shredded silk, blanketing Blackwood Estate in a deceptive tranquility. General Silas Thorne watched it drift past his study window, the fire crackling a defiant orange against the encroaching white. He adjusted…

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The Echo Weaver

## The Echo Weaver The rain smelled of asphalt and regret, clinging to the neon glow reflecting off Scully’s worn leather jacket. He watched a young woman fumble with her umbrella outside The Crimson Note, her face pinched with frustration…

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The Tide-Bound

## The Tide-Bound The salt stung Elara’s lips as she hauled another net, her muscles burning with a familiar ache. Turquoise waves slapped against the hull of *The Wanderer*, their rhythm steady, constant – a deceptive calm. She squinted at…

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The Bloom Echo

## The Bloom Echo The chipped Formica of the diner booth felt cold under Leo Maxwell’s elbows. Rain lashed against the plate glass window, blurring the neon sign of ‘Rosie’s’ into a smeared crimson halo. Ten years. A decade spent…

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The Cartographer’s Echo

## The Cartographer’s Echo Dust motes danced in the violet shafts slicing through Old Man Tiber’s workshop. The light, fractured seven ways over Aestinwy’s sun prisms, tasted like ozone and regret. I ran a thumb across the vellum stretched taut…

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