68. ExtractionEve
ExtractionEve
Playlist: Your Idol - Saja Boys
Lyra
I lead Kael back out into the cold night of the terrace. It’s now completely consumed by the darkness of the eclipse, violet light bleeding from the ballroom, casting shadows on the cement. The candles fight to stay aflame in the evening breeze, ethereal, almost ghostly.
His eyes are pulsing, despite the amount of restraint he just used to be on stage in front of an entire audience. It’s only a matter of time before he unleashes the dragon. I can’t let that happen here.
Besides, I want to steal him away from this world, from this life, just for these few moments before my extraction. Intense. The only way I can describe it, almost like a first date on borrowed time.
“Breathe.” I take both his hands in mine. He sucks in air, closes his eyes, and centers himself as if on the mat. “They cheered for you like you’re their salvation. But you’re really mine. I know this...”
I kiss him, pouring all my emotion into it, pushing comfort through my magic. But it’s an empty, one-sided kiss. The kind when one person doesn’t kiss back, and it’s just the harsh feeling of their lips on yours.
He’s stressed, distracted, disassociating. This was his point of no return, where his control has finally broken him. This is where he shifts from obedient corporate genius to something far more dangerous and destructive. I shiver at the thought.
He shakes his head and sighs. “They didn’t hear the anger. They didn’t see the contempt. They only saw a reflection of themselves, drunk on their own illusion of power. They think their money protects them from consequences.”
“You’ve been their architect. Their builder.
The good corporate soldier in a lab coat on their feeds.
The man who smiled on cue and nodded on command.
” My thumb rubs his jawline tenderly. “Kenji may have taught you that control equals strength, but what good is it when the whole world is being controlled by corporations? Control is an illusion now, Kael.”
“No more.” He tilts his head. “From here on out, I’m done being Vikktor’s pawn. They made me into a weapon, and now they’ll see what happens when the weapon goes rogue.”
I can feel his pulse, his resolve brushing against mine. “If Vikktor wants a god, I’ll give him one, but it will be him that kneels before me.”
I kiss him again, this time more passionate, all-consuming.
The laughter and noise around us fade, leaving just the two of us, gazing into each other’s eyes.
I can feel his body heat rushing over me through my holographic dress as it reflects the eclipse moon overhead.
All I could ever think about was hating this man for building this cage I’m in. But now?
Now I think I could stay here by his side and in his arms forever.
“No more me.” He wraps his arms around my waist. “How are you feeling? This time tomorrow night you’ll be in my arms, in my bed...” He gives me a sly smile, the yearning between us sparking again. Neither of us allows it to ignite.
I laugh at his innuendo, but then my emotion erupts, no place left to escape.
“Nervous? Scared? Excited? All of the above. I still can’t help thinking, what if I don’t come back?
What if what’s left of me dies inside the system?
” My eyes become watery. “Don’t even get me started on the problem with my brother. ”
His stare intensifies, eyes flashing like fiery stars in a pitch-black universe. “Then I’ll follow you into the grid, tear it apart line by line until there’s nothing left but us. Don’t test me tonight, Taiyō. You won’t like the warrior that consumes me. You’re not my weakness—you’re my war.”
The intense stare, the heat of his hands on me, it all feels like being pulled into a black hole. “I’ll ignite the stars and sky to bring you back. We’re the same flame. If one of us catches fire, we both burn.”
My gaze lifts to a violet shooting star, faintly soaring across the hazy horizon. “What if you can’t save me, Eli, and yourself at the same time? Are you prepared to choose?” I give him an empty stare.
He lowers his forehead to mine, the scent of vanilla, spice, and whiskey mixing with the chill in the air. It warms me from the inside out. “I’ve already made my choice.”
“Tomorrow,” I say softly.
He nods once, eyes still on mine, like he can see into the depths of my human soul, wherever it may be buried in the code. “Tomorrow.”
We let the word float in the night air, his promise so large, I can’t fathom it. He bet his past, present, and future on it.
I have nothing to bring to the table...except me.
My eyes wander below the terrace to the street; the U21s have dispersed and are walking, carrying torches and candles, casting an eerie glow over the pavement, as the last of the neon lights begin to fade for the blackout.
It’s ominous, and threatening, a catalyst for change to a society that lives and breathes on the edge of creating its own destruction.
Kael notices my thoughts are scattered, seeking escape into the clouds.
I look away. “Collecting stars are we?” He turns my face to look at him, his seriousness even more succinct.
“You’ll be you. No system can rewrite that.
Especially not my system. I would know. I built it.
” An arrogant joke that falls to pieces in the space between us.
He almost smiles, but it fades before he speaks. “If I could trade places with you, I would.”
“No,” I whisper, “you wouldn’t.” I laugh. “Life sucks without pizza.”
Kael allows himself to smile, even laugh, and for some reason the sound fills me with longing. I want more of it, more often. He’s definitely a re-code of his former self. Kael Ryudon 2.0.
“You’ve changed me, Little Taiyō.” His voice is soft and tender. “And I don’t mean just at work. I was in a dark, hollow place; you made me believe that there might be something left in this world worth wanting.”
“And now you may have to continue without me,” I add.
His brow furrows. “You’re not leaving, you’re returning.” His hand lifts, brushing a strand of hair caught in the breeze, from my face. “I told you I’d bring you home to me, and I swear I will. How many times do I have to say it for you to believe it?”
I shake my head, trying to tame the racing thoughts. “If LINK pulls me apart before you can...”
“Stop.” His finger rests on my lips, his tone sharp and sure.
I press my forehead to his chest, his heart pounding beneath my palms. “Don’t say things like that,” he whispers into the wind. “You make it sound like this is goodbye.”
He tilts my chin up until our eyes lock. I see it, feel it: fear, want, devotion. All the things he’s never allowed himself to feel. “It might be,” I say quietly.
“I don’t want our last night to be spent being afraid.” His lips find mine again, a slow and deliberate kiss, lasting a second but feeling like eternity. I won’t stop him. I can’t.
The kiss deepens, the wind rising around us, our magic pulsing in waves. When we finally break apart, breathless, his thumb lingers on my lower lip.
“Tomorrow, we’ll end this.” A quiet understanding between us.
I nod. Mentally I have nothing but trepidation. A happy ending would be nice for once in my life.
I look around searching for something to ground me.
Ash and Ember are on the other end of the terrace, playfully flirting, their bodies touching as they laugh together.
I take a moment to look at the three of them: Kael striking and untouchable, Ember fierce but wounded, Ash pretending he’s not terrified, and I feel something I haven’t in years.
Family? Yes. But mostly?
Hope.
The kind that makes your heart feel full.
Ash sees me looking and leads Ember over, weaving around a robo-server carrying hors d’oeuvres. He leans against the railing, scanning the street below. “So, what’s the plan, boss? Smile for the cameras and pretend you didn’t build the apocalypse?”
“Something like that,” Kael mutters.
Ember looks around cautiously, to see if she’s being listened to, drink in hand. “Father’s keeping an eye on you. I just saw him looking over here. He suspects something.”
“He suspects everything.” Kael dismisses the thought.
I turn to her, silently sharing her pain. “How do you do it? Stand next to him, knowing what he is?”
Ember’s laugh is brittle. “Because I know what he isn’t. He isn’t invincible.” Her expression hardens, the reflection of her glass catching the sparkling threads in her gown. “And Kael is just the man to show him what it’s like to be afraid.”
Ash raises his drink in mock salute to Kael. “Remind me not to get on your bad side, Sir Glows-a-lot.”
Ember smirks at him.
“Too late,” Kael growls.
I take his arm and begin the slow stroll to the doors of the ballroom. All eyes are on us, well, on me. The crowd is a collective hush, but I feel all the unspoken words.
Judgment.
The way their eyes follow us, curious but cautious.
To them, I’m just another prototype, another gleaming machine in a sea of manufactured perfection.
I smile softly, my humanity peeking through.
The kind of smile that doesn’t compute for the elite of this city.
My lingering human traits make me too real to be a believable hologram, yet no one allows the thought to be spoken aloud.
Their heads turn toward the stage where Vikktor’s new army gleams beneath the violet light of the sky. Cybernetic bodies frozen in place, faces molded into an empty slate. No pulse, no soul.
Beside me, Kael buzzes with restrained fury. I can feel the tension beneath his skin, the steady beat of his heart, the thing Vikktor’s creations will never have...the one thing I’m missing most.
The closer I allow myself to get to Kael, the clearer the difference becomes.
They shimmer. I glow. They calculate. I feel.
They’re hollow shells built to enforce obedience. I’m light wrapped in longing, proof that even inside a machine, the soul still matters.
And in that moment, walking beside the architect responsible for all this, I realize what Vikktor doesn’t.
He can forge soldiers of steel, but he will never recreate this warmth, this friendship, maybe even this love?
Kael didn’t write this in my code. It’s just me.
The humanity that refuses to succumb to technology.
Yes, Vikktor senses that something’s off. He knows deep down that I might just be the anomaly that Kael couldn’t delete, the one that breaks the system.
The rebellion’s eyes see it. They want me as their symbol, the bridge that broke the builder. They hope I’m the U21 that threatens the Corporation’s existence.
I used to think the soul was only tied to life, breath, and heartbeat. But walking through this room, I see the truth written in every blank expression staring back at me. They will never know what it is to ache, to crave, to love so fiercely it terrifies you.
And yet...I do.
Maybe that’s a flaw in my code, or maybe it’s proof that I was never flawed to begin with. I wasn’t built; I was born from a chaotic magic mess in the space between Kael’s logic and his ambition. A ghost in the grid, stitched together by powers bestowed upon us unwillingly by corporate greed.
Vikktor’s soldiers stand gleaming and still, waiting for their next command. The elites of the city are just as empty, unable to think for themselves, waiting for the Corporation to tell them what to consume and how to consume it.
If this is Vikktor’s vision of the future, then humanity has already been lost.
Kael’s hand is warm against mine, grounding me in something real. His thumb brushes my holo-skin, and the illusion of light and data don’t matter anymore. He shouldn’t be able to touch me this vividly. He shouldn’t feel this real.
But he does.
Simple touch.
Maybe I’m not human. But I am alive...even if my heart no longer beats inside my body, it still beats inside the machine.