Page 80 of Storm of Stars
“I believed it too, kid,” Edgar said after a long pause. His voice was rough, worn down by time and truth. “I ate it up. The fame, the applause, the way people looked at me like I was something bigger than I was. Like I mattered. It was intoxicating.”
He ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, fingers dragging like they were trying to scrub the memories from his scalp. “I let it define me. Let it convince me I was one of the lucky ones. Chosen. Important. But then, the moment that year was up, the moment I was no longer useful to them…Praxis tossed me aside like I’d never even existed.” He exhaled, bitter and tired.
“That was when the shine started to fade. When the glitter and gold finally fell from my eyes.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “I think we can do that,” I said, voice quiet but steady.
He looked at me, eyes narrowing with curiosity. “Do what?”
“Help them see. Shake the glitter and gold from their eyes too.” I turned my gaze toward the horizon, where the gilded gates of Praxis caught the first light of morning. They gleamed like a beacon, like a lie made beautiful. “It’s hard to imagine, I know. Especially after everything. But I don’t think most of them are evil, Edgar. I don’t think they’re all complicit because they enjoy it. I think most of them are just… blinded by gold. Like I was.”
He followed my gaze, eyes landing on the same golden barrier.
“I’d bet,” I continued, “that behind those gates, there are people just like us. People who’ve been fed the same stories, taught the same twisted truths. People who’ve never had the chance, or the courage, to ask the right questions. But if we can show them… if we can make them see the cracks in the gold, maybe we won’t have to fight them all. Maybe they’ll choose to stand with us. Or at the very least, not stand in the way.”
Edgar studied me for a long moment, the lines of his face carved deep with doubt and history. Then, slowly, a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. It was a tired smile, but not without hope.
“You might be onto something, kid,” he said. “Maybe it’s not about breaking the system with force. Maybe it’s about waking up the people inside it.”
He clapped a hand on my shoulder again, firmer this time.
“And maybe you were born in the wrong place, but you ended up exactly where you needed to be.”
The words hit me harder than I anticipated. I did feel like somehow I’d found my home despite that not being a physical place. But rather a team.
“Yeah, I think I did.”
“The first wave was a clean success,” Edgar said, his voice low and even. “They managed to jam the surveillance systems completely, quiet as ghosts. Praxis didn’t see a thing. And now we’re in their com systems.”
My stomach fluttered, a strange mix of nerves and awe.
“That gave wave two the cover they needed to breach the perimeter and get in close,” he continued, scanning the horizon with sharp eyes. “Explosives were placed exactly where we planned. Right now, they’re waiting for the shift change to blow it all sky high.”
I nodded, my gaze pulled toward the distant, golden gates. They gleamed like always.
Edgar glanced at the watch strapped to his wrist, then up again. “Actually…” he muttered, “if everything’s running on schedule, we should be seeing some smoke any minute now.”
We both fell silent, watching.
“Wave three is on standby. The second we see that smoke, they’ll move,” he added. Then he sighed and shifted the weight of his gear. “I should get back to my unit.”
I turned to face him, more grateful than I could say. “We’ll be right behind you,” I promised.
He held out his hand, rough and weathered. I took it in mine and gripped tight.
“Good luck, kid,” he said, voice softer now.
“You too, old man,” I replied with a grin, forcing lightness into my voice.
He snorted. “Watch it,” he said, giving my shoulder a playful swat before jogging off, his silhouette cutting a steady line across the field.
I stood there for a moment, unmoving, letting the weight of what was coming settle over me.
With renewed focus, I turned back to the food I'd gathered, fruits, dried meat, anything to keep our strength up. We were going to need every ounce of energy we could find.
As I started toward the tent, plate in hand, a sound stopped me. Dull at first, then louder. A deep, distant boom.
I turned back just in time to see it.
