VOXARA
407 Words
Episode 1 – “The Cost of a Name”
In Voxara, words weren’t free.
Each one you spoke shaved credits off your LexChip—the embedded tracker beneath your throat. Most people rationed their language like food. A “hello” could cost a meal. A confession could cost your life.
Sari Venn hadn’t spoken in five years.
She lived in the Ash Blocks—where silence screamed louder than sirens and walls were covered in messages people couldn't afford to say aloud. She communicated with color, her paintbrush her voice, her murals her memory. Tonight, her brush danced on cracked concrete, crafting a silent scream of orange and indigo: a girl holding her own tongue in chains.
A cough behind her.
She spun.
A boy—too clean for this district, too curious for his own good—stood beneath a flickering streetlamp.
“I like your walls,” he said.
She flinched.
Each word cost him. Was he rich or reckless?
He reached into his coat and tapped his LexChip—still glowing green. Word-rich.
“Don’t worry,” he added, grinning. “I can afford to say a few things.”
Sari rolled her eyes and turned back to her mural.
But he didn’t leave.
He stepped closer. “What’s your name?”
She scowled. Raised three fingers. Drew a line across her lips. No voice. No words.
He smiled wider.
“Let me guess then,” he said. “Silent? Artist? Beautiful?”
She shook her head, but her cheeks betrayed her.
“Hmm…” He leaned in, tapped his own chip. “Riven. That’s mine.”
Then, he stepped back and did something insane.
He looked her dead in the eyes and whispered, “Sari.”
Her blood froze.
That word—her name—should’ve been unknown. She hadn’t told it to anyone since she was twelve.
But the LexChip beneath her skin buzzed softly. A red pulse.
Speaking someone’s true name without permission was a Class C Violation.
That’s when the sirens started.
Silent but flashing—LexCorp’s scanners had picked up the breach.
Sari grabbed her paint-stained backpack and bolted into the night.
Behind her, Riven was laughing as he ran.
“You owe me now, Sari!” he shouted. “That name cost me fifteen words!”
She didn’t stop.
But for the first time in five years, she almost wanted to answer.
... to be continued
- Writer
