Souls Below - Rebellion

Chapter Twenty-Three.

I slowed to a jog as the house came into view, my stomach flipping in anticipation. I wasn’t sure why Calian affected me the way he did, but lately, I felt pulled toward him, drawn in by something I couldn’t explain. It was more than curiosity. It was something deeper. Warmer. Dangerous.

I pushed the door open slowly, the hinges groaning in protest. A loud crash followed by muffled cursing made me jump. Moments later, Calian stumbled out from the back office, rubbing his head with a sheepish expression that made me laugh.

“I told you not to go through his stuff. It’s practically booby-trapped,” I teased, grinning.

He looked up, ready to fire back, but I caught the flicker of his eyes—how they darted down to my bare stomach before he quickly looked away. Not fast enough. My cheeks flushed. I’d forgotten I was still in my cropped tank, my long-sleeve shirt stuffed in my bag which was slung over my shoulder.

“Jerard’s got a talent for organized chaos,” Calian muttered, still massaging the bump on his head, using it as an excuse not to meet my gaze again. “You done for the day?”

“Yeah, the pipes are done,” I replied, stepping inside, suddenly self-conscious but trying not to show it. I followed him into the office where he’d practically moved in. Books were scattered near his bed, one still open and face-down.

“These are useless,” I muttered, tossing my bag near the door. “None of it matters anymore. The sectors, the lost tech, weird environments… they’re all gone. Most lowers use them to keep their furnaces going.” I dropped down by the desk, leaning against it. Calian crouched beside one of the piles, glancing at me over his shoulder.

“That’s probably why Jerard kept them. You Lowerers just burn books?”

“Some. They’re used when the coals run out. Others just toss them. Jerard’s always kept weird things.” My eyes scanned the mismatched shelves, cluttered with strange objects—relics, scrap, tech fragments. ‘Just like me,’ I thought, then pushed the feeling away. Calian’s eyes lingered on me longer this time.

“Did you want to talk today?” I hesitated. The dream had been gnawing at me since last night. It wasn’t just a dream. It felt like something more.

“Can you tell me about… outside?” I asked quietly. “Outside your city, I mean.”

He blinked, caught off guard. “What do you mean?” I picked at my fingers, heart thudding. What if I sounded insane?

“Beyond the walls. The green. The… endless sky.”

Calian’s lips pressed into a thin line. “How do you know about that?” I swallowed, the lump in my throat heavy. There was no undoing it now.

“I dream it. Cities with towering buildings. Roads that stretch forever. Blue above that turns black at night and gray with clouds. I thought maybe it was from seeing the restricted sector. But then the dreams got worse.” His face softened, the blank expression fading into something closer to awe.

“How long have you been having these dreams?”

I shrugged. “I can’t remember. But… they’ve gotten stronger. Since I bumped into you at the market.” He let out a breath through his nose, thoughtful.

“We haven’t been outside the domes in generations,” he started quietly. “Most people have forgotten why we built the cities, how we almost ourselves extinct. It’s easier to forget than to live with the truth—we caused it.”

My brows furrowed. “So no one’s been out there? With all that space, all that green?”

“Not in a very long time. Only certain nobility learn about it—history, the collapse, the cost. Maybe it’s to keep us from repeating it. Or maybe to prepare, if we ever get the chance to leave.” I let his words sink in, my thoughts spinning. So much space. So much life lost.

“You said we caused it?”

His mouth tilted in a bitter smile. “Humans. We nearly destroyed the planet—and ourselves, coming to the brink of extinction—with it.”

I tilted my head. “What’s that word? Extinction?”

He laughed softly. “It means we almost wiped ourselves out. Forever. No coming back. No second chances.”

A strange calm settled in my chest. “That doesn’t sound so bad,” I murmured.

His laughter deepened, bright and genuine. “You and Theia would’ve gotten along.” His smile faltered, the name hitting the air like a dropped stone.

“Was she… someone important?” I asked gently.

He nodded, eyes glossy. “Yeah. She was important.” Silence stretched between us, full of things unsaid. I had more questions than answers, but before I could speak again, the front door slammed open. Heavy boots stormed down the hall. Jerard.

The office door flew open. Calian was on his feet in an instant, his posture rigid with unease. I stayed seated, glaring at the man in the doorway.

“Upstairs. Now,” Jerard growled. Calian looked between us, uncertain. I didn’t move.

“Mira,” Jerard snapped. “I said now.” I let out a sharp breath and stood, grabbing my bag with exaggerated slowness. I brushed past him without a word, storming up the stairs and slamming my door behind me.

I threw the bag down hard, the weight of everything finally crashing into me. My foot connected with my chair, sending it spinning violently across the room. Rage curled tight in my chest. Jerard had always been protective, but lately, it felt like control. Like fear.

Fists clenched, I dropped onto my bed face-first, heart pounding.

Why did everything have to be so damn hard?

~*~

…A towering spire pierced the heart of a vast city, its sleek structure gleaming in the sunlight. The city unfurled in every direction—bridges arched over waterways, buildings stacked like cascading steps, and lush gardens wove between stone and steel. It was beautiful, almost hypnotic, yet there was something disorienting about how it all blended together in a pattern that seemed infinite and ever-shifting.

Above me stretched an endless sky of vibrant blue. The clouds looked soft and inviting, like you could climb up and curl into them, let them cradle you like a blanket.

To my right, immense walls ringed the city’s edge. Beams of pale bluish-white light pulsed from tall spires spaced along the perimeter, arcing upward until they met the peak of the central tower. Together, they formed a vast, glowing dome—a barrier between this strange, perfect city and the world beyond.

And beyond those walls… green. A never-ending sea of it. Trees, fields, maybe forests, I couldn’t tell. It stretched so far I had to squint, the horizon dissolving into mist. How could something so vast, so wild, exist just outside the barrier? It called to me, promising freedom. Yet here, inside the dome, people walked the streets unaware—or unwilling—to see the beauty waiting beyond the stone.

My fingers curled around something cold and smooth pressed against my chest. Instinctively, I tried to pull it free, but it wouldn’t budge. It felt fused to my skin. I tugged harder—pain lanced through me, sharp and hot, like it might tear my flesh if I didn’t stop.

Then, a deafening explosion shattered the calm.

The entire city jolted as the ground trembled beneath me. I stumbled, catching myself against a nearby window. A jagged c***k raced across the glass. I barely had time to react before it shattered, shards raining around me in a glittering storm. I turned and threw my arms over my face, the sound like the roar of a thousand wings.

When I looked up again, smoke was pouring from the side of the Tower. Thick, black, suffocating. My heart pounded like it wanted to escape my ribs. A cold, crawling dread twisted through me.

Before I could process what it meant, I was running.

A siren howled through the air—sharp, unnatural. People flooded the streets in every direction, screaming. The sound collided with the wail of the siren, turning into chaos. A wall of noise. My head spun as I shoved through the crowd, breath tearing in and out of my lungs.

“Move!” I screamed, pushing past a heavyset man who barely noticed me.

And then the ground cracked open beneath my feet.

There was no time to scream, no time to run.

Just darkness.

And the sensation of falling…

~*~

I shot upright, hair falling over my face, chest heaving as I struggled to catch my breath. Panic gripped me, the dream still clinging to the edges of my mind. Pieces were already fading, but the screams lingered—too real, too recent. My hand pressed to my forehead as I pushed the damp sheets off my legs, skin clammy with sweat.

Reaching under my pillow, I pulled out the small comm device and typed out a message to Krane, fingers hesitating over the send button. I hit it before I could change my mind.

‘I need you.’

Still no reply to the last eight I’d sent, and the silence gnawed at me. I missed him—missed us. If I’d known helping Calian would cost me Krane, maybe I would’ve walked away from the whole thing.

A tap at my window made me jump, a startled sound catching in my throat. But when I saw the shock of white hair, and those bright green eyes that always looked like they held secrets, my panic eased into a sigh. I threw open the window without thinking, Krane half-crawled in, but stopped, glancing toward my bedroom door.

“Get dressed,” he whispered, retreating back out onto the narrow ledge.

I didn’t question it. I pulled on dark clothes and slipped into my soft-soled shoes—the ones I used when walking the pipes. Quiet, flexible, made for movement. I climbed out the window, not watching where I was going, and nearly smacked right into him.

His face was close—too close—and I froze,ym stomach flipping, heat rising to my cheeks. Krane’s gaze flicked over my face, and for a moment, neither of us moved.

“Follow me,” he murmured, already scaling the roof to the right. I waited a beat, heart thudding, my thoughts a tangled mess. ‘What was this between us?’ I shook my head to clear it and followed.