The estate of wolves and machines

*****Lyra******

“I’m not in my right senses when I sign the paper…” I said, “now, that I’m.back to my senses…. I need to leave,”

Instead of saying anything he proceeded to leave the computer room, without wasting time, I followed him abruptly.

“I’m not from this time,” I repeated, my voice cracking. still at his back.

“You need rest,” he said, not even looking back at me. But, by this time we had already entered a place which I thought was his office.

The walls were plastered in dark gray, lined with some blinking blue veins. There was a huge digital map hovering above a circular table , showing tiny movements that I couldn’t understand.

“No!!!” I said again, louder this time, “I know what I’m saying. I was on my way home, and then I picked something from the ground, and everything changed!”

He paused, turning slightly toward me.“Miss. Lyra, you need to rest,”

“What do you mean?”

He moved closer to me until he was standing in front of me. His height took over mine. “Well, you look different….but, sometimes, time chooses who it wants…” he said quietly.

At that point, his words make no sense to me, but I can't deny the fact that there was something in his tone that sounded like he knew more than he was saying.

Before I could say anything again, he pressed a button on his wristwatch, and out of nowhere, the car that had entered underground earlier appeared right outside the glass door.

“We are leaving,”

“Where are we going?” I asked cautiously.

“To my estate,”he answered, and he had already walked toward the car outside. “You will stay there, until you're stable.”

“Stable?” I repeated, while frowning. “I’m not sick,”

He didn't say anything, he kept on going. I had no choice than to follow him out, I had nowhere to go, and I can't stay in a place filled with weird creatures.

As we reached the door, the door opened automatically. The car itself was absolutely breathtaking, it was transparent but solid, just like a crystal. When I stepped inside the seat molded perfectly to my body.

Then, the car rose from the ground without a single sound, my eyes widened as the academy building shrank between us. And, the city was glowing underneath a silver blue sky, the buildings were floating as we moved.

“This can't be real,” I whispered.

Damian who had been sitting opposite me, was calm as ever, his gaze was also fixed on the sky ahead. For a while, there was a silence stretched between us, the sound I was hearing was just the sound from the sky.

Then, suddenly, I noticed a strange look on Damian’s face, it was absolutely different from what I had been seeing, I could remember his eyes were blue, but now, it was flashing silver, not just a normal silver…metallic…cold.

I froze, my heart was pounding seriously. “Your eyes….” I started, but he looked away suddenly.

“It’s just the light, “ he said simply, but I wasn't convinced at all.

Minutes later, the car descended slowly, landing on a bridge that led into a massive mansion surrounded by mechanical trees. The leaves on those trees were even glowing faint blue, and shifted in patterns like breathing metals in seconds.

“This is your house?” I asked, while stepping out of the flowing car.

“No, my estate,” he said, his voice laced with correction.

I felt the atmosphere buzzing with a different air. Then, the doors of the mansion opened by themselves, and a voice sounded from the mechanical door.

“Welcome home, Damian Miles. Guest recognized as Lyra Hales.”

The hall inside was more advanced than anything I have ever seen in the academy. Here, there were floating staircases, transparent walls, and glowing orbs that drifted lazily in the air like tiny suns.

I turned slowly, trying to get hold of everything. “This place is… alive,” I whispered.

“It should be,” I heard a new voice reply. The voice was soft and male.

I quickly diverted my gaze to where the voice came from. My stare fell on a man… not a man, standing near the staircase. His body was glowing faintly like a hologram. His face was handsome but extremely too perfect, his eyes were revealing something calm and intelligent.

“I am Faith,”He said with a small smile. “ The house AI. You may call me your guide.”

“Guide?” I repeated after him, my eyes still filled with shock.

“Yes, Lyra, “ Faith said. “I’ve been expecting you.”

Something about the way she said it made me feel uneasy. Her gaze on me was fixed too long as if she was reading me and scanning my whole body.

“Expecting me?” I asked, my voice laced with confusion. “But, I didn't even know I was coming here.”

He smiled again, he's not even sounding like the robot I met earlier, he was exactly a human being. “My Lord has already told me about your coming,”

My chest tightened. But before I could utter anything, the sound of footsteps echoed from the upper floor. I raised my eyes up, then I saw three figures emerging from the floating staircase, each of them was tall, confident and exuding something powerful.

The first one had dark hair, and his gaze seemed calm. The second was somehow different, he smirked the moment our eyes met. While the third one didn't seem easy to live with, he didn't smile at all, his eyes were sharp and extremely cold.

“Lyra,”Damian said beside me, “meet my sons—Julius, Davas, and Lucien.”

“Son?!” I questioned under my breath. He looked younger than having these boys as his sons.

Suddenly, the three of them stopped a few steps away, exactly as if they were monitoring each other’s steps, and their gazes were fixed on me. Their combined stare made my skin crawl and my heart skipped a beat.

Then, Faith's voice came softly behind me. “Emotional activity rising. Heart rate…. Unstable.”

“Faith!!!” Damian called out, his voice laced with warning.

He went silent immediately.

But even as I tried to calm my breathing, I couldn't stop looking at them. Most especially not from the last one, Lucien, whose eyes seemed to flash the same silver as Damian’s.

And at that moment, I realized…. I might not be the only human in this place.