Living Untethered Novels & Stories

The kind of thing you couldn’t trace or scrub from a system. I placed it between us on the table. She didn’t open it. “What is this?” “Plans,” I said. “A house outside Montreal. Off-grid. Shielded but not sterile. A vineyard on one side. A lab on the other. Hybrid living, science, and soil. Your name’s already on the deed.” “You think property can fix this?” she asked, voice sharp. “No. But I think it’s time we stop building around power and start building around permanence. Around legacy.”

"It was always about connection. She wanted to connect. She just didn't have the equipment. So she built it. The techniques. The copies. The distributed self. All to solve a problem that started at twelve." "And you helped her." "I created her. Yes. I thought I was helping. I thought—" she stopped. "It doesn't matter what I thought. What matters is what you do now. The distributed Lin is unstable. The fragment on the beach is dying. You can absorb them both. Become her, completely, finally. Give her the connection she never had. Or you can let them both go. Let her die, scattered, alone. Or—" "Or what?" "Or you can teach her what you know. How to feel without emptying. How to witness without

undo the grafting. "At what cost?" ***Me.*** The static stills. The answer's always the same. I plunge my hands into the sphere. --- **The Unraveling** Time isn't a river-it's a *fabric*, and I'm the loose thread. I'm pulled through vignettes of lives unlived: -A Kelly who fled the Silence, now a tyrant of storms. -A Hunter who died saving Kael, his corpse fueling the Hive. -An Eden who never fell, his Hollow Crown a beacon of hope.

Entirely my own. Later that night, alone in my apartment, I placed the first copy of Unbound on the shelf beside my journals and stood in front of it for a moment with both hands at my sides. The spine faced out. The title caught the lamplight in the specific way the designer had intended. It felt heavier than the physical object it was, carrying the weight of years and struggle and the long and specific work of reclaiming a life that had been systematically built around someone else's need for control. My phone lit up on the desk. A message from Elias.

Vivaan was looking thoughtful and stayed silent. “I will have a word with your mother,” Mukesh said. “Don’t,” Sanvika said. “It’s not her fault either. She was just protecting her child.” “Then what do you want us to do?” He asked “Let me stay here. Trust me, Papa, I am happy here. Being here, being an ordinary human without money, repenting like this, gives me so much relief. I would suffocate in the rich world. I cannot stand the sight of luxury anymore. It makes me feel disgusted.”

So the alone time was nice. As much as all the uncertainty that had been circling my life had caused me to worry, wonder and stress, I left feeling different. I felt, for the first time in my life, like I was going in the right direction. I was feeling...unbound. As if before, I was being held back by the chain on my soul that would never allow me to think straight. Something inside me told me that this was the where I was meant to go.

“So tell me about yourself, Bryan; I only know you as a very serious person who smiles once in a while. Bryan gave me a soft giggle. “I’m a young man in my late 30s. I am the CEO of a big and successful firm. I lost my fiancée seven years ago. We were planning our wedding when she suddenly died in a car crash. Her death took a toll on me. I mastered the act of detachment because, after she died, I became scared of coming close to people because of the fear that they would die and leave me. I was depressed for years and I couldn't look at any other woman. But thankfully, I started therapy, and I was able to see the one thing that was standing right in front of me that I didn't notice.

Petal's POV "I'm not suggesting anything. What do you want me to even suggest? Nothing is in my head. I'm tired, my brain is having a severe block and blast at this point." I cried out in frustration. Come to think of it, I haven't deciphered what Logan said, I'm still confused on how someone could stay on that tree because literally, the person has been on that tree for days now…Waiting for the day Amanda would want to sprout out the truth.

KEILAH I was wandering into the woods, my senses alive with the crisp scent of pine and the soft rustle of leaves underfoot. A tranquil solitude enveloped me, wrapping around my soul like a comforting embrace. But then, as if nature had scripted a sudden twist, the serenity fractured. A distant howl pierced the air, stirring a primal fear within. It was joined by others, a haunting chorus echoing through the trees. My heart quickened its pace, mirroring the urgency of the wilderness around me. I turned to retrace my steps, only to find my path obscured by an impenetrable thicket.

I asked, my eyes darting back to the TV. "BREAKING NEWS!!! LATE NIGHT BREAK-IN AT COLGATE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY STAFF THERON WILSON CURRENTLY HOSPITALISED AFTER ENCOUNTER WITH PERPETRATORS." And on the right side of the TV screen, they projected an image of Theron for identification. I instantly shot off the chair, running upstairs for a quick change. Granny was saying something, but I couldn't quite catch it in my rush. Hurrying back downstairs, I grabbed my spare key and stepped outside, hailing the first taxi I could find.