The Sky Beneath Us Novels & Stories

She slid her arm through Jillian’s, her fingers grasping the sleeve as they stepped onto the gravel porch. "It’s a peaceful kind of quiet," Jillian replied, her deep voice full of calm and certainty. Hand-in-hand, they followed the narrow gravel path away from the cottage, towards the rugged black cliffs overlooking Oakhaven Cove. The midsummer moon shone high in the dark sky, casting a silver trail across the water. No city lights or cameras marred the view, and no servers hummed with corporate data. Reaching the ridge’s edge, salt-laced wind gently stirred Clara’s silk sundress beneath her coat. They paused where the grass met the precipice, gazing at the endless horizon.

And I know that even when chaos returns, I will not face it alone. The forest stretches around us, wide and full of possibility. And for tonight, at least, the world is quiet enough for just us.

'Better judgment than most people,' he agreed, and she felt him smile against her hair, and she laughed — full and real and from somewhere deep — and he laughed too, that low unguarded sound she had been collecting since the very beginning. Outside, the last night of winter was snowing. Soft and slow, the kind that isn't violent, just quiet. The sky putting something gently to rest. Spring tomorrow. Everything still to come. She held him and let herself feel the full weight of it — this life, this man, this version of herself she had built from ash and stubbornness and the refusal to stay dead. The dry well is now overflowing

She made a motion almost like puking. Shit. I was going all Alpha again. I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender, and she nodded sharply before going to speak with her instructor. She pointed up to the ceiling, and I followed her finger up, but there was nothing but structural beams with a few climbing ropes tied to them. Looking back to where she stood, I saw her instructor nod. Her smile widened.

My breath pants from my lips as the wind and darkness rips around us. We only travel for a few terrifying moments before my feet hit hard against stone and light returns to the world, however dim. I groan in horror at what I see – at the black sky that stretches for miles in all directions over the black marble terrace on which I stand. A sky lit purple at the horizon, with not a single star in the heavens. But three moons hang low and heavy in the darkness – one round and huge and orange, the others smaller but equally bleak.

“Look around. Beside you, somewhere close, may be the mate who will walk with you into the future.” The tension in the air was palpable, thick with anticipation and the promise of destiny. Channary could almost feel the Moon’s light touching her skin, casting everything in a pale, silvery glow. She looked around, wondering which face, if any, would be the one she would remember forever.

This is our group’s spot for practices, making assignments or projects and for relaxing. There’s a bench that can fit all of us though we often prefer to sit on the ground covered with green grasses. The trees are surrounding the whole place that made it look more relaxing. It’s filled with fresh air in here. Teagan sat on the ground and Yukira laid on his lap. Yunho wrapped his arm around Unira. Their actions made Scarlet and I vomit. “Ew, gross,” Scarlet commented and act as if she’s about to vomit. “Yeah, I don’t want to look at them,” I laughed.

The statement on the key meant — ‘The glitter of stars in the sky remains, Beyond the clouds, the space’s the same. An umbrella overhead on a rainy night, Beneath my feet is the reflection of the sky.’ I frowned. What does this mean now? I thought.

The sheer kinetic back-blast threw Christian Cole backward, his spotless white wool coat staining with gray mud as he slammed into the frozen chassis of his escape pod, his blue eyes finally wide with a wild, un-regulated terror. Inside the violet vortex, the air didn't thin; it burned. The raw marrow-ore beneath the continent wasn't just energy—it was life, and the open-source baseline was rewriting the atmosphere itself. "Kemi!" I roared through the thunder of the frequency, my voice splitting into a thousand multi-layered echoes that rattled the entire western boundary line. "Tell the market square... to open the valves! We’re printing our own sky!"

“I hope Mother is okay with that monster under the same roof.” “Well, he is quite a bit under that roof, so I think she’ll feel a sense of satisfaction,” I say. “I hope she will.” “Me, too.” The snow is lighter today than it has been in these past weeks, and we exit the Grand Library to a mostly clear sky as we make our way down the path. I still can’t get used to the color of the sky here—purple and pink with only a hint of the familiar blue we get in Oceana. But I suppose it’s just magical here, in that sense.