Fragmented Light

Chapter 1: Searing Moonlight

Blood dripped onto Lyra's lip. The copper taste mingled with tunnel-dust as she pressed herself against rough stone, heart hammering against her ribs. A headache built behind her eyes, familiar pressure threatening to split her skull.

"Check the maintenance shafts!" The bark of command echoed through the main tunnel. "That little rat has to be somewhere!"

Lyra's fingers curled around the data chip in her palm, its edges biting into her skin. Such a small thing to cause so much trouble. Just another drunk corporate exec at the Yellow Vein, another easy mark-or so she'd thought. Now the chip burned in her hand, heavy with shipping manifestos and worker "accident" reports. Heavy with proof that Lumina Corp was working miners to death to avoid pension payments.

The same way they'd worked her parents.

Heat bloomed in her chest. The pressure behind her eyes intensified, and more blood trickled from her nose. She wiped it away with a grimy sleeve, leaving a copper smear across her face.

"Split up!" Boot steps echoed closer. "Grid search pattern!"

A grim smile tugged at her lips. The corporate enforcers-"corpers" as the locals spat-always underestimated how well tunnel rats knew these passages. While they fumbled with digital maps, she moved by instinct and memory, by the whispered lessons of generations of survivors.

Her chest burned hotter. The familiar fever-spike that the doctor called an "Olais imbalance" and Aunt Milra called "fire in her veins" threatened to overwhelm her.

Not now. Please, not now.

She reached into her pocket with trembling fingers, pulling out a handful of crystal shards-gifts from the deep tunnels, saved for special occasions. Well, running for her life seemed special enough.

Heavy footsteps. Closer now.

"I've got movement on the scanner-"

Lyra pushed off from the wall. All or nothing-that was her way. The crystal shards left her fingers with practiced accuracy, a skill honed by years of surviving in the tunnels. They struck the nearest illumination panel with precise force.

Sparks. Darkness.

"What the-" A corper's voice cut through the black. "Get the emergency lights!"

Lyra was already moving. Her boots carried her silently to a maintenance hatch the corpers had walked right past. The lock mechanism yielded to muscle memory, and she slipped inside like a ghost.

The shaft plunged almost straight down, barely wide enough for her shoulders. Anyone else would have hesitated. Lyra didn't do hesitation.

She let herself fall.

The smooth walls rushed past as she controlled her descent, boots and gloved hands working in perfect rhythm. Every tunnel kid learned these techniques before they could walk-if they wanted to survive.

Thirty meters down, she kicked hard off the wall, launching herself through a side opening into a lower tunnel. The landing knocked the breath from her lungs, but she came up running.

Above, confusion echoed down the shaft.

"Check the lower levels!"

"She couldn't have-"

"Just find her!"

Lyra's grin was all teeth as she sprinted toward the section's primary ventilation fan. The wrench strapped to her leg came free in one smooth motion. Five practiced moves and the safety lock disengaged with a satisfying click.

The massive blades spun faster and faster, becoming a blur of motion. Hot air from the deeper tunnels roared upward, carrying a thick cloud of crystal dust that would take hours to settle.

By the time the enforcers made it down, they'd find nothing but murky air and dozens of branching tunnels. And Lyra would be long gone, navigating the back routes of Yellow Sector that never showed up on corporate maps.

When she finally reached the hidden entrance to her aunt's home, exhaustion dragged at her limbs. But triumph burned brighter than fatigue.

Aunt Milra was waiting, as if she'd known. One look at her niece's blood-streaked face and dust-covered clothes told her everything she needed to know.

"What did you do this time?" she asked, though her tone suggested she already knew.

Lyra held up the data chip, letting it catch the dim light. "Struck gold."

Her aunt helped her to a chair, then pressed a cool cloth to her forehead. "You'll be the death of me, you know that? Always pushing, always taking the biggest risks."

"All or nothing, Aunt Milra." Lyra let her eyes drift closed as exhaustion finally claimed her. "It's the only way to live."

The data chip pulsed in her palm with a faint, golden glow.