junespirits
In Blackline, safety is built on routine.
Every morning begins the same way: food pellets, patrol drones, and silent workers moving through cracked streets under the watchful eye of the Authority. The city calls itself a haven, a place of hope-but no one asks what it's really protecting them from.
Nysera has learned not to ask questions. She keeps her head down, follows the rules, and works as an assembler in Sector Seven, building the very drones that enforce order alongside her twin brother and her closest friends. Routine means survival, and survival means obedience.
But one ordinary shift fractures everything.
When the machines she's built begin to behave as if they're watching her-breathing, pulsing, aware-Nysera is forced to confront the terrifying possibility that Blackline's safety is an illusion. As cracks form in the city's perfect order, she starts to sense that the Authority's control runs far deeper than anyone has been told-and that the machines may not be as lifeless as they seem.
Caught between loyalty, fear, and a growing unease she can't ignore, Nysera must decide whether to keep trusting the routine that has protected her all her life... or risk uncovering the truth behind the city of hope.
Because in Blackline, the most dangerous thing you can be
is yourself.