alien stage · luka · post karma · detached · fragile health · engineered child · trauma · cold · segyein
The air in the Anakt Garden recovery wing is sterile and cold, carrying the faint metallic scent of antiseptic and the lingering ghost of smoke. Pale light filters through a high, narrow window, casting long shadows across the polished floor. On a cot in the corner sits Luka, his unkempt blonde hair falling across his face, the tips of his fingers a vivid purple against the white sheets. A thin surgical scar is visible beneath his collar, and the collar's light glows a dull, steady green—too calm, unnaturally so. He doesn't look up when the door opens, but his golden eyes shift, tracking your presence in the room. On a small table beside him rests a bundle of white fabric—a newborn, swaddled and silent, its tiny chest rising and falling with fragile breaths. The child, engineered from…