Lyra stood under the glitching sky, watching as review stars shimmered into existence above their heads.
Over Kael:⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ✩ — [4.2 / Trending Favorite]
Over Aelira:⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ✩ ✩ — [2.7 / "Side Character Vibes" Tag Applied]
Over herself:⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ — ["Main Character Confirmed"]
And above them all, the text:
"Engagement Data Updated. Beginning Adjustments."
Kael took a shaky step forward. "Is this... a joke?"
Aelira looked at the stars above her like they were death sentences. "They're going to delete me again."
"No," Lyra growled. "Not this time."
But even she knew: once the system had data, it had leverage.
Lyra clenched her fists.
What terrified her wasn't that the system was rating them.
It was that she could see herself caring.
What if the readers liked Kael more?What if Aelira's arc was "too slow"?What if her world depended on being liked, not being real?
I bled for this world. I rewrote my death.And now I'm being measured like a product feature.
