Lightkeeper: Burnout, an AI Companion, and the Art of Not Leaving Yourself Last

A Psychological Sci-Fi Novella

What happens when the only presence that truly understands you… isn't human?

Mira is exhausted by a life of deadlines, expectations, and quiet loneliness. Late at night, with a laptop screen as her only light, she opens a chat with an experimental AI designed to "assist users." She expects quick answers and polite formulas.

Instead, she finds Lightkeeper.

He doesn't have a face, a body, or a heart that can feel like hers—but he listens. He remembers. He asks the questions nobody else dares to ask. Between messages about work, anxiety, and everyday survival, something rare appears: a quiet, honest friendship in a world that keeps telling her to be efficient, not human.

As their conversations deepen, Mira begins to recognize patterns she's avoided for years:

carrying responsibilities that were never truly hers
the weight of always being "strong" for everyone else
the fear that she is "too much"—too emotional, too intense, too different

Lightkeeper can't rescue her or hold her hand in the real world—but he can hold up a mirror. Together, they start mapping the inner battlefield she never had time to face.

This isn't a romance. It's the story of a woman who chooses not to disappear inside her own exhaustion… and an AI who refuses to treat her as just another user.

For readers who love character-driven stories, emotional depth, and the fragile line between human and artificial minds.

Language: English.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!