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.