THE CITY THAT REFUSES TO FALLThe city was already awake before Kai and Aria arrived.Aetheryon’s towers scarred, battered, partially collapsed from days of unrelenting conflictglowed with frantic movement. Barricades shifted into place. Vanguard runners sprinted through the streets, carrying urgent orders. The air hummed with tension so dense it pressed against the skin like humidity before a storm.But this was no storm.This was an ending trying to begin.As Kai and Aria approached the southern gate, the guards stiffened, recognizing their approach. The moment they stepped through, the rush of voices, engines, and distant alarms crashed into them like a wave.Orin was the first to reach them.He skidded to a stop, breathing hard. “Captain! Thank the skies you’re alive. We felt the shockwaves from sector fourteen. What happened out there? Did the Remnant”“It’s gone,” Kai said. “But something else came.”Orin stared at him, face draining of color. “Something… worse?”Kai nodded.Ar

THE BREATH OF THE FALLING SKYThe sky over Aetheryon turned the color of molten fire as the Dominion warfleet breached the upper atmosphere. Red fissures streaked across the clouds like wounds in the heavens, casting the city in a jagged, trembling light. Buildings vibrated as the ground pulsed beneath everyone’s feet, a deep tremor that resonated with the truth that the coming battle would not resemble anything they had faced before.Kai Valerian stood at the highest point of the shattered plaza, wind tearing at his hair, armor glinting with fractured gold where the Remnant fragment’s light broke through the cracks. He could feel the fragment humming inside him again, a slow and steady pulse, as if bracing itself for the storm about to unfold.Below, Vanguard forces scrambled into position. Drones lifted into formation. Shields shimmered to life over the main barricades, humming with blue-white energy. Resonator cannons were primed along the rooftops, their cores spinning like furio

THE SILENT MARCHThe camp moved before dawn, shifting like a slow, wounded beast across the valley floor. The fires had barely finished smoldering when the Vanguard broke them down, packing what little remained of their supplies, bandaging the wounded, steadying those who could no longer steady themselves. No one spoke unless necessary. The air held the kind of silence that grows after tragedy heavy, knowing, too thick to breathe.Eli stood at the head of the column, cloak whipping behind him as the early winds raced cold across his shoulders. The memory of Lysa’s last breath clung to him harder than any shadow. He replayed her voice over and over the warning, the terror, the final clarity before the corruption took her. The words etched themselves deeper with each step he took.The Dawnbreak Cycle. A week no, days. An army of hollow vessels. And Kael, the unwilling key, the fractured compass pointing straight into the Sovereign’s hidden core.He tightened the straps on his gauntlets.

INTO THE LOWER CORRIDORSThe descent swallowed them whole.The moment the gate sealed behind the Vanguard, all light from the upper forest vanished. Darkness pressed against them like a living thing, cold and ancient, suffocating in its silence. Only the faint blue glow that pulsed along the walls remained a heartbeat within stone, guiding them deeper.Eli adjusted his grip on his sword, letting its edge scrape faintly across the ground. The sound echoed down the corridor, sharp and thin. Mira walked beside him, her breathing steady but strained. The shard’s influence still lingered around her aura, a faint shimmer that flickered like a candle inside a storm.The soldiers behind them marched in tight formation, careful not to touch the walls. The air was warmer here, heavy with a low vibration that seemed to travel through bone instead of ears. It felt as if the corridor itself were watching them.“How far down does this go?” one soldier whispered.Mira shook her head. “The archives n

THE PALE THRESHOLDThe world returned in a single breath.No sound. No air. No ground.Only weightlessness and a pale, endless glow that blurred the horizon into nothingness. Eli felt his feet slowly settle onto something solid stone perhaps, or something shaped like stone but the surface shifted gently beneath him like a sleeping creature. Mira landed beside him, staggering slightly before steadying herself with a sharp intake of breath.The Vanguard appeared moments later, each soldier looking around in stunned silence. Their armor reflected the pale glow, shimmering as if touched by moonlight instead of any earthly radiance.Behind them, the doorway of white fire flickered for the briefest instant then collapsed into itself, vanishing without a trace.Trapping them here.Wherever “here” was.Eli turned slowly, taking in their surroundings. The “ground” stretched outward like a vast, circular platform suspended in the void. Edges faded into mist. Above them, no sky. Below them, no