Beast Sovereign: Rebirth Of The Star Age

Chapter 7 — The Undercity's Pulse

The undercity was never meant to be found. I’m starting to think that’s why I’m drawn to it.

Built beneath the shining towers of Helion, it stretched like a labyrinth of rusted steel and forgotten light, a graveyard of technology that once ruled the world. Down here, echoes of old machines still breathed in the dark, humming in rhythm with the pulse that lived in Rian’s chest.

Lyra adjusted her wristband, scanning the unstable readings. “Selene’s data says this section was sealed centuries ago. The energy readings are off the charts.”

Rian glanced at her. “That’s because it’s still alive.”

He moved ahead, guided by the faint holographic projection flickering from the data chip Selene had given him. The air was thick, metallic, damp, heavy with memories. Pipes hissed softly overhead, releasing thin streams of vapor that glowed faintly blue.

I’m starting to think the city itself is watching us.

Behind them, Selene followed in silence, her cloak brushing against the corroded walls. The faint light from her wrist-lamp caught in her silver hair, casting her face in sharp contrast, half in shadow, half in starlight.

She was the one who discovered this route, after all. The last encrypted path into the city’s lowest levels,nthe place the Nexus had erased from all records.

“What exactly are we looking for down here?” Lyra asked.

“A fragment,” Selene said quietly. “An echo left by the First Sovereign.”

Lyra frowned. “You mean a myth.”

“No,” Rian said, his voice low. “A memory.”

They stopped at a circular chamber, the air colder, denser. A gate stood at the center, sealed with black stone etched with glowing lines that pulsed like veins of light.

Rian stepped forward. The glow brightened in rhythm with his heartbeat.

“It’s reacting to you,” Lyra whispered.

“It knows what I am,” he said softly. I’m starting to think the gate remembers me too.

Selene approached the carvings, tracing the symbols with her gloved fingers. “This script… it’s not Nexus code. It’s older, pre-digital, maybe even pre-human.”

Rian knelt beside her. The markings thrummed under his palm like something alive.

“It responds to resonance,” he murmured. “To blood.”

Lyra’s eyes widened. “You’re not actually thinking”

Before she could finish, Rian pressed his hand against the gate.

The runes flared, blinding white. The sound wasn’t sound at all, it was pressure, a scream that echoed through every molecule. For a heartbeat, the world folded in on itself.

And then, silence.

Rian stood in darkness. Not the absence of light, but space itself. Infinite. Weightless. Stars drifted around him like shards of broken glass.

I’m starting to think I’ve stepped into a memory.

A voice spoke.

“You were not meant to sleep.”

He turned. A silhouette stood before him, tall and luminous, woven from constellations. A woman’s shape, vast as the sky.

“Who are you?” Rian asked.

“A question with no time left for answers,” she said. “You carry what was once mine—the essence of the Star Wolf. And because of that, they will come for you.”

Rian clenched his fists. “Then tell me how to stop them.”

Her expression softened, sad, almost human. “You cannot stop them. You can only awaken first.”

Light surged from her hand, flowing into his chest, searing, pure, eternal. The stars around him shattered.

He fell.

I’m starting to think I’ve changed.

When he opened his eyes, the chamber was back. The floor cracked beneath him, the air electric with energy. Lyra and Selene knelt beside him, voices blurred by static.

“Rian! Hey, stay with me!” Lyra’s tone trembled.

“His resonance output’s unstable,” Selene said urgently. “He absorbed a full data signature!”

Rian exhaled, his body shaking as faint light glowed beneath his skin. Memories he didn’t own flickered through his mind, battles in the void, beasts of light devouring the stars, a world burning and rebuilding itself in endless cycles.

I’m starting to think I remember what I was.

He rose unsteadily, eyes blazing gold. “I know what this place is now.”

Lyra stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“It’s not a ruin,” Rian said. “It’s a vault, for the code that governs this world.”

Before either of them could speak, a low rumble shook the floor. The runes along the walls ignited in blue fire.

Selene’s expression changed instantly. “No, those are failsafe patterns! You just triggered a system wake!”

And then came the sound, footsteps, mechanical, deliberate.

Lyra drew her weapon. “We’re not alone.”

From the tunnel behind them, shadows emerged. Armored enforcers, Division Omega, the Director’s elite. Their visors glowed crimson as they spread out to surround the chamber.

I’m starting to think we’ve been betrayed.

A man stepped forward, calm and smiling. His silver hair gleamed faintly under the blue light.

“Lucen Helion,” Selene whispered, her voice tight.

Lucen met Rian’s gaze. “You found it, didn’t you? The Nexus Core Alpha.”

Rian’s pulse quickened. “You were following us.”

“Of course,” Lucen replied easily. “You think we’d let the last Sovereign’s host wander freely?”

His tone was almost gentle, but the intent behind it was not.

Lyra raised her blade. “You’re the Director’s son.”

Lucen’s smile deepened. “And you’re trespassing in my family’s grave.”

He raised his hand. “Take them.”

The enforcers lifted their rifles, then the vault itself roared.

Energy erupted, tearing the floor apart. Light exploded outward, and in the chaos, Rian threw up his hand, forming a radiant shield that curved around them like a dome.

Selene shouted something, but the sound vanished in the storm.

The last thing Rian saw before the explosion consumed everything was Lucen’s calm eyes and the faintest trace of satisfaction.

I’m starting to think this was all a setup.

Then, everything went white.

When the world returned, it was buried in silence.

Dust hung like mist. The air smelled of ozone and burnt metal.

Rian stirred beneath a pile of debris, his body aching. He coughed once, the sound echoing against fractured stone.

“Rian! Can you hear me?” Lyra’s voice, raw, desperate.

He managed a hoarse laugh. “Still alive.”

She appeared from the haze, dragging herself over the rubble, one arm bleeding. Relief crossed her face when she saw him move.

“Barely,” she muttered. “The chamber almost imploded.”

Rian sat up, scanning the ruins. Half the vault was gone, reduced to molten rock and shattered crystal. Selene crouched nearby, clutching a damaged core device to her chest.

I’m starting to think we’re the only ones left.

Then movement, across the wreckage.

Lucen Helion stood amidst the ruin, almost untouched. His armor was scorched but intact, his smile unchanged.

“Impressive,” Lucen said. “The resonance nearly killed you, yet you survived. That confirms it, you’re the real thing.”

Rian rose, eyes still glowing faintly. “The real what?”

Lucen tilted his head. “The vessel of the Star Wolf, the final key to unlocking the core beneath this world.”

Lyra’s expression hardened. “You talk too much.”

Lucen’s smile didn’t waver. “This world isn’t what you think. The Nexus isn’t protection, it’s containment. Every life, every soul, every spark of spirit is recycled in a loop. The gods built it to cage what they feared most.”

Rian’s heart pounded. “The beasts.”

“Exactly,” Lucen said. “But with your bloodline, we can break the loop.”

Selene’s eyes widened in horror. “You’d collapse reality itself!”

Lucen shrugged. “Reality’s already dying.”

He raised his arm. The air shimmered, and a massive construct emerged,a mechanical titan woven from light and metal, its single eye burning crimson.

A Nexus Guardian.

I’m starting to think this is a fight we can’t win.

Lyra cursed. “You’ve got to be kidding”

Rian stepped forward. “Get behind me.”

“You can’t”

“I’m not alone.”

He closed his eyes, drawing on the fractured energy left behind. The runes in the air flickered, resonating with his heartbeat.

Silver light gathered around him, coalescing into the shape of a wolf, massive, ethereal, its eyes twin stars.

The Guardian roared and lunged.

The impact shook the chamber. Rian caught the blow with one glowing hand, his feet digging into the cracked floor. Sparks exploded between them.

“You shouldn’t exist,” Lucen hissed.

Rian’s voice was calm. “Then I’ll remind you why I do.”

He clenched his fist, light condensed into a blade, pure and sharp. He swung once. The Guardian’s arm fell away, molten metal splattering across the ground.

Selene gasped. “That’s impossible, no human could”

Lyra’s voice was soft, reverent. “He’s not human. Not anymore.”

Rian didn’t stop. Each strike tore through steel and light. Every motion carried the weight of ancient memory, the fury of a beast who once howled between stars.

I’m starting to think I was born for this.

Lucen raised his hand, ready to retaliate, but Rian’s blade halted an inch from his throat.

“Touch them again,” Rian said quietly, “and you won’t leave breathing.”

Lucen’s smile returned, thin, dangerous. “You still don’t understand. The Nexus doesn’t protect. It consumes. And when it hungers again, we’ll see which side you stand on.”

His body shimmered, then dissolved into static.

He was gone.

Rian’s sword flickered out. He dropped to one knee, breathing hard.

Lyra caught him, steadying his shoulder. “Hey. Don’t you dare pass out again.”

He managed a tired smile. “Just… taking a break.”

Selene joined them, holding the cracked data core. “You shouldn’t have survived that output. That wasn’t human resonance.”

Rian met her gaze, calm but weary. “Nothing about me ever was.”

Lyra’s tone softened. “What now?”

He looked at the shattered vault door, faint light still pulsing from within. “Lucen wasn’t lying about one thing. The Nexus isn’t what we thought. It’s a cage, and someone built it for a reason.”

Selene nodded grimly. “Then we keep going. Deeper.”

Rian turned his gaze upward, past the smoke, past the ruins,nto where faint threads of light still shimmered above.

“For the first time,” he whispered, “the sky feels smaller than what’s below.”

I’m starting to think the truth isn’t above, it’s buried under our feet.