Thalyn woke with a start, the throne's cold grip releasing her. Her breaths shallow, eyes scanning the dim-lit chamber, her mind still lingering between two worlds.
She blinked hard, shaking her head to force away the dregs of that foreign past. The place held its silence, consoles flickering in erratic patterns like dying stars.
Across the chamber, the others gathered around a table, locked in low, heated conversation, their faces cut by the half-light.
She pushed herself up. The servos in her legs whined softly. Pain flared, sharp as glass, then faded to its familiar, dull throb. Gingerly, she walked toward them.
Jaxon noticed first. “How was it this time?” he asked. “You look less shaken.”
“Getting used to it,” she muttered, throat raw. “Still takes a moment to find the floor.”
Elara leaned in. “Tell us what you saw this time.”
Thalyn joined them. “They dragged me through some weeping corridors, deep in the city's guts. Place was coming apart. Guards in scavenged armor, talking of gang wars. They took me to a platform, set to sell me off. A garish slaver and the big man called Jax, haggling over me like a salvaged artifact.”
Korr pitched forward. “Names?”
“Red Talons, Black Veil. Gangs. The slaver liked that I could breathe the miasma, called me a rare asset. They put me in a medical pod. I blacked out there.”
Elara’s fingers drummed on the table. “This isn’t random,” she said, half to herself. “There’s a pattern. Something deliberate.”
Jaxon crossed his arms. “Whatever, that doesn’t help us here. We need these minerals purified.”
Thalyn’s eyes dropped to the raw chunks on the table, dull, dense, heavy with promise.
“The droids in the next chamber,” she said. “They might know a way.”
Jaxon grunted. “Worth a try, but stay sharp. Who knows what else is lurking around?”
She nodded and slipped through the chamber’s exit. The passage whispered around her, light pulsing dimly in the walls. She found the droids where she had left them, their optics glowing faintly in the gloom.
“Mistress,” one said. “How may we serve?”
She hesitated, weighing her words. “We need to purify raw minerals. Can you assist?”
“Mistress, there is no need to seek us for such tasks. Return to the command seat. Focus your intent, and wish for it. The throne will provide.”
“You mean I can just think it, and it happens?”
The droid’s head inclined in a slow, deliberate nod. “Your will is the key.”
She stared at the droid, then down at her legs, feeling the ache behind the metal. “My legs,” she whispered. “Could they be replaced with something… organic? Augmented?”
The droid’s eyes dimmed briefly. “Possible. Complete the sequence, and the facility is yours.”
Her pulse quickened, the droid's words hanging heavy in her thoughts. She turned back, moving quick, finding her way back to the others. She stopped at the table. “I must use the throne.”
Jaxon raised a brow. “Then do it.”
Elara nodded. “Yes, do it now.”
Thalyn took a breath, settled on the throne and closed her eyes. She pushed her awareness outward, feeling for the pulse of the ruin. Nothing. She gritted her teeth, and focused on the minerals, rough, impure, felt their weight in her mind, wished for a way to purify them. A spike of pressure began driving behind her eyes. Just as her vision began to gray out from the strain, a deep, heavy click echoed through the place.
A hiss broke the silence. She opened her eyes, gasping, to see a panel slide back in the wall, revealing a dark compartment.
“Pour them in, mistress,” Arvie’s voice chimed in her mind. “Let the machine feast.”
Thalyn exhaled, wiping her brow, and turned to the others. “It’ll purify them,” she said. “Just pour the minerals in.”
Korr frowned. “How do you know?”
She shrugged. “Call it a hunch.”
Jaxon didn't move. “Are you out of your mind? I bled for that ore. We don't even know what's down that hole. You want us to dump them into a blind chute based on a hunch?”
“It’s not a hunch,” Thalyn said, her voice hard. “I felt the machinery. It will refine them.”
Elara didn’t hesitate. “We didn’t come this far to second-guess,” she snapped, stepping past Jaxon. She grabbed the closest heavy crate. “We need it purified. Help me lift.”
Jaxon glared at the ore, his jaw tight, but he finally let out a curse and grabbed the other side of the crate.
They hauled the heavy boxes to the wall and tipped them. Stone scraped loudly against metal as the raw ore tumbled into the dark. The compartment sealed shut with a concussive thud that rattled their teeth.
For a moment, the chamber held its breath. Then, the floor heaved, a seismic vibration so deep it bypassed their ears and shook them right in the marrow. A terrifying, subterranean roar echoed from beneath their boots. The air in the chamber turned sharp with the taste of ozone. Lights flickered, symbols came alive, dancing across the walls.
“What’s happening?” a voice whispered in the dim.
Before anyone could answer, the roaring peaked, turned into a loud pressurized hiss, then violently cut off. The sudden silence was heavier than the noise. The compartment hissed open, and a cluster of turquoise crystals, glowing like fire trapped in ice, stole their breath.
“Remarkable,” Korr murmured.
Elara stepped closer and hovered a hand over the open tray, bracing for the heat. Her brow furrowed. She reached closer, tentatively pressing a bare fingertip against the jagged facet of the nearest crystal.
“They’re freezing,” she whispered and scooped up a handful, staring in wonder as the turquoise light cast shifting shadows across her face. “Perfect,” she breathed. “These are worth a fortune.”
Thalyn nodded, rubbing her temples. “The droids said the throne can do more, when I finish the sequence.”
Korr’s gaze flickered from the flawless crystals to the throne. “Then finish it,” he said. “Let’s see where this takes us.”
Thalyn took a deep breath, set the crown back on her head. Let the pull take her.
Arvie’s voice teased her from the void. “Ah, mistress, the road ahead… ever so twisted.”
Then all went black.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡro8FDi5tUo
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