The chamber predated history.
Stone columns loomed like frozen sentinels, etched with glyphs that gleamed in the gloom. Narrow viewports, set shoulder-high, slit the chamber’s walls and peered out onto a fog-veiled jungle. The miasma pressed against the foliage like a living thing, but near the ruin, it thinned to a ghostly sheen.
Along the chamber’s edges, alien machines jutted from the walls, half-sunken, their surfaces humming with unreadable design. Between them, alcoves held worktables and tools of impossible purpose, glowing faintly with ancient logic. Overhead, filtered light fell through strange skylights, dust motes drifting like ash.
A narrow staircase rose to a mezzanine carved from the same stone. Benches lined one side. Tables and storage shelves stood arranged like a communal mess, though what once passed for food, none could guess. Ancient implements sat like offerings to gods long dead.
Commander Jaxon Hurst stood by a viewport, arm braced against the frame, his steely gaze fixed on the cliffs beyond. His steel hand hovering in the strange doorway Korr had stumbled open, an invisible threshold that repelled the fog outside, yet let a hand pass through like mist.
He clenched and unclenched his fist, decisions forming. The detector at his side beeped. The cliffs were rich with quadrivium thalorite. His thoughts turned to what he needed, the steps to take, and the hope that Nether beasts would keep avoiding the ruins.
Korr Draven crouched by a towering machine in the corner, fingers dancing above the faintly glowing runes etched into its skin. His lips moved in a low murmur, lost beneath the device’s erratic hums and clicks. Dr. Elara Voss stood beside him, holding a scanner, though her violet eyes kept drifting back to Thalyn on the throne.
When the throne eased upright, Thalyn gasped. The sharp sound cut through the hum of machinery. Elara was already beside her, one hand outstretched, the touch gentle but firm against Thalyn’s temple.
“Breathe,” the doctor murmured. “You're back. How do you feel?”
Thalyn blinked, her eyes flickering as she reoriented. “Confused.”
Across the chamber, Korr’s head snapped up. “Anything interesting?”
“Besides nearly getting my face chewed off in a ruined medical ward?” Thalyn swallowed hard, waiting for her racing heart to realize she was safe.
Jaxon turned. “Nether beasts? In the city?”
Thalyn nodded. “I was a man. An amnesiac. But the voice in my head, Arvie, helped me slice a safe before the beast broke down the door.” She looked up at Elara. “We found mutacell.”
Elara inhaled sharply, her grip tightening on the scanner. “By the divines.”
Even Jaxon’s brows lifted. Korr abandoned his machine.
“Mutacell,” Korr muttered, stepping closer, his fingers twitching. “Where? Tell me about the city.”
Thalyn’s lips parted, hesitating. “The city... it was gutted, shattered. Bodies and debris everywhere. The dome above was cracked, miasma seeping in, smothering everything. And right in the center stood a colossal black statue, its arm reaching up to the dome.”
Korr froze. “That's the Sky Warden. You were in Solastis.”
Thalyn frowned. “Sky Warden? It was trapped under a dome.”
“Because the statue was there first,” Korr muttered, waving a hand as if the answer should be obvious. “Legend says it was forged before the breach, in the time of the Founders. But when the Nether came, they had to build the domes to protect the cities.”
Elara frowned. “How did the beasts get inside? What could shatter a dome like that?”
Korr’s gaze drifted into some unseen past. “Nobody knows,” he said. “That was a long time ago. Something went wrong. The records are broken, lost in time. All that’s clear is the city fell, taking a chapter of history with it.” He exhaled. “This... this could be the key to understanding it.”
His tone shifted. “Let me try the throne.”
Elara lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”
“If it shows us the past, I need to see,” Korr said.
Jaxon crossed his arms. “We all take a turn. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”
Thalyn unclasped the crown and stepped down, her legs still unsteady.
One by one, they attempted to use the throne, but each time, nothing happened. The ancient device remained inert, unresponsive to their touch. Frustrated, they discussed the possibilities, their theories clashing in the dim light of the chamber.
In the end, they agreed on one thing: Thalyn would try again. Whatever this thing was, it had chosen her. As she settled back into the seat, Elara hovered close, her hand resting lightly on Thalyn’s shoulder.
Thalyn adjusted the crown, its cold weight pressing down on her. The chamber blurred, sound thinning to whispers, then nothing at all. Another place took shape. The past reached out and pulled her under.
The last thing she heard was a soft whisper in her thoughts. “Ready to continue our grand adventure?”649Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfVLrZAmxw
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