Light lanced through the crystalline skylights above, painting latticework shadows across the stone. Thalyn stirred. Her breath caught. She blinked awake, and flinched.
Elara’s face hovered close, violet eyes sharp with intent.
“I’m starving,” she said, offering a crooked smile and grease-smudged fingers. “Order us breakfast, will you? You’re the only one with a crown.”
In the far corner, Commander Jaxon Hurst grunted without looking up, methodically stripping his rifle with the reverence. “Second that.”
A loud clang rang out as Korr Draven nearly dropped a wrench onto a sarcophagus-sized coil device. He glanced over, blinking, then returned to his tuning in silence.
Elara hauled Thalyn upright with a firm grip. “C’mon, royalty. Do your thing.”
Thalyn gave her a sidelong glance, already moving. The throne loomed like a memory she hadn’t chosen to keep. She eased into it, hands brushing carved ridges, and fitted the crown over her temples.
A moment passed.
Then a distant hum as hidden doors whispered open. Three droids glided in, heads bowed, bearing steaming trays toward the upper mezzanine like attendants in some lost, arcane court. The scent of roasted rootmoss and something citrus-sharp hit the air.
Korr looked up, visibly startled. “Are those… eggs?”
“They’re round and hot,” Jaxon offered. “Close enough.”
The team cleaned up and drifted upstairs. The food was alien, textured like moss-crust and jellyfruits, with spiced drinks that fizzed on the tongue, but no one complained.
Elara chewed thoughtfully, watching light ripple down the chamber walls. “We could stay here, you know. Live like desert queens and off-world knights. There’s worse fates.”
She winked at Thalyn, but Thalyn’s eyes remained wistful.
“No,” she said quietly. “I have to follow my destiny. If the sphere can make the passage safer… we can return later.”
“Cheery,” Jaxon muttered into his drink.
Korr leaned forward, eyes gleaming. “Did you get another vision?”
Thalyn nodded. “They called me Ashwarden. Said I was meant to lead. To save the people.”
Korr’s smile flickered. “Then you failed. Solastis is dust. Destroyed aeons ago. No survivors, not on record… though records fade. History’s a leaky vault.”
The last of the meal vanished. Droids returned, clearing trays in efficient silence. For a moment, the room felt still. Sacred, even.
Thalyn rose. “I’m going to the other throne,” she said. “If there’s a way beneath Revantis, I’ll find it.”
Elara nodded. “We’ll prep the gear.”
The passage led her to the second chamber. The air shifted, cooler, more charged. The throne awaited, humming faintly beneath its surface. A droid stood sentinel, bowed slightly at her approach.
She settled into the seat. The throne stirred beneath her, rising with a subtle shift.
“I need a way,” she said. “Into Revantis. Through the caverns. Show me the paths.”
“Revantis lies distant,” the droid replied, voice faint and harmonic. “But estimates may be drawn. Engage the interface. Focus.”
She placed the crown atop her brow.
The world peeled back.
Not vision, vision was too narrow. This was immersion. The terrain folded into her awareness like a second skin. Bioluminescent rivers crawled through jungle canopy; heat shadows of beasts prowled the edge of perception. But her mind stretched farther, straining toward Revantis.
“Think of the city,” said the droid. “The mines beneath it.”
A spectral map ignited before her, lines drawn in flickering ghostlight. Streets etched in ash and memory. Below, veins of tunnels, mines and vast caverns.
“Seek access from city to mines.”
She pushed the thought forward. New flares ignited, nodes, faint and scattered.
“Too distant for precision. Now, the mines' links to lower caverns.”
More sparks along pathways unfolded, like arteries through fossil bone.
“Now think of ingress. Safe routes.”
A meshwork formed, thin filaments interwoven, some pulsing, others dim.
“Brighter paths indicate higher viability,” the droid said. “They are now etched into your internal navigation. Accessible via recall.”
Thalyn gasped. Her spine buckled. She tore the crown off, the throne’s grip reluctant to let go.
Her legs felt hollow. She staggered back toward the main chamber, where the others were already sealing gear and checking charges.
“I’ve got a few potential ways in,” she rasped. “Mapped and stored. We won’t be guessing in the dark.”
Elara offered a canteen. “You look fried.”
“I am.”
“Then sleep,” Jaxon said. “No one needs a journey when their brain leaking out their ears.”
She nodded and let her body collapse into the bunk’s embrace. Behind her eyes, Revantis still burned in ghostlight.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZIFeHbR2A
