The circle of guards tightened, their sand-colored armor blending with the walls of the chamber. The air was heavy, the silence deep enough to hear the faint hum coming from the relic — a low vibration that seemed to crawl into Ashoka's bones.
The man in crimson robes stepped closer, his smile sharp. "Your relic fragment is tuned to the same frequency as the Heart. That means it can unlock it. Hand it over, and maybe I'll even leave your ship intact."
Ashoka let his hand rest on the hilt of his pulse-saber. "You've been working with the hunters."
The man's smile widened. "Of course. Why fight them when they pay so well? They told me exactly where you'd land, and now, here you are… cornered under a hundred meters of rock, no way out."
Ashoka's eyes flicked briefly to the relic. The glow was faint, but it pulsed faster now, like it was responding to his presence. The hum deepened into a thrum that vibrated the stone floor under his boots.
"Last chance, Commander," the man said, raising his hand. The guards leveled their rifles.
Ashoka moved.
His pulse-saber ignited with a hiss, slicing through the nearest guard's weapon before it could fire. In the same motion, he triggered the relic fragment on his belt. A surge of energy erupted outward — not as a beam, but as a shockwave that seemed to ripple through the air itself.
The rifles' targeting optics went dark. Torches flickered violently. Several guards staggered, clutching their helmets.
And then the Heart of the Desert responded.
The black crystal's glyphs flared with golden light, casting the chamber in an otherworldly glow. A deep, resonant tone filled the air, making the walls tremble. Streams of golden sand poured from cracks in the stone — but they didn't fall. They hung in the air, swirling into intricate patterns around Ashoka like a living storm.
"What is this?" one guard shouted, his voice panicked.
Ashoka stepped forward, each movement mirrored by the swirling sand. When he swung his blade, the sand followed, striking like a whip and sending guards crashing into the walls. Blaster fire hissed through the air, but the golden currents bent around him, absorbing or scattering the shots.
The man in crimson staggered back, shielding his eyes from the light. "You fool! You've woken it—"
Before he could finish, the sand surged toward him, wrapping around his limbs like chains. His weapon clattered to the floor as the golden storm lifted him into the air.
Ashoka approached, the glow of the relic fragment still pulsing against his side. "Tell your hunters I'm not running. If they want me, they'll have to face me themselves."
The sand released the man, dropping him hard to the floor. Without another glance, Ashoka turned to the Heart. Its golden light dimmed, returning to its steady pulse, but he could feel it now — a quiet connection between it and the fragment he carried.
He had claimed the second piece.
But above them, in the city's sunlit streets, alarms began to ring. The Custodians were mobilizing, and Ashoka knew the fight to leave Serekh had only just begun.