Chapter 1: The Fall of Orion
The stars above House Orion burned with ceremonial precision. They had been arranged centuries ago by orbital architects, locked into place with gravity anchors and resonance fields. Each constellation was a symbol.
Each flicker of light a legacy. The sky was not a canvas, it was a crown.
Kaelen Orion stood beneath it, dressed in ceremonial black, his hands clenched behind his back. The Hall of Verdicts loomed around him, a cathedral of glass and steel, its walls etched with the names of every heir who had ever stood where he now stood. The air was cold. The silence colder.
His father sat on the throne at the far end of the hall, flanked by stewards and councilors. Lord Thalos Orion, High Architect of the Spiral Sector, wore robes of silver and crimson. His face was carved from stone. His voice, when it came, was colder than the stars.
"You are no longer my son."
Kaelen did not flinch. He had prepared for this moment. He had rehearsed it in his mind, over and over, until the words lost meaning. But now, spoken aloud, they cut deeper than he expected.
"You are stripped of title, rank, and inheritance," Thalos continued. "You will leave this estate within the hour. You will not return."
Kaelen's voice was steady. "And Lyra?"
Thalos hesitated. Just for a moment. Then
"She remains. Her condition is delicate. She will be cared for."
Kaelen stepped forward. "She needs me."
"She needs stability," Thalos said. "Not your chaos."
Kaelen's fists tightened. "She's my sister."
"She is the future of this house," Thalos said. "You are its past."
The councilors said nothing. They never did. Their silence was part of the ritual. Their judgment had already been cast, written into the resonance scrolls that hovered above the throne. Kaelen's name was already fading from the family tree.
He turned and walked away.
The doors opened before him, massive and slow. As he stepped into the courtyard, the wind caught his cloak, lifting it like wings. Servants watched from the shadows. Guards stood at attention. No one spoke.
Nova's voice whispered in his ear
[Exile confirmed. Status: civilian. Access: restricted]
Kaelen didn't answer. He walked to the edge of the estate, where the gates shimmered with containment fields. His personal transport waited, a small vessel barely larger than a courier pod. It had been stripped of insignia, stripped of honor.
He climbed inside.
Nova pulsed again
[Destination required. Scrap Town recommended. Proximity: optimal. Resources: minimal]
Kaelen stared at the stars. "Take me there."
The vessel lifted, silent and smooth. The estate shrank behind him, its towers gleaming like knives. Lyra was somewhere inside, asleep, dreaming of constellations that didn't exist. He had promised her he would protect her. Now he was leaving her behind.
Nova spoke again
[Emotional variance detected. Classification: grief. Suggestion: meditation protocol]
Kaelen closed his eyes. "No. Just silence."
The vessel obeyed.
Hours passed.
Scrap Town emerged on the horizon, a sprawl of twisted metal and broken dreams. It had once been a mining colony, then a salvage yard, then nothing. Now it was a graveyard. Kaelen's new home.
The vessel landed with a hiss. Kaelen stepped out into dust and wind. The air smelled of rust and ozone. The ground was uneven, littered with fragments of ships and machines. He walked until he found a half-buried cruiser, its wing intact, its hull scorched but stable.
He began to build.
No servants. No stewards. Just Kaelen and the wreckage.
He scavenged plating from collapsed towers, wiring from shattered drones, insulation from forgotten escape pods. He built walls. A roof. A floor. It leaked when the wind howled, and the floor was always cold. But it was his.
Nova remained quiet.
Kaelen didn't mind.
He spent his days repairing old tech, trading parts for food, mapping resonance fields with a salvaged scanner. He spent his nights staring at the stars, remembering Lyra's voice, her laughter, her strange visions.
She had once told him the stars were alive.
He hadn't believed her.
Now he wasn't so sure.
One night, as he sat beneath the wing of the cruiser, Nova pulsed softly
[Incoming transmission. Source: unknown. Frequency: unstable. Encryption: organic]
Kaelen frowned. "Play it."
The datapad shimmered. A voice emerged, soft and fractured, like a dream trying to remember itself
"She remembers the stars. But they do not remember her. The path is broken. The light is bleeding."
Kaelen's breath caught. "Lyra."
Nova hesitated
[Voice match: 87 percent. Emotional signature: grief. Origin: shifting]
Kaelen stood. "She's reaching out."
[Or someone is reaching through her]
He looked at the sky. "Then I need to reach back."
He walked to the edge of the scrap field, where the remains of a scout ship lay buried beneath dust and wire. He began to dig.
He would build something that could fly.
Something that could listen.
Something that could find her.
Nova pulsed again
[Structural integrity: compromised. Flight risk: extreme. Suggestion: abandon project]
Kaelen ignored her.
He worked through the night.
He worked through the pain.
He worked through the silence.
And when the sun rose, he stood beside the frame of a starfighter, hands bleeding, eyes burning.
He whispered to the wind
"I'm still here."
Nova responded
[Confirmed. You are still here]
Kaelen smiled
"Then let's begin.".
The End of Chapter 1.....
Hope you love it, let continue to see how the journey of Our dear Protagonist Goes.
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I will update Chapter 2. Chapter 3,4,5 will be posted today. Hope you all enjoy