The Hunters' armada shifted as one, a dark halo tightening around the sphere. Their attention had split—half remained fixed on Rourke, but the other half drifted toward something beyond the visible stars.
Seren pressed her face to the cracked skylight. "They're… turning away from us? What the hell is out there?"
Rourke kept both palms planted on the Solarii console. The barrier beam continued pouring from the pillar through him, his chest burning as if a sun had nested beneath his ribs.
"I don't know," he said through clenched teeth, "but I feel it."
The guide floated closer, its normally steady glow flickering with fear.
"Describe what you sensed."
Rourke closed his eyes.
It wasn't like the Heart.
It wasn't like the Alpha.
It wasn't like the Hunters' twisted energy.
This was something older—
a resonance that pulsed slow, steady, and deep, like a giant heart sleeping beneath the ocean floor.
"It felt like… the echo of a Solarii," Rourke murmured.
"Not living. Not dead.
Something in-between."
Seren whispered, "A ghost?"
The guide shook its head.
"No.
A relic."
Rourke's eyes snapped open.
"A relic?"
"A construct the Solarii built in their final era," the guide explained.
"One capable of storing remnants of their knowledge, memory, and power…"
Rourke finished for it.
"…and someone—something—just woke it up."
The Hunters React
Outside, three of the Hunters' largest capital ships broke formation entirely, spreading out and rising to a higher vantage point. Their hulls lit with white symbols—orders updated, strategy shifting.
Seren frowned. "They're reorienting. Like they're scanning for whatever you felt."
Rourke nodded.
"They'll reach it before we do."
The guide dimmed.
"If the Hunters find a Solarii relic, they will destroy it immediately."
Seren grimaced. "Great. So we're fighting a genocidal fleet… and racing it, too."
Rourke steadied his breathing, forcing the barrier beam to stabilize. His arms trembled violently.
"How long… can I maintain this?"
The guide hesitated.
Too long.
Rourke already knew the answer.
"Minutes," it finally said.
"Not hours."
Seren whipped around. "Then we need a way out of here now."
Accessing the Lower Gate
Rourke exhaled sharply and stepped back from the console. The barrier flickered—but held.
He swayed.
Seren jumped to catch him. "Hey—easy—easy! Don't collapse!"
He steadied himself, forcing his mind back into focus.
"The Hunters won't wait forever. The longer we stay inside the sphere, the more pressure they'll send against the barrier."
The guide circled them anxiously.
"There is a way out. But it is dangerous."
Seren sighed loudly. "Of course it is."
The guide projected a map of the sphere into the air—blue lines outlining a labyrinth of chambers, conduits, and ancient lifts.
One point pulsed like a heartbeat.
Deep.
Far beneath the command core.
"The Lower Gate," the guide said.
"A Solarii transit portal. It connects this sphere to distant points across the system."
Seren brightened. "Like a teleportation gate?"
The guide nodded.
But slowly.
"A deteriorating one."
Rourke forced a smile.
"So… 50/50 chance we don't get disintegrated?"
"Thirty."
Seren groaned. "Oh fantastic. Even worse odds."
Descending Into the Sphere
They moved quickly, racing through the reconfiguring corridors of the sphere. Lights flickered to life ahead of them, sensing Rourke's presence. Hallways parted, shifting and locking into new shapes to guide them toward the Lower Gate.
Rourke staggered occasionally, still feeling the burn of the Heart's resonance.
Seren hovered beside him like a nervous shadow. "If you fall, I'm dragging you."
Rourke managed a half-smile. "Good to know my heroic legacy will be me being pulled by the ankles."
Suddenly—
the sphere jolted.
A violent quake shook the corridor.
Rourke slammed into a wall.
Seren grabbed the guide. "What was that?!"
"The Hunters have launched a synchronized destabilization wave," the guide said.
"The barrier is buckling."
Rourke pushed off the wall. "We need to move faster."
The Lower Gate Chamber
They burst into a massive circular chamber, far larger than the command core. The room was hollowed into the sphere like a cathedral: vast, echoing, lined with glowing conduits that spiraled down into a central abyss.
Suspended over the abyss was a platform.
On that platform—
a ring of Solarii architecture humming faintly, flickering with unstable blue light.
Seren's eyebrows rose. "That's the portal?"
The guide nodded.
"We must tune it to the frequency Rourke sensed earlier.
That will lock onto the relic's location."
Rourke stepped onto the platform, gripping the rail.
"I'll coordinate it."
Seren frowned.
"No, wait—shouldn't the guide do that?"
The guide floated forward.
To Rourke.
"Only a Solarii-born resonance can activate a directional link."
Seren sighed. "So he has to do it."
"Yes."
Tuning the Gate
Rourke touched the ring.
A jolt ran through him.
He saw stars—
fractured memories—
distant echoes—
a world wrapped in crystal—
a voice singing in a dead language—
and a shadow, buried deep.
He gasped, leaning heavily on the structure.
Seren placed a hand on his shoulder. "Rourke—hey, breathe!"
He nodded, forcing air back into his lungs.
"I'm okay… I'm okay."
Then he reached deeper.
The ring lit up.
Symbols glowed.
Energy surged.
The portal hummed, vibrating as gravitational spirals formed in its center.
The guide floated back, sensing the rising power.
"Good.
The Portal is stabilizing."
Seren stepped closer. "Where does it lead?"
Rourke stared into the swirling vortex.
He didn't see a place.
He saw a shape.
A silhouette standing in a storm of fractured gravity.
A presence watching him through the void.
His breath caught.
"I think…"
The vortex flared.
Seren squinted. "What? What do you see?"
Rourke whispered:
"…someone is waiting for us."
A Final Warning
The chamber quaked again. Dust rained down. A distant boom reverberated through the sphere.
The guide's glow dimmed to near-black.
"The barrier is failing.
We must go—now."
Rourke turned toward the portal.
Seren grabbed his wrist.
"Rourke. Whatever is on the other side… is it friendly?"
Rourke looked at the portal's deep blue center.
He didn't know.
He couldn't know.
But the presence he felt wasn't malicious.
It felt… patient.
Old.
Wounded.
Watching.
He squeezed Seren's hand.
"We'll find out."
The Leap
The portal roared to life.
The platform shook.
The chamber lights died.
The Hunters' bombardment thundered through the sphere like the heartbeat of an angry god.
Seren took a deep breath.
"Alright. No turning back."
Rourke stepped forward.
The guide hovered behind them.
"I will follow.
Where you go, the Heart goes."
The portal spiraled faster.
The gravitational pull intensified.
One step.
Another.
Rourke reached out—
And the three of them leaped into the swirling grip of the Solarii Gate.
The portal snapped shut behind them.
The sphere groaned.
And the Hunters' next attack tore into the empty chamber.