The stars did not stay quiet for long.
Darctavious stood upon the highest tower of his capital, optics fixed on the heavens. Streams of data flowed through his mind routes, coordinates, probabilities. Most were fragments of distant wars and broken transmissions.
One was different.
A pulse.
Ancient. Familiar. Heavy with meaning.
The AllSpark.
It was faint, but it was there. Not on Cybertron. Not in any known vault or battlefield. Moving. Traveling through space like a drifting sun compressed into a cube of impossible energy.
Darctavious felt it inside his own spark the echo of the day he had drawn from it. The sensation was not pain, nor joy. It was recognition.
He closed his optics for a moment.
"So… it begins."
Behind him, the Preservartron world thrived. Cities glowed like constellations upon the surface. Forests intertwined with living alloy. Oceans reflected artificial moons suspended in the sky. His people moved freely builders, scholars, defenders, explorers each choosing their path without chains or banners.
Everything Cybertron had lost… existed here.
And yet, the universe would not allow isolation forever.
A transmission opened.
Lockdown's voice cut through the channel."New coordinates received. Long range. You want me to check it out?"
Darctavious paused only briefly."Observe. Do not engage."
Lockdown gave a short laugh."Observation's never been my specialty."
"Make it one."
The channel closed.
Darctavious turned his gaze back to the sky. The AllSpark's trajectory bent toward a distant yellow star system unremarkable by most standards. A small world orbited within the habitable zone, blue and green, covered in water and organic life.
Primitive.
Unaware.
Unprepared.
He extended his senses again, folding space just enough to confirm. Yes. The Cube was heading there. Not by intent, but by fate's careless hand.
Cybertron burned in memory.The Preservatron world breathed in peace.And somewhere between them, the origin of all Cybertronian life drifted toward a world that had never asked for war.
Darctavious did not leave.
Not yet.
Instead, he ordered new arrays constructed in silence listening posts hidden in asteroid belts, micro-bridges seeded in empty sectors, long-range scouts dispatched under cloaked directives. Knowledge would be his shield before action ever became his blade.
He spoke quietly to the endless void before him.
"Preservation requires patience."
The stars offered no reply.
But the signal pulsed again stronger this time like a heartbeat echoing across the galaxy.
The universe was beginning to move.