Awareness returned slowly, like ripples across a still pond. First came the gentle hum of the AeroWing's engines, then the soft amber glow of the navigation panels, and finally, a peculiar warmth against your face.
Your eyes fluttered open to find Alexis hovering above you, her face mere inches from yours. The violet energy of the Mastron Shard pulsed gently beneath her skin, casting ethereal patterns across her features. Her expression, one of deep concentration, shifted to surprise as she realized you were awake.
"I wasn’t sure when you’d wake up," she whispered, her voice melodic and tinged with something you hadn't heard from her before. Relief, perhaps. Or something more. "We're getting close."
She pulled back slightly, though her hand remained resting against your cheek. Through the viewport beyond her silhouette, you glimpsed the impossible...massive structures gliding past, their configurations both alien and familiar. Space stations, their massive forms rotating slowly against the backdrop of unfamiliar stars.”We made six jumps to get here…” she whispered.
"Where are we?" you asked, your voice rough from sleep. "How long was I..."
"Twelve cycles," she replied, finally withdrawing her hand, though reluctantly. "After we evaded Malachar's pursuit craft, you collapsed. The coordinates you entered... they took us somewhere I've never been. A place that…” she looks into the infinite, “shouldn't exist."
You pushed yourself upright, wincing at the stiffness in your muscles. The AeroWing's cockpit felt smaller somehow, more intimate. Outside, another structure drifted past...a colossal ring of gleaming metal that seemed to ripple with its own internal light.
"And where exactly is that?"
Alexis settled back into the pilot's seat, her eyes never leaving yours despite her fingers dancing across the navigation controls. "The edge of SEPT II, but... different. Your coordinates took us into what the charts label as 'null space'...a region that supposedly contains nothing. There’s no code for this, no plates, nothing… yet here we are, surrounded by..." She gestured at the viewport.
"Inhabited space stations," you finished for her. "Hidden from official charts."
"More than hidden," she corrected. "These stations don't register on any sensors. The AeroWing can't detect them at all. I can see them with my eyes, but according to every instrument aboard this vessel, we're flying through empty space…” with a brief pause, “How could you have known?” she asked rhetorically.
That explained the peculiar sensation that had settled over you upon waking...a disconnect between what your senses perceived and what should be possible. "The Mastron Shard," you suggested. "It's allowing us to perceive what's truly here."
Alexis nodded slowly. "I think so. Its energies have been... active since we arrived. Almost excited." She studied you with renewed intensity. "But that doesn't explain how you knew to bring us here. These coordinates came from you, not from the message about Solaris Rift."
The question hung between you, heavy with implication. How had you known? The coordinates had flowed from your fingers with absolute certainty, though your conscious mind had offered no explanation.
"Cramlin said the shards would help me remember who I am," you said finally. "Perhaps this place is part of that memory."
Alexis's gaze drifted to the viewport, where another massive structure...this one shaped like an elongated diamond...rotated slowly into view. "And who do you think you are?" she asked, her voice soft but direct.
The question cut deeper than she could know. Since awakening at the terminal in Alkora, the mystery of your identity had haunted every moment, every decision. Cramlin had offered fragments of truth...that you were created by Alament, designed as a vessel for the Killian Shards...but such knowledge only deepened the mystery rather than resolving it.
"I don't know," you admitted. "A tool created for a specific purpose? A weapon aimed at Isardeth's forces? Or something else entirely?" You studied your hands, turning them over as if they might reveal some secret. "What I do know is that I'm drawn to the shards. And to you."
The last words escaped before you could consider them. Alexis glanced sharply at you, the violet energy beneath her skin pulsing more rapidly.
"Because we share a connection through the Mastron Shard," she said, though her tone suggested she was not entirely convinced by her own explanation.
"Is that all it is?" you asked, emboldened by the intimacy of the moment.
Her fingers stilled on the control panel. "Would it matter if it were more? We're being hunted across the Zones. Isardeth's spawn grow closer with each cycle. The shards call to us both. There's little room for..." She left the thought unfinished.
"For what?" you pressed. "For feeling something beyond our mission? For wondering if we're more than just pieces in Alament's grand design?" Alexis's expression hardened, the violet light beneath her skin intensifying. "Alament's design is all that stands between the Zones and Isardeth's dominion. Without the shards, without the mission..."
"...I know the stakes," you interrupted, more forcefully than intended. "But I also know that since awakening at that terminal, the only constants in my existence have been uncertainty and you."
The silence that followed felt electric. Alexis looked away, focusing intently on the navigation display, though her posture suggested she was not truly seeing it.
"I feel it too," she finally said, so quietly you almost didn't hear her. "A connection beyond the Mastron Shard. But I've spent cycles searching for the shards, preparing for this mission. I can't afford distraction. Neither can you." Her eyes met yours again, conflicted. "Not when everything depends on us."
"And what happens when the mission is complete?" you asked. "When all seven shards are gathered and returned to Alament? What becomes of us then?"
"I don't know," she admitted, and for a moment, vulnerability replaced her usual certainty. "I've never allowed myself to think beyond the mission. It's always been about the next step, the next shard. Survival. Purpose." She hesitated. "Never about after."
You reached across the space between your seats, offering your hand. After a moment's hesitation, she took it, her fingers intertwining with yours. The familiar electric connection sparked between you, but now it felt different...more deliberate, acknowledged by you both.
"Perhaps that's why we need to think about it now," you suggested. "To remind ourselves that we're more than just vessels or guardians. That we have choice, as Cramlin said."
Alexis squeezed your hand, a small smile touching her lips. "Choice is dangerous. It's how Isardeth justified his betrayal...he chose power over responsibility."
"But it's also how we define ourselves," you countered. "I may have been created for a purpose, but that doesn't mean I can't choose how I fulfill it. Or what else I might become along the way."
Her smile faltered. "And what if our choices lead us away from the path we're meant to follow? What if..."
A sharp alarm cut through her words, emanating from the AeroWing's communications array. Not the insistent beeping of your personal communicator this time, but a broader signal being received by the vessel itself.
Alexis released your hand, immediately alert. "We're being hailed," she said, surprise evident in her voice. "From one of the stations that “shouldn't exist.” She said with a smile, attempting to diffuse the former tension.
She activated the comm system, and a voice filled the cockpit...neither male nor female, but something in between, layered with harmonic tones that reminded you of the strange singing you'd heard in the Traveler's Church.
"Vessel approaching Central Nexus, identify yourself. You carry the Mastron signatures. State your purpose."
Alexis looked to you, uncertainty in her eyes. This was territory neither of you had anticipated.
"We seek the Belstron Shard," you said without hesitation. "And knowledge of Alament's design."
A long pause followed, during which the engines of the AeroWing seemed to quiet themselves, as if the vessel too were holding its breath.
"Approach docking bay seven, establish landing procedures within no less than seven point five strides" the voice finally responded. "The Al-Akoulou await you."
The transmission ended, leaving you and Alexis staring at each other in stunned silence.
"The Al-Akoulou," she whispered. "The shadow-sworn followers of Alament. They're supposed to be myths, whispers, not..." She gestured at the massive station that now dominated the viewport...a structure like a blooming flower of metal and light, its petals slowly rotating around a brilliant core.
"Cramlin told me to trust them," you reminded her. "The terminal too. 'Trust the Al-Akoulou, for they serve the light.'"
Alexis nodded slowly, her expression transitioning from shock to determination. "Then we trust," she said, though tension remained evident in her voice. "But we remain vigilant. Even those who serve the light may cast shadows of their own."
Her hands returned to the controls, guiding the AeroWing toward the massive station. As you drew closer, intricate patterns became visible along its surface...sigils and symbols similar to those you'd glimpsed in the terminal chamber, etched into metal on a colossal scale.
"Do you think this is wise?" Alexis asked quietly, the station's reflection dancing in her color-shifting eyes. "We came seeking the Belstron Shard at Umbral Station, yet here we are, diverting to yet another unknown."
"Nothing about our path has been conventional," you replied. "The coordinates, the hidden stations, the Al-Akoulou... they're all connected. I can feel it." You touched the amulet Cramlin had given you, finding it warm against your skin. "Whatever answers await us here, they're part of the journey, not a diversion from it."
Alexis studied your face for a long moment before returning her attention to guiding the vessel. "Your certainty is both comforting and terrifying," she admitted. "I've always relied on knowledge, on careful planning. Since meeting you, I've found myself following intuition more than reason."
"Is that so terrible?" you asked.
A small smile touched her lips. "It should be. Everything I've been taught says it should be." The smile faded as she expertly maneuvered the AeroWing toward a glowing aperture that had appeared in the station's outer ring. "But with you... it feels right. Dangerous, uncertain, but right."
As the docking bay's massive doors parted to receive your vessel, you both fell silent, the weight of the moment settling over you. Whatever awaited within...whether answers, allies, or new dangers...you would face it together.
The AeroWing slipped through the opening, artificial gravity and atmospheric systems engaging as you entered the massive chamber beyond. Dozens of vessels lined the bay, their designs unlike anything you'd seen in Alkora...more organic, flowing, as if grown rather than built.
"Whatever happens next," Alexis said as the engines powered down, "know that I don't regret following this path. With you." She reached for your hand once more, her fingers cool against yours. "Whether we're fulfilling Alament's design or forging our own, I choose to continue. For the shards, for the Zones..." Her voice softened. "And for us."
"For us," you echoed, the simple phrase carrying weight beyond its syllables.
The AeroWing settled onto the docking platform with a gentle shudder. Outside, figures in flowing robes of silver and black emerged from recessed doorways, their faces obscured by masks that caught the light like liquid metal.
The Al-Akoulou had welcomed you into their hidden realm. The next step of your journey...toward the Belstron Shard, toward Alament's truth, toward your own identity...awaited beyond the airlock.
Together, you rose to meet it.
You both stand together, as the intercom alerts in an almost melodic tone, “Benjamin is prepared for you. Please exit your vessel.”