I. The Ashen Flight
The ruins of the Astral Sepulcher crumbled behind them, monolithic spires collapsing into dust. The air burned with the scent of scorched stone and decayed starlight.
Kael ran, his symbiont flickering erratically. Seris was gone. The words she left him with—Follow the stars—echoed in his mind like a riddle half-solved.
"Move!" Jara barked, shoving him forward as the first of the Forgotten's wraiths burst through the wreckage.
The creatures were malformed—humanoid shapes carved from void-forged matter, their bodies stitched with remnants of the old Veil. Their shrieks scraped against reality itself.
"Weapons hot!" Veyra's voice crackled through the holoreel as she unleashed a wave of charged plasma rounds. "Don't let them touch you!"
Tarek's prosthetic arm transformed, obsidian blades flicking outward. He moved like a hammer through brittle glass, cleaving through wraith after wraith.
Kael hesitated—just for a second. He could still feel Seris's presence in the ruins. A whisper at the edge of his perception.
Then the largest wraith lunged for him.
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II. The Riftborn Revenant
A void-wraith unlike the others. Towering, its form a rippling distortion, as if it had never fully left the Veil when it collapsed. Its faceless head tilted, sensing Kael's hesitation.
Then it spoke.
"You carry a fragment of the Astral One."
Kael's symbiont reacted violently, veins of gold light lashing out against the wraith's presence. He gritted his teeth, fighting the wave of nausea that accompanied the entity's voice.
"What does that mean?" Kael demanded.
The wraith's head split apart like unraveling threads. "She left her mark upon you."
Before Kael could respond, Jara's plasma round took the wraith's chest, detonating it into a cloud of void-ash. The remaining creatures shrieked in unison before vanishing into the remnants of the Sepulcher.
Silence fell over the ruins.
Kael clenched his fists. Seris left something in me. But why?
---
III. The Weight of the Unseen
They regrouped in a canyon beyond the ruins, the only shelter from the encroaching stormfront.
Jara paced. "We don't run into that again. If Seris knew those things were here, she should've warned us."
Veyra adjusted her holoreel. "She did warn us. She told Kael to follow the stars."
Tarek sat on a boulder, sharpening his arm-blades. "Sounds like poetic nonsense."
Kael remained silent. He could still feel something stirring within him—a presence, or perhaps just the remnants of Seris's touch. He traced a hand over his palm, where the last fragment of her stardust lingered.
Follow the stars.
He exhaled. "We head north."
Jara frowned. "Based on what?"
Kael met her gaze. "Instinct."
And for the first time since the Veil's fall, no one argued.
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IV. The Hollow Cartographer
By nightfall, the Legion reached a plateau overlooking the remains of a long-dead civilization. Towers lay half-buried in frost and time, their architecture curving unnaturally, as if warped by something beyond mortal comprehension.
At the plateau's center stood a lone figure, etching symbols into the stone.
A Hollow One.
Jara drew her rifle, but Kael stopped her. "Wait."
The figure looked up. A man—older than most of the cultists they'd faced. His eyes, however, were not filled with fanaticism. They were tired.
"You are too late," the man rasped. "The map is nearly complete."
Veyra stepped forward. "What map?"
The Hollow One gestured to the etchings beneath him. A star map—fractured, incomplete, but unmistakable.
Kael's heart clenched. The constellations were identical to those he had seen in Seris's chamber.
"You don't serve the Hollow Ones," Kael realized. "You were one of them, but you're not anymore."
The man sighed. "I was their cartographer, yes. But even the faithful can be abandoned."
Tarek narrowed his eyes. "What happened to you?"
The cartographer traced his fingers over the map. "They no longer chart the cosmos. They chart the path to the Veil's resurrection."
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V. The Path to the Obelisk
The cartographer revealed what he knew: the Hollow Ones sought an ancient obelisk, buried beneath the ruins of the lost city of Vael'Thir. It was said to house remnants of the first Weavers—the ones who had glimpsed beyond the Veil's fabric.
"They believe the obelisk will show them the path to the Weavers' remains," he muttered. "That through them, the Veil can be reforged."
Jara crossed her arms. "So we find it first."
The cartographer chuckled darkly. "You are not the only ones hunting it. Others walk this path. And some are already too far gone."
Kael clenched his jaw. Seris knew about this. That's why she sent me north.
Veyra looked at him. "If we do this, we do it fast. Before the Hollow Ones get there first."
Kael nodded, his grip tightening around his weapon. "Then we leave at first light."
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VI. Fragments of the Past
As the others slept, Kael sat at the plateau's edge, watching the broken sky.
A quiet step behind him.
"You're still awake."
He turned. Veyra.
She sat beside him, gaze lingering on the distant stars. "You're thinking about her."
Kael hesitated. "I don't know what I'm thinking."
Veyra exhaled. "She got to you."
It wasn't an accusation. Just truth.
Kael ran a hand over his symbiont scars. "I've spent so long looking for Lyra. For a way to bring her back, to undo what's been done." He glanced at his palm, where Seris's touch still lingered. "And now there's someone else. Someone who…" He trailed off.
Veyra studied him. "You think she's the key."
Kael looked at the horizon. "I don't know what she is. But I know I have to find out."
A moment of silence stretched between them.
Then Veyra smirked. "Well, that's new."
Kael frowned. "What is?"
Veyra leaned back, arms behind her head. "You. Making this about something more than just surviving."
Kael didn't respond. But for the first time, he realized she was right.
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VII. Epilogue: The Stars Await
By dawn, the Legion was on the move. The Hollow Cartographer watched them leave, muttering to himself as he traced the constellations once more.
Kael led the way, his pulse steady, his mind sharp.
Somewhere ahead, Seris's path wove into his own.
And he intended to follow it.