Chapter 10: Ghosts of the Veil

The Derelict's Whisper

The Precursor station was a carcass of blackened alloy, its corridors choked with the skeletons of long-dead engineers. The Elysian Dawn, now little more than a scorched hull, clung to the station's docking claw like a limpet. Inside, Cassian hunched over the comms array, his hands trembling as he replayed the transmission.

"This is Lira Veyra… anyone out there? The gods are here. They're eating the sky."

Anara paced behind him, her plasma pistol strapped to her thigh. "It's a trap. The vanished gods mimicking her voice."

"Or a time echo," Li Na said, her scars flickering. "The Nexus detonation warped reality. That could be her… from before."

Kai leaned against a shattered console, his right arm fully crystallized, amber veins spidering toward his heart. [Synchronization: 70%.] "We answer it."

The Survivor

They found her in the station's core—a woman in tattered Skybreaker robes, her face uncannily mirrored in Kai's oldest memories. "Lira" smiled, her eyes glinting with starlight. "Kairos. You've grown."

"Prove it's you," Cassian demanded, axe raised.

She recited secrets only Lira knew: Kai's childhood fear of storms, the scar on Cassian's palm from a botched hunting trip, the bluestar lullaby she'd sung as the palace burned.

"You're not her," Li Na said coldly. "Her eyes were brown. Yours are void."

Lira's smile faltered. "The gods… reshaped me. But I'm still your mother."

[The station shuddered. A vanished god's scout latched onto the hull, its tendrils seeping through the vents.]

The Hollow Truth

As the crew fought off scouts, Lira revealed the station's purpose: a Precursor "ark" designed to preserve life during galactic purges. "The Veil wasn't Isvalla's creation," she said, activating a hologram of the Precursor king. "It was theirs. A tool to control the Storm… and her."

The hologram showed Isvalla as a mortal general, the Veil fused to her spine. "She rebelled. The Precursors shattered the Veil, but its fragments carried her will. You're not her heir, Kairos. You're her prison."

Kai's mark flared. [80%.] "Why tell us this?"

Lira's void-eyes narrowed. "Because the only way to kill the vanished gods is to awaken the Veil's full power… and with it, Isvalla's vengeance."

The Fractured Crew

Anara cornered Kai in the Dawn's wrecked medbay. "She's manipulating you. We need to leave."

"And do what?" Kai snapped. "The Dawn's dead. The Concord's gone. This is our only play."

"It's suicide! The Veil's turning you to crystal—"

"Then let it!" Kai's shout cracked the walls. "I'm done running."

Anara's hand hovered over her pistol. "I won't watch you die."

[Li Na's voice cut through the tension: "Scouts inside! They're heading for the ark's core!"]

The Ark's Price

The core was a pulsating orb of Precursor code, its surface etched with warnings. Lira interfaced with it, her body dissolving into light. "The ark needs a living key. Someone… anchored to the Veil."

Kai stepped forward. Li Na blocked him. "No. It wants her."

Lira lunged at Li Na, void-energy crackling. "You stole Isvalla's power. Now return it!"

The clash tore the core open. Precursor code flooded the station, resurrecting dormant defenses—sentinel drones, gravity traps, and the ark's final protocol: Purge All Life.

The Choice of Kings

Kai seized the core, his crystallization spreading to his chest. [Synchronization: 95%.] "Get to the Dawn!"

"We're not leaving you!" Anara yelled.

"You have to." He unleashed the Veil's full power, freezing time. One second.

He shoved them into the ship.

Time snapped back. The station imploded.

The Hollow Victory

The Dawn limped into the void, its hull patched with Precursor alloy. Anara gripped the helm, her knuckles white. Li Na stared at the debris, Isvalla's voice whispering: "He's not gone. The Veil preserves."

Cassian played the last transmission from the station—a loop of Lira's voice. "She wasn't real. Just another ghost."

[The comms crackled. A new voice, young and frantic: "This is Fleet Command. The vanished gods are at the Skybreaker Kingdom. They're… they're digesting the throneworld!"]