Chapter 86: Alliance & Awakening

Alliance Forged, Treachery Looms

As the Broken Seers' emissary departed, the uneasy alliance solidified across great halls of power. The Zelith and Seers would fight together—yet each eyed the other with barely concealed calculation. Their words were a pact; their silences held sharper truths.

Awakening Selun Kharis on the Darkstar

From the God-Caste's Eyes

Selun Kharis drifted through the thick mists of stasis a realm where time itself had stalled for eons. His first breath in centuries smelled of ionized metal and ancient dust. As sensory data flooded in, he saw shadowed forms bustling through the cavernous vault. He recognized the shape of Queen Suama's insignia even before forms coalesced her eyes, stern and curious, met his.

He was reborn into an empire grown dark in his absence.

Through the Slave's Lens

An ancient Kirell, scales now dulled, followed trembling commands. His massive claws unlocked the stasis pod with mechanical precision. As the door shuttered open, the hot hiss of decompressing air sent reverent shockwaves through his exoskeleton. Selun Kharis towering, regal, eyes alight with cold fire stepped free. Stunning awe struck the slave: he had seen gods before but none stood like this.

Command Nexus Assembly

Moments later, within the vaulted chambers of Veltrax‑Nur, Selun strode alongside Suama, Malgus, Traya, and Lorgan. The air thrummed with dark energy. Massive grav‑beams hummed overhead, knitting reality to the station's engines.

Selun's voice rang out, steel and purpose:

"Darkstar Veltrax-Nur and station Aldre warp to Venter now. Link with Vaelora and Eleena. Prepare for final strike."

A silent roar rippled through the assembled commanders: wings, shadows, war engines they readied for departure.

The Broken Seers' Muster

Above the Thalor capital world Zyre'Kall, the Broken Seers amassed a silent armada. Grand Blind One watched, flanked by Faceless Kings. Billions of warriors silent, inhuman drilled in clockwork precision. Orbital docks thrummed to readiness. No hesitation. No dissent.

Meeting at Venter

At the Venter staging system, dread-assemblage and dread‑terrifying space stations filled the void. Star Lord Malgus' flagship sat at the heart of the nexus. Nearby, Veltrax‑Nur and Aldre stood sentinel. Grand star lords converged.

General Kizito stepped onto Malgus's bridge, surrounded by officers. An echo of his past crashed in academy days, brutal drills, instructors demanding he memorize Malgus's campaigns and Traya's purge of The World of Ahn'Kel. Now, before the legends themselves, he stood humbled.

He keptha breather before bowing:

"My honor, Grand Star Lord Malgus, Grand Star Lord Traya."

At once, the bridge quieted. Everyone knelt. Malgus inclinded his head; Traya simply regarded him.

Only Queen Suama's and Vaelora's eyes stood rigid calculated, unbowed yet honor thrummed through the chamber.

Final Puzzle & Warp

Admiral Kia and Vice General Tano joined General Kizito. Vaelora tapped her console. Grav‑nodes hummed, engines powered.

All factions in place, ready, aligned templars of destruction poised at the edge of war.

The command deck lights dimmed. Grav fields built. Sudden silence. Then the darkstars went to warp. Toward Zyre'Kall.

Communion in the Abyss

The void-still corridors of Veltrax‑Nur hummed with latent centuries-old power as it surged bridging realms of shadow and stone. In the heart of the station's vast library-nexus, Selun Kharis stood among walls that housed histories older than the Mahasimu Empire itself.

Within the sanctum knelt Vaelora, Whisperer Shailia, and Vaelora attendants Tamun and Je'ka their presence humble before the ancient knowledge archived around them.

Mouths sealed in silent servitude, ancient Kirell attendants flitted through glyph-lit aisles, organizing scrolls and data-crystals as if themselves part of the archive.

Selun's voice cut the stillness:

"You are born from Kirell stock. Your people built what we now stand upon. What do you say of that heritage?"

Before fear silenced them, Je'ka flinched at the memory Tamun's public flaying for a single word, visible from miles through the station's echo chambers.

Vaelora tightened her grip.

"Speak, mortal."

Yet Selun raised his hand, benign yet absolute.

"You cannot punish a child for trembling before divinity. Speak now."

Tamun's voice quavered:

"They built when empires waged wars. Without them… none of this."

Je'ka's soft echo followed:

"Silent pillars, indispensable. Their service… eternal."

Selun studied them, nodding. Then the chamber trembled a sign their weapons had reached orbit.

"We have arrived," he said softly.

"Shailia, you are dismissed." He paused, then invoked the ancient tradition:

"Whisperer Vaelora lead the envoy. You have seven cycles."

The Seven-Cycle Tradition

Vaelora rose, gaze unyielding.

"It shall be done."

Silence fell as they departed the sanctum Vaelora escorted by Nyrek and her attendants, Shailia stepping aside into the hidden archives.

From orbit the black armadas of Veltrax-Nur and Aldre shimmered into view, a trillion-strong force eclipsing the bright sphere of Zyre'Kall, capital of the Zelith-Thalor alliance.

Final Preparations

Within the station's echoing hangar, Vaelora's attendants once lowly, now ceremonially honored as Twin Heads of the Lesser Attendants stood silent as fleets assembled around them. Overseers lashed at slave gangs. Shadow Troopers commanded elite divisions.

Nearby, Eleena remained in meditative fury, her severed arm replaced by a bare harness awaiting the cybernetic graft that would complete her revenge.

In distant command pods, General Kizito, Admiral Kia, and Vice‑General Tano watched as Vaelora prepared to depart in a monolith-class vessel, escorted by Voidspires.

Above, company of aerial siege platforms whirred. Surveillance drones traced the horizon.

From orbit, Suama, Malgus, Traya and Selun watched via the command nexus, discussing the gravity of what had just begun.

Traya, seated beside Malgus, whispered:

"They will fracture then break but enough time for our show of mercy."

He withdrew, leaving only the immense darkness of space facing the threatened world.

The Seeds of Defiance

Within Zyre'Kall's planetary capital cities fortified walls, tension rippled through lines of Thalor conscripts while the faceless warriors of the Broken Seers stood gleaming ready for war. The envoy was incoming to deliver the death's price; now they waited beneath the watch of double darkstars.

The first judgments were near.