Thalyn woke with a start, the throne's cold grip releasing her. Her breaths shallow, eyes searching the dim-lit chamber, still lingering between two worlds.
She blinked hard, shook her head, forcing away the dregs of that foreign past. The place held its silence, consoles flickering in erratic patterns like dying stars.
Across the chamber, the others gathered around a table, locked in low, heated conversation, their faces cut by the half-light.
She pushed herself up, servos in her legs whined softly. Pain flared, sharp like glass, then faded to its familiar throb. Gingerly she walked toward them.
Jaxon noticed first. “How was it this time?” he asked. “You look less… shaken.”
“Getting used to it,” she muttered, throat felt raw. “It’s like waking from a dream that won’t let you go.”
Elara leaned in, eyes keen. “Tell us what you saw this time.”
“They dragged me from the cell,” she began as she joined them, “through some old corridors, deep in the city’s guts. Place was coming apart, guards in scavenged armor, talking of gang wars. They took me to a platform, set to sell me off. Some slaver, a twisted collector of sorts, and the big man they called Jax, haggling like I was an artifact.”
Korr leaned in, something behind his eyes igniting. “Names?”
“Red Talons, Black Veil. Gangs. The slaver liked that I could breathe the miasma, called me a rare asset. They put me in a medical pod. I blacked out there.”
Elara’s fingers drummed on the table. “This isn’t random,” she said, half to herself. “There’s a pattern. Something deliberate.”
Jaxon crossed his arms. “Whatever, that doesn’t help us here. We need these minerals purified.”
Thalyn’s eyes dropped to the raw chunks on the table, dull, dense, heavy with promise.
“The droids in the next chamber,” she said. “They might know something.”
Jaxon grunted. “Worth a try, but stay sharp. Who knows what else is lurking around?”
She nodded and slipped through the chamber’s exit. The passage whispered around her. Light pulsed dimly in the walls. She found the droids where they stood, eyes glowing. “Mistress,” one said. “How may we serve?”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCKDdKBoE7
She hesitated, weighing her words. “We need a way to purify minerals we found outside. Can you assist?”
“Mistress, no need to come here. Return to the throne, focus your thoughts, wish for it. The throne will provide.”
“You mean I can just think it, and it happens?”
The droid’s head inclined in a slow, deliberate nod. “Your will is the key.”
She stared at the droid, then down at her legs, feeling the ache behind the metal. “My legs,” she whispered. “Could they be replaced with something… organic? Augmented?”
The droid’s eyes dimmed briefly. “Possible. Complete the sequence, and the facility is yours.”
Her pulse quickened, the droid's words hanging heavy in her thoughts. She turned back, moving quick, finding her way back to the others. The throne loomed ahead, ancient, symbols carved deep into its arms like old scars.
She stopped at the table, met their eyes. “I must use the throne,” she said. “It can do it, if I will it.”
Jaxon raised one brow. “Then do it.”
Elara nodded. “Yes, do it now.”
Thalyn took a breath, settled herself in the throne’s cold embrace. She closed her eyes, focused on the minerals, rough, impure, felt their weight in her mind. “A way to purify them,” she whispered.
A hiss broke the silence. She opened her eyes to see a panel slide back in the wall, revealing a dark compartment.
“Pour them in, mistress,” Arvie’s voice chimed in her mind. “Let the machine feast.”
She turned to the others. “It’ll purify them,” she said. “Just need to put the minerals in.”
Korr frowned. “How do you know?”
She shrugged. “Call it a hunch.”
Elara didn’t hesitate. “We didn’t come this far to second-guess,” she snapped. “Let’s get it done.”
They hauled the boxes. Stone scraped metal. The compartment sealed again with a soft click and the place filled with a low hum. Lights flickered, symbols came alive, dancing across the walls.
“Is it working?” a voice whispered in the dim.
The hum stopped. Silence. Then the compartment hissed open, revealing a cluster of turquoise crystals, glowing like fire trapped in ice.
For a moment, no one breathed. “Remarkable,” Korr murmured.
Elara scooped up a handful, staring in wonder. “Perfect,” she breathed. “These are worth a fortune.”
Thalyn nodded. “The droids said the throne can do more. If I finish the sequence.”
Korr’s gaze flickered to the throne. “Then finish it,” he said. “Let’s see where this takes us.”
Thalyn took a deep breath, set the crown back on her head. Let the pull take her.
Arvie’s voice teased her from the void. “Ah, mistress, the road ahead… ever so twisted.”
Then all went black.
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