Thalyn stirred as the throne eased her upright, the cold metal pressing against her palms, now familiar. The chamber sharpened slowly around her, the blinding light of the dream leaving an aftershock behind her eyes, her limbs still tingling with the phantom pain of Echo's last moments. She blinked, clearing her vision, and took in the place.
Korr Draven hunched over the scanner, muttering like a man caught in prayer. His fingers danced over the screen in jittery patterns, tapping, swiping, never resting. The device hummed with an erratic beat, like it had a pulse of its own, syncing with the energy flickering in his eyes.
Commander Hurst slouched against the stone wall, pallid and drenched in sweat.
Dr. Voss stood nearby, arms folded, but her fingers drummed against her sleeve with suppressed urgency. “Enough, commander,” she said, her voice taut. “You’re not well.”
“I’m fine,” he rasped, brushing her off with a dismissive wave. “Don’t start.”
Thalyn pushed herself upright, her legs uncertain beneath her, a familiar tremor running through her calves. “What happened?”
Elara didn’t look away from Hurst. “He won’t say. But something hit him hard.”
“It's nothing,” Hurst grunted. “I don’t need a nursemaid.”
Thalyn moved in closer, searching his face. " How are you feeling?"
“Dizzy,” he admitted, a muscle jumping in his jaw. "Weak… but nothing I can't handle."
She nodded, almost smiling. “Just like me when I wake in the throne.”
Hurst huffed a dry laugh. “Maybe I’m dreaming too.”
“Stuck between here and Solastis,” she replied, matching his tone.
He snorted, but his face twisted with pain. Elara’s gaze sharpened, snapping to Korr. “Korr, did you notice anything happen?” she asked, voice tight as a wire. “When I was watching over Thalyn?”
Korr’s hands stilled over the device, eyes flicking up then back. “I… might have scanned him,” he mumbled. “While he was out cold. Just trying to make sense of it.”
Elara’s voice chilled. “You what?”
“I needed data…”
“You didn’t think at all,” Elara snapped. “We don’t know how this tech works. If it’s more than a scanner. No more scans. Not until we know what we’re dealing with. We wait for a proper sanctum.”
Korr nodded, but his gaze stayed fixed on the screen.
Hurst pushed off the wall, steadier now. “I feel better,” he muttered. “It passed.”
Then he turned to Thalyn, a slow grin carving through the tension. “Your turn. What did you see?”
Thalyn closed her eyes, letting the images float up from the dark, “Droids… fighting off Nether beasts,” she murmured.
With a final glare at Korr, Elara leaned in, eyes intent. “Then?”
“I was taken,” Thalyn said. “Neurolink was glitched. They brought me in, straight to officer Larek, head of the regulatory directorate. Treated me like I was a bug. ID mesh was busted and he didn’t like that. They didn’t know what I was, and that scared them… and then the beasts came, everything went berserk.”
Korr’s frown deepened. “Did you learn anything useful?”
Thalyn rubbed her temple. “Only fragments. Someone betrayed me and they abducted me. That’s all.”
Elara’s gaze flicked to Hurst. “We should eat.”
They opened ration packs, the stale taste clinging to their tongues, chewing in silence. The throne’s presence loomed behind Thalyn like a quiet storm as the consoles hummed and flickered in the background.
Hurst rose first, gathering his gear. “Back to the minerals,” he grunted. “Keep an eye out.”
Elara’s hand half-lifted, a protest caught in her throat, but she let it go. He wasn’t asking for help, and she knew better than to push.
Thalyn gave her a slight nod as an unspoken solidarity, but the pull of the throne was already coiling in her chest. With a deep breath, she turned and settled into its cold embrace, the weight of the crown heavy on her brow.
The world around her dissolved at the edges, reality slipping away. Shadows deepened, senses dulled, and a mocking whisper slipped in like oil through cracks.
"Children shouldn’t play with the tools of their elders…."Thalyn tensed, recognizing Arvie’s sly tone. But the world was already gone, fading into a place where time held no meaning.
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