Aryaan did not tell them about the voice.
Not immediately.
The decision was not made because he distrusted the others.
If anything, the opposite was true.
He trusted them enough to understand that once those words left his mouth, none of them would ever again look at Devdutt in quite the same way.
Don’t trust Devdutt.
His father’s voice.
Then his mother’s.
Especially if he tells you he is protecting you.
The memory remained lodged behind Aryaan’s eyes even after the vision had vanished.
It had lasted perhaps two seconds.
Three at most.
Yet it had left behind the peculiar aftertaste of a memory that had not entirely belonged to him.
The ship continued its silent journey through the dark.
Vanta-3 was still several hours away.
The eight had settled into an uneasy rhythm, although nobody had actually relaxed.
They had left Mokshabhumi under circumstances that should have triggered an emergency recall, travelled along a route none of them had authorised and discovered that their destination was a dead orbital body transmitting a message apparently connected to Aryaan’s missing parents.
Under ordinary circumstances, that would have been enough to ruin a person’s evening.
For the eight, it was beginning to qualify as a normal Tuesday.
Ron sat in the copilot’s chair.
He had no business being there.
Aryaan had told him so.
Ron had responded by asking whether being unqualified had ever stopped anyone in their generation from doing anything.
Aryaan had been unable to produce a convincing counterargument.
Now Ron stared at the navigation display.
“Are we lost?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Because this doesn’t look like the route to Gaia.”
“It isn’t.”
Ron looked at Aryaan.
“Then we’re lost.”
Aryaan continued studying the instruments.
“We’re going to Vanta-3.”
“Which isn’t Gaia.”
“I know.”
“So we’re lost.”
“Ron.”
“Just establishing facts.”
Aryaan closed his eyes.
Across the bridge, Potter was sitting beside Bonita and pretending not to listen.
He was failing.
Potter had an almost supernatural ability to hear conversations that weren’t intended for him.
It was one of the reasons he was such an effective investigator.
It was also one of the reasons his friends occasionally considered murder.
Bonita looked up from the sensor array.
“Vanta-3 isn’t on any current navigational chart.”
Ron pointed at her.
“See?”
Aryaan turned.
“See what?”
“We’re lost.”
Bonita sighed.
“We are not lost.”
Ron looked pleased.
“Thank you.”
“We have a destination.”
Ron frowned.
“Then how are we not lost?”
“Because we know where we’re going.”
“But we don’t know why.”
Bonita paused.
Ron smiled.
“Ha.”
Bonita stared at him.
“Do you have a point?”
“No.”
“Then stop talking.”
Ron turned towards Aryaan.
“She gets mean when she’s worried.”
Bonita’s head snapped around.
“Ron.”
He immediately faced forward.
“I am the ship.”
Potter snorted.
Bonita looked at him.
“You find this funny?”
“No.”
“You’re smiling.”
“I smile when I’m afraid.”
“You’ve been smiling for twenty minutes.”
“Very afraid.”
Bonita shook her head.
Aryaan would have laughed if his head had not been hurting.
The pain had subsided from the sharp neural pressure of the previous night, but a dull ache remained behind his eyes.
Every few minutes, his vision seemed to acquire a faint shimmer.
Nothing dramatic.
Just enough to make him wonder whether he was seeing the present or a possibility adjacent to it.
He had not attempted to use his temporal perception again.
He had no intention of making the same mistake twice.
The instructor had warned him.
Lane had warned him.
More importantly, his own body had warned him.
That was enough.
He looked towards the rear of the bridge.
Lane sat alone.
His eyes were closed.
Aryaan knew he wasn’t sleeping.
Lane rarely slept when he was thinking.
The two had been like that since childhood.
They were cousins, but their relationship had never been confined by the word.
Lane and Ron were twins, born to Aryaan’s uncle and aunt.
Aryaan was their father’s brother’s only child.
Their parents had raised them separately, but the three boys had spent so much of their childhood together that the distinction between cousin and brother had long ago become irrelevant.
Then their parents disappeared.
Two families were broken.
One child lost his parents.
Two brothers lost theirs.
The grief had never been identical.
Neither had the way they carried it.
Aryaan carried his like a problem to be solved.
Lane carried his like a stone he refused to show anyone.
Ron carried his by pretending it wasn’t heavy.
Aryaan looked at Lane again.
Their argument in the training chamber returned to him.
You don’t get to decide that your life is expendable just because you’re curious.
Aryaan had wanted to dismiss the words.
He couldn’t.
Lane opened his eyes.
Their gazes met.
Aryaan looked away first.
A few seconds later, Lane stood.
He walked towards the navigation station.
“Your headache?”
Aryaan didn’t look at him.
“Fine.”
Lane waited.
Aryaan sighed.
“Better.”
Lane nodded.
He didn’t leave.
Aryaan glanced at him.
“What?”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re still having the flashes.”
Aryaan’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know?”
Lane pointed towards the navigation screen.
Aryaan followed his gaze.
The display was stable.
Then he realised what Lane meant.
The reflection in the glass.
For the briefest instant, the numbers had doubled.
Two possible readings.
Two possible trajectories.
Aryaan’s temporal sensitivity had triggered involuntarily.
He looked back at Lane.
“Don’t tell the others.”
Lane’s expression tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Potter will start asking questions.”
“Potter already asks questions.”
“He’ll ask more.”
Lane considered that.
“Fair.”
Aryaan leaned back.
“It’s manageable.”
Lane didn’t answer.
Aryaan looked at him.
“Say it.”
“What?”
“Whatever you’re thinking.”
Lane’s mouth twitched.
“You really want me to?”
“No.”
“Then don’t ask.”
Aryaan smiled.
Lane almost did.
Then the ship shuddered.
Every person on the bridge grabbed something.
Ron grabbed the steering console.
Potter grabbed Ron.
Bonita grabbed Potter.
Riyansh caught himself against the wall.
Saiyuki was already standing.
Mitchell’s eyes flashed.
Sia’s wings opened.
Aryaan felt the vibration travel through the ship.
It wasn’t turbulence.
There was no atmosphere.
The ship was in deep space.
“Report,” Aryaan said.
The navigation system answered.
UNIDENTIFIED FIELD INTERACTION.
Ron looked at him.
“Is that bad?”
“Probably.”
“Cool.”
“Why do you say ‘cool’ like that?”
“I don’t know.”
Another vibration passed through the hull.
This one was stronger.
The lights flickered.
The ship’s artificial gravity failed.
For three seconds, everyone became weightless.
Ron floated towards the ceiling.
“OH, COME ON!”
Potter spun sideways.
“Don’t panic!”
“I’M NOT PANICKING!”
“You’re screaming!”
“THAT’S HOW I EXPRESS CALM!”
The gravity returned.
Ron fell directly onto the copilot’s chair.
Potter collided with Riyansh.
Riyansh didn’t move.
Potter looked at him.
“You know, one day I’d like to land on something soft.”
“You could land somewhere else.”
“Like where?”
Riyansh looked at him.
“Not on me.”
Potter nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Aryaan ignored them.
He was staring through the forward viewport.
Nothing.
There was nothing there.
No asteroid.
No ship.
No debris.
No visible energy disturbance.
Yet Lane had moved to the glass.
“It’s not in front of us.”
Aryaan turned.
“What?”
Lane raised his hand.
The air beside him distorted.
Barely.
A ripple.
Like heat above stone.
But there was no heat.
Lane’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s around us.”
Mitchell stood.
Her body changed.
It was subtle at first.
A faint shimmer appeared along her skin, then disappeared.
Her pupils narrowed.
“Something’s interacting with the ship.”
Sia’s head tilted.
Her expression changed.
Aryaan noticed.
“What?”
She didn’t answer.
“Sia.”
“I hear something.”
The bridge went silent.
Ron looked around.
“Hear what?”
Sia closed her eyes.
Her Dracodian senses were unlike human senses.
Her people had evolved—or perhaps been altered—under entirely different environmental pressures, and the abilities passed through her bloodline were difficult for modern humans to classify.
Her hearing was one of them.
It wasn’t simply greater sensitivity.
She could perceive frequencies outside the normal human range and detect vibrations that travelled through structures, air and, under certain circumstances, energy fields.
Sia lifted her head.
“It’s singing.”
Potter stared.
“Space is singing?”
Sia opened her eyes.
“Not space.”
“What, then?”
Sia looked towards Aryaan.
“The field.”
Aryaan felt the ache behind his eyes intensify.
“What kind of song?”
Sia frowned.
“It’s not a song.”
“Then why did you call it that?”
“Because I don’t know what else to call it.”
Ron raised a finger.
“I vote we call it a creepy space noise.”
Sia looked at him.
Ron lowered the finger.
“Democracy has spoken.”
Sia ignored him.
“It’s repeating.”
“How often?”
“Every eleven seconds.”
Aryaan looked at the navigation system.
“Record it.”
Mitchell was already doing so.
The sound was almost impossible to hear through the ship’s ordinary systems.
Mitchell isolated the frequency.
Then Sia heard it again.
Her eyes widened.
“It’s closer.”
The ship shook.
The sound stopped.
A moment later, something appeared on the external sensors.
Not in front.
Not behind.
Directly beneath them.
The sensor image rendered.
A mass of distorted space.
No visible body.
No identifiable vessel.
Just a region where the background stars seemed to bend.
Lane stared.
“That’s not natural.”
Aryaan looked at him.
“Can you tell what it is?”
Lane stepped closer.
His expression became increasingly strained.
“It’s not one thing.”
“What does that mean?”
“There are layers.”
He closed his eyes.
The distortion expanded.
Lane’s breathing became slower.
Aryaan knew the signs.
“Lane.”
No response.
“Lane.”
Nothing.
Aryaan moved towards him.
Sia reached him first.
She grabbed his arm.
Lane opened his eyes.
The distortion vanished.
He staggered.
Sia caught him.
For a fraction of a second, they were too close.
Lane looked at her.
Sia looked at him.
Neither moved.
Then Sia realised everyone was watching.
She released him.
Lane straightened.
“I was fine.”
Sia folded her arms.
“Clearly.”
Lane looked away.
Ron slowly leaned towards Aryaan.
Aryaan whispered:
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to,”
Ron whispered even more quietly.
“They’re weird.”
Aryaan gave him a warning look.
Ron smiled.
“I’m just observing.”
Aryaan returned his attention to Lane.
“What did you see?”
Lane rubbed his temple.
“Not see.”
“Then?”
“Space isn’t empty.”
Aryaan waited.
Lane struggled for words.
“There are structures inside it.”
Potter frowned.
“Structures?”
“Not physical.”
“That isn’t helpful.”
Lane looked irritated.
“I’m aware.”
Potter raised both hands.
“Okay.”
Lane continued.
“They’re like… paths.”
“Paths to where?”
“I don’t know.”
Aryaan’s temporal perception pulsed.
For an instant, the bridge changed.
He saw a corridor.
Black stone.
A red glow.
A door.
Something behind it.
He blinked.
Gone.
His breathing became shallow.
Lane saw it.
“Again?”
Aryaan nodded.
“What did you see?”
“A corridor.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Anything else?”
“A door.”
“What was behind it?”
Aryaan stared at Lane.
“I didn’t see.”
That was a lie.
He had seen something.
A hand.
Human.
Or almost human.
Its fingers had been too long.
The nails black.
The skin covered in fine cracks that emitted faint red light.
And on the wrist—
The symbol.
Three lines inside a circle.
Aryaan hadn’t told them.
Not yet.
He wasn’t sure why.
Perhaps because saying it aloud would make it real.
Perhaps because he still heard his mother’s warning.
Especially if he tells you he is protecting you.
The ship’s systems suddenly came alive.
FIELD INTERACTION COMPLETE.
The distortion disappeared.
The stars returned to normal.
Everyone remained still.
Then Ron said:
“So.”
Potter looked at him.
Ron raised his hands.
“I have a question.”
“That’s never good.”
“Why did the creepy space thing know we were here?”
Nobody answered.
Ron looked around.
“Just saying.”
They reached Vanta-3 forty minutes later.
The dead orbital body appeared on the main display.
It was smaller than Earth.
Larger than a conventional station.
Its surface was dark.
No cities.
No atmosphere.
No visible artificial lighting.
No obvious life.
It looked like a giant piece of stone floating through space.
The Academy’s database identified it as an abandoned industrial platform built almost six hundred years earlier.
The original designation had been Vanta-3.
The facility had been constructed to process rare minerals extracted from a nearby asteroid field.
It had been shut down after a series of unexplained accidents.
Then the records became vague.
Officially, the facility had been evacuated.
Unofficially, forty-seven people had disappeared.
No bodies were found.
No evacuation records were complete.
The station was simply abandoned.
And now it was transmitting.
Aryaan looked at the information.
“Why was this never investigated?”
Potter leaned over the console.
“It was.”
“By whom?”
“Several groups.”
“And?”
Potter scrolled.
“Three independent investigations.”
“Results?”
“Nothing.”
Aryaan frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Potter smiled faintly.
“Welcome to our lives.”
The ship approached.
Vanta-3 grew larger.
Its surface showed scars.
Long trenches.
Collapsed structures.
Ancient docking rings.
Several sections had been torn open.
The facility had suffered damage.
Not from one event.
From many.
Aryaan looked closer.
Some of the damage appeared recent.
“Stop.”
The ship slowed.
“What?”
Aryaan pointed.
“Zoom.”
Mitchell enlarged the image.
A section of the station came into view.
There were marks across the surface.
Long, curved grooves.
Riyansh frowned.
“Those aren’t from weapons.”
“No,” Aryaan said.
Potter looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Aryaan studied them.
He didn’t.
Not consciously.
Something about the marks felt familiar.
Then Sia stepped forward.
“Those are claw marks.”
Everyone turned.
Riyansh frowned.
“Claws?”
Sia nodded.
“Large ones.”
“How large?”
Sia studied the image.
“Bigger than me.”
Ron stared.
“That’s not reassuring.”
Sia looked at him.
“I wasn’t trying to reassure you.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
Aryaan looked towards the station.
“Any life signs?”
Mitchell shook her head.
“None.”
“Energy?”
“Low.”
“Transmission?”
“Still active.”
Aryaan frowned.
“From where?”
Mitchell traced the signal.
Then stopped.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She turned.
“The transmission isn’t coming from inside.”
Aryaan’s stomach tightened.
“Where?”
Mitchell pointed towards the station.
“It’s coming from behind it.”
“Behind it?”
“In orbit.”
The ship’s sensors shifted.
A tiny object appeared.
Almost invisible.
A small structure.
Aryaan stared.
It wasn’t part of Vanta-3.
It was a separate vessel.
Old.
Very old.
Potter zoomed in.
The structure became clearer.
A compact shuttle.
Its outer shell was badly damaged.
One side had been torn away.
But something was visible along its hull.
A symbol.
Aryaan stopped breathing.
Lane saw it.
“That’s the same one.”
Aryaan nodded.
Ron looked between them.
“What does it mean?”
Nobody answered.
Sia stepped closer.
Her eyes narrowed.
“It’s Dracodian.”
The bridge went silent.
Aryaan turned.
“What?”
Sia looked at the symbol.
“Not modern Dracodian.”
“How old?”
“I don’t know.”
“You recognise it.”
“I recognise the form.”
She stepped closer to the display.
“My family has old records.”
Aryaan stared.
“You never mentioned that.”
Sia’s expression hardened.
“You never asked.”
Aryaan almost responded.
Then stopped.
She was right.
They had spent years together.
They knew each other’s habits, strengths, and weaknesses.
But there were things even close friends did not discuss.
Family history was one of them.
Sia’s family had preserved traditions from a Dracodian lineage that predated several modern interstellar alliances.
Their people were scattered across systems now.
Some had integrated with humans.
Some had maintained isolated communities.
Others had become mercenaries, traders, or explorers.
Sia’s family had kept old records.
Apparently, one of those records contained the symbol.
“Can you translate it?” Aryaan asked.
Sia hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Not exactly.”
“What does it mean?”
Sia stared at the symbol.
Her face changed.
“It means…”
She swallowed.
“Fate.”
Potter’s expression became serious.
“That’s not ominous at all.”
Sia ignored him.
Aryaan looked at the shuttle.
“Can we board?”
The answer came from the ship’s computer.
DOCKING POSSIBLE.
Aryaan looked at the others.
“We go in pairs.”
Riyansh smiled.
“Finally.”
Aryaan pointed.
“You stay with Bonita.”
Riyansh’s smile disappeared.
“Why?”
“Because if something attacks us, you can protect her.”
Bonita looked at Aryaan.
“I can protect myself.”
“I know.”
She stared.
Aryaan smiled.
“That’s why I trust you with him.”
Bonita looked at Riyansh.
Riyansh looked offended.
“I don’t need protection.”
Bonita sighed.
“This is going to be a long mission.”
Aryaan continued.
“Potter and Mitchell.”
Potter nodded.
“Good.”
“Lane and Sia.”
Silence.
Ron looked at Aryaan.
Aryaan looked at Ron.
Ron looked at Lane.
Sia looked at Lane.
Potter’s mouth opened.
Aryaan pointed at him.
“No.”
Potter closed it.
Aryaan turned.
“Ron and me.”
Ron stared.
“Why do I get you?”
“Because I don’t trust you alone.”
Ron looked deeply offended.
“You wound me.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Probably.”
Sia moved towards the docking chamber.
Lane followed.
Ron leaned towards Aryaan.
“Was that intentional?”
Aryaan stared at him.
“What?”
“Putting Lane with Sia.”
“No.”
“Interesting.”
“Ron.”
“I’m just observing.”
“Observe silently.”
Ron mimed zipping his mouth.
He lasted approximately four seconds.
“Do you think they like each other?”
Aryaan grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Move.”
The abandoned shuttle smelled of metal, dust, and something faintly organic.
Aryaan hated the last part.
He and Ron entered first.
Their suit lights illuminated the narrow corridor.
The vessel was much smaller than their surveycraft.
It was built for short-range travel, not extended missions.
Its structure was compact.
The cockpit occupied the forward section.
Behind it were two small storage compartments, a maintenance chamber, and a narrow habitation module.
There was no artificial gravity.
Their magnetic boots activated automatically.
Ron looked around.
“Feels welcoming.”
Aryaan scanned the corridor.
“Stop talking.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like the sound.”
Ron stared at him.
“The sound of my voice?”
“The ship.”
Ron became quiet.
That was enough to make Aryaan nervous.
They reached the cockpit.
The door was open.
Inside, two seats remained.
One had been ripped apart.
The other was stained dark.
Aryaan scanned it.
“Blood.”
Ron stopped joking.
“Human?”
“Not sure.”
Aryaan looked at the instrument panel.
Most systems were dead.
One remained active.
A small recording device.
Aryaan approached it.
The screen activated.
A figure appeared.
The image was distorted.
The person wore a dark protective suit.
Their face was obscured.
Aryaan’s pulse increased.
The figure spoke.
“Anyone receiving this message should leave Vanta-3 immediately.”
Ron looked at Aryaan.
“That’s reassuring.”
The recording continued.
“We made contact with something beneath the facility.”
Aryaan frowned.
“Beneath?”
“The original structure is not industrial.”
Ron whispered:
“What does that mean?”
The recording continued.
“It was built over something else.”
Aryaan’s skin prickled.
“We opened a sealed chamber.”
The figure’s voice became strained.
“We thought it was an archive.”
A pause.
“It wasn’t.”
The recording distorted.
A sound came through.
A scream.
Ron stopped breathing.
The figure continued.
“It was a prison.”
The recording ended.
Ron looked at Aryaan.
Aryaan looked back.
“Okay.”
Ron swallowed.
“That’s worse.”
Aryaan nodded.
“Yes.”
Then something moved behind them.
They spun.
Nothing.
Aryaan’s temporal perception flickered.
He saw Ron standing in the corridor.
Then not standing.
Then falling.
Then—
Aryaan grabbed Ron and pulled him sideways.
A metal object shot through the space where Ron’s head had been.
Ron stared.
“What the hell?”
Aryaan moved.
A second projectile struck the wall.
Ron ducked.
The corridor lights came alive.
Something crawled along the ceiling.
It was approximately the size of a human.
But it was not human.
Its body was covered in dark plates.
Four limbs.
A narrow head.
Two bright eyes.
Ron stared.
Aryaan’s hand moved instinctively towards his weapon.
The creature dropped.
Aryaan fired.
The shot struck its shoulder.
It staggered.
Then moved.
Fast.
Ron punched it.
The creature flew sideways.
Aryaan stared.
Ron stared.
Ron looked at his fist.
“Did I just—”
The creature attacked again.
Aryaan pulled Ron aside.
“Later!”
The creature’s claws struck the wall.
Sparks erupted.
Aryaan fired again.
The shot hit its chest.
This time the creature fell.
Ron stared at it.
“Okay.”
Aryaan approached cautiously.
The creature twitched.
“Don’t.”
Ron raised his hands.
“I wasn’t going to touch it.”
“You were.”
“I was considering it.”
“That’s the problem.”
The creature’s eyes opened.
Ron stepped back.
Aryaan raised his weapon.
The creature made a sound.
Not a growl.
A word.
Aryaan froze.
It spoke.
Not in human language.
But the sound triggered something inside his mind.
A translation formed.
One word.
Awakened.
The creature died.
Aryaan stared.
Ron looked at him.
“What?”
Aryaan lowered his weapon.
“It called us Awakened.”
Ron frowned.
“Why?”
Aryaan had no answer.
On the other side of the station, Lane and Sia moved through an abandoned maintenance corridor.
Neither had spoken for several minutes.
It wasn’t uncomfortable.
At least, that was what Lane told himself.
Sia seemed less convinced.
She walked ahead.
Lane followed.
The corridor narrowed.
Sia stopped.
Lane nearly walked into her.
He stepped back.
“What?”
She pointed.
A faint marking had been carved into the wall.
Lane approached.
The same symbol.
Three lines.
Circle.
Sia stared.
“It is older than the Dracodian expansion era.”
“How old?”
“Very.”
“That’s not a number.”
“I know.”
Lane looked at her.
She was still staring at the symbol.
“What does your family know?”
Sia turned.
“About what?”
“The symbol.”
She looked away.
Lane waited.
Sia sighed.
“My grandmother used to talk about it.”
Lane said nothing.
“She called it the Dragon’s Eye.”
Lane looked at the symbol.
“Why?”
“Because she believed it was connected to the oldest Dracodian legends.”
“Legends about?”
Sia hesitated.
“Worlds that died.”
Lane frowned.
“That’s vague.”
“So were the stories.”
“What happened to the worlds?”
Sia’s expression became serious.
“They were eaten.”
Lane stared.
“Eaten?”
“Yes.”
“By what?”
Sia shook her head.
“She never knew.”
Lane looked at the wall again.
“Orions.”
Sia’s eyes snapped towards him.
Lane noticed.
“You know that name.”
Sia didn’t answer.
“Sia.”
Her expression hardened.
“My family knows stories about them.”
“What stories?”
“That they consume worlds.”
Lane felt cold.
“They consume planets?”
“Not planets.”
She touched the wall.
“Something deeper.”
Lane’s spatial perception activated.
The corridor suddenly seemed enormous.
He could feel structures beneath them.
Layers.
Distance.
Something buried.
His breath caught.
Sia grabbed his arm.
“Lane.”
He looked at her.
“There’s something beneath us.”
“How deep?”
“Very.”
“Can you sense it?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Lane closed his eyes.
The space beneath them unfolded.
He sensed a chamber.
Then another.
Then another.
A structure far beneath the station.
And inside it— something moving.
Lane opened his eyes.
“Alive.”
Sia’s wings opened.
“Let’s go.”
Lane stared.
“Where?”
“Down.”
He almost laughed.
“You just said something alive is beneath us.”
“Yes.”
“And you want to go towards it?”
Sia looked at him.
“You’re coming.”
Lane stared.
“Why?”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“Because I don’t want to go alone.”
Lane’s expression changed.
Sia realised what she had said.
“I mean because you can sense the structure.”
“Of course.”
“Yes.”
“Obviously.”
“Don’t make it weird.”
“I didn’t.”
“You were going to.”
Lane looked away.
Sia smiled.
Just slightly.
Then something moved in the darkness.
Both turned.
Sia’s smile disappeared.
Lane stepped forward.
“Stay behind me.”
Sia stared.
“Excuse me?”
Lane realised what he had said.
“Your wings are larger.”
“What?”
“Better target.”
Sia’s eyes narrowed.
“Did you just call me a larger target?”
“No.”
“You absolutely did.”
“I said—”
Something screamed in the corridor.
Both drew their weapons.
Sia whispered:
“Later.”
Lane nodded.
They moved.
Together.
Potter and Mitchell found the laboratory.
The room was almost completely intact.
That was suspicious.
Potter immediately hated it.
“Nothing this clean survives six hundred years.”
Mitchell examined the equipment.
“It’s not six hundred years old.”
Potter looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed.
The equipment had been replaced recently.
“Some of this technology is less than twenty years old.”
Potter’s expression changed.
“Someone has been here.”
Mitchell nodded.
“Recently.”
Potter moved to the nearest terminal.
It activated.
No password.
That was even more suspicious.
He stared at it.
Mitchell looked at him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone wants us to read this.”
“Then don’t.”
Potter smiled.
“Now you’re speaking my language.”
He opened the archive.
Files appeared.
Most were corrupted.
One wasn’t.
PROJECT SVARGA.
Potter’s smile vanished.
“Mitchell.”
She came closer.
“What?”
He opened the file.
A biological image appeared.
Earth.
Then a second.
Gaia.
Then a third.
An unfamiliar planet.
Each showed the same pattern.
Biological mutations.
Energy disturbances.
Planetary instability.
Mitchell frowned.
“These aren’t natural.”
“No.”
She scrolled.
A phrase appeared.
CORE RESONANCE FAILURE.
Mitchell stared.
Potter looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
She continued.
Another phrase.
PLANETARY CODE DEVIATION.
Potter’s eyes narrowed.
“Code.”
Mitchell nodded.
A final line appeared.
ORION EXTRACTION METHOD CONFIRMED.
Potter stopped.
His humour disappeared completely.
He copied the file.
Then the terminal went black.
Mitchell looked at him.
“Did you get it?”
“Yes.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Potter froze.
Mitchell turned.
Something scratched against the wall.
Potter whispered:
“Please be the others.”
The scratching stopped.
Then came a voice.
Not human.
Awakened.
Potter stared.
Mitchell’s body shifted.
“What did it say?”
Potter swallowed.
“I think it called us something.”
The laboratory door opened.
Nothing stood outside.
Potter looked at Mitchell.
“Run?”
Mitchell nodded.
They ran.
Riyansh and Bonita had the least dramatic part of the mission.
Which meant, naturally, that they were the first to find the bodies.
The corridor ended in a large chamber.
Six skeletons lay against the far wall.
Riyansh stopped.
Bonita didn’t.
She walked closer.
“Don’t touch anything.”
Riyansh frowned.
“I wasn’t.”
“You were thinking about it.”
“How do you know?”
Bonita looked at him.
“Because I’ve known you for years.”
Riyansh considered that.
“Fair.”
Bonita crouched beside the nearest body.
She studied the ground.
“Not killed here.”
“How do you know?”
“No blood.”
Riyansh looked around.
“Then where?”
Bonita pointed.
A trail.
Barely visible.
Something had dragged the bodies.
Bonita followed it.
Riyansh stayed beside her.
The trail disappeared beneath a metal door.
Bonita scanned it.
“Recently opened.”
Riyansh frowned.
“How recently?”
Bonita touched the dust.
“Hours.”
They looked at each other.
Then the door moved.
Riyansh reached for his weapon.
Bonita raised a hand.
“Wait.”
The door opened.
Nobody stood behind it.
Instead, the room beyond contained dozens of old containment pods.
Most were empty.
One wasn’t.
Riyansh stared.
Inside the pod was a human figure.
Or something close to human.
Its body was thin.
Its skin was pale.
A network of dark lines covered its chest.
Bonita stepped closer.
The figure opened its eyes.
Riyansh raised his weapon.
The figure spoke.
“Too late.”
Bonita froze.
“For what?”
The figure smiled.
“The core has heard them.”
Riyansh’s expression hardened.
“Who?”
The figure looked towards the ceiling.
“The eight.”
Then the pod exploded.
Riyansh grabbed Bonita and threw himself sideways.
Glass and fluid filled the room.
The figure disappeared.
Bonita coughed.
Riyansh lifted his head.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He checked her anyway.
Bonita slapped his hand away.
“I said I’m fine.”
Riyansh looked embarrassed.
“Right.”
Bonita stared at him.
Then, despite herself, smiled.
“Thanks.”
Riyansh nodded.
“Anytime.”
A low vibration passed through the station.
Both stopped.
Bonita’s smile disappeared.
“What was that?”
Riyansh looked down.
The floor moved.
Not shook.
Moved.
Something enormous had shifted beneath them.
Sia and Lane found the source.
The corridor opened into a massive chamber.
It was not part of Vanta-3.
Lane knew immediately.
The geometry was wrong.
The station had been constructed around it.
Not the other way around.
An enormous structure occupied the chamber.
It looked like a black stone sphere suspended above the floor.
Lines of red light moved across its surface.
Sia stopped.
Lane stared.
“What is that?”
Sia whispered:
“I don’t know.”
The sphere pulsed.
Lane felt something reach towards him.
Not physically.
Through space.
Through perception.
His knees weakened.
Sia caught him.
Lane grabbed her arm.
“Don’t touch it.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
The sphere pulsed again.
This time Sia gasped.
She heard something.
Lane looked at her.
“What?”
Sia’s eyes widened.
“It knows me.”
Lane frowned.
“What?”
She stared at the sphere.
“My family.”
“Your family knows this?”
“No.”
She stepped backwards.
“Something in my family knows this.”
The sphere pulsed.
A red line appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
The symbol formed.
The Dragon’s Eye.
Sia’s face went pale.
Lane looked at her.
“Sia?”
She didn’t respond.
Her eyes were fixed on the sphere.
Then she whispered:
“My grandmother was wrong.”
“About what?”
“She said the Dragon’s Eye was a symbol.”
The sphere opened.
Not physically.
The surface simply ceased to exist.
Inside was darkness.
And within that darkness— a planet.
A tiny planet.
Blue.
Green.
Clouds.
Lane stared.
“That’s Earth.”
Sia nodded.
The image changed.
Earth became distorted.
Its surface cracked.
The oceans shifted.
The atmosphere turned red.
Then the planet disappeared.
A second world appeared.
Gaia.
The same process.
The same destruction.
Sia’s voice trembled.
“They’re not showing us dead worlds.”
Lane looked at her.
“What?”
“They’re showing us worlds that are going to die.”
The sphere pulsed.
A third planet appeared.
Then a fourth.
Then hundreds.
Lane’s spatial perception went wild.
The chamber expanded.
The sphere became enormous.
He could see pathways connecting the planets.
Threads.
Routes.
A web.
And at the centre— something.
A darkness that seemed to exist outside distance itself.
Lane staggered.
Sia grabbed him.
“Lane!”
He looked at her.
“It’s not the planets.”
“What?”
“The cores.”
He could feel them.
Every planet.
Every world.
Every thread.
Something was drawing energy from their centres.
“Orions.”
Lane nodded.
The word echoed through the chamber.
Then something spoke.
Not through sound.
Through the sphere.
THEY WERE NOT THE FIRST.
Sia’s eyes widened.
Lane stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The sphere responded.
THEY LEARNED.
“From whom?”
The sphere pulsed.
FROM GAIA.
Sia went completely still.
Lane turned towards her.
“What does that mean?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
The sphere showed another image.
A Dracodian.
Not Sia.
Older.
Female.
Wearing ceremonial armour.
Standing before a planetary core.
She placed her hands against it.
The planet glowed.
The Dracodian absorbed nothing.
Instead, she seemed to resonate with the planet.
Energy travelled through her.
Then back into the planet.
Lane stared.
“What is she doing?”
Sia whispered:
“Resonance.”
Another image appeared.
A group of beings standing around a planetary core.
Then another.
Human.
Then Huaxian.
Then Dracodian.
Then races Lane didn’t recognise.
All of them were connected to the planet.
None were consuming it.
They were resonating.
The final image changed.
A different group approached.
Their bodies were dark.
Their forms varied.
Their faces were difficult to perceive.
But their hands touched the planetary core.
The planet began to die.
Sia whispered:
“The Orions.”
The sphere went dark.
Then a final message appeared.
THEY LEARNED TO CONSUME WHAT OTHERS LEARNED TO BECOME.
Lane stared.
The phrase made no sense.
Yet somehow it did.
The Huaxians had developed cultivation.
Humans had developed body cultivation.
Other races had developed resonance.
They had enhanced themselves by harmonising with the universe.
The Orions had found another way.
They consumed the source instead.
And if the stories were true, they had become powerful enough to devour entire planetary cores.
Lane looked at Sia.
“This is what your family was afraid of.”
Sia didn’t answer.
Lane stepped closer.
“Sia.”
She finally looked at him.
Her eyes were wet.
Not crying.
Not yet.
But close.
“My grandmother told me the Dracodians had made a mistake.”
Lane’s expression softened.
“What mistake?”
“I never asked.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought it was another old story.”
Lane waited.
Sia’s voice became quieter.
“She said our people had once helped someone understand the difference between resonance and consumption.”
Lane felt cold.
“Who?”
Sia looked at the dark sphere.
“The Orions.”
The station alarm activated.
Every light turned red.
Aryaan’s communicator screamed.
“Everyone report!”
Potter’s voice came first.
“Laboratory! We’re alive!”
Bonita followed.
“Containment sector. We found something.”
Riyansh interrupted.
“Something found us.”
Aryaan frowned.
“What?”
The communicator erupted with static.
Then Sia’s voice.
“Aryaan.”
He recognised the tone immediately.
“What?”
“Get everyone back to the ship.”
“Why?”
A pause.
Then:
“Because Vanta-3 isn’t abandoned.”
Aryaan stared.
“What?”
Sia’s voice became quieter.
“It’s feeding.”
The communication cut.
Aryaan looked at Ron.
Ron had stopped smiling.
“Feeding on what?”
The answer came from beneath them.
The entire ship shook.
The station lights went dark.
Then the stars outside disappeared.
Aryaan rushed towards the viewport.
Something enormous had appeared between them and space.
Not a ship.
Not an asteroid.
A structure.
A vast geometric formation surrounding Vanta-3.
It had been invisible before.
Now it was visible because it was active.
Lines of red energy connected the station to something far away.
Aryaan stared.
The lines extended into space.
Beyond Vanta-3.
Beyond the asteroid belt.
Beyond the normal sensor range.
Towards Gaia.
Ron whispered:
“That’s not possible.”
Aryaan didn’t answer.
His temporal perception activated.
This time, he did not resist.
The world fractured.
He saw Vanta-3 intact.
Then destroyed.
He saw the eight running.
Then dying.
He saw Gaia.
He saw Earth.
He saw Mokshabhumi.
He saw a dark planet.
He saw Devdutt.
He saw his parents.
He saw an enormous golden light.
He saw a planetary core.
Then he saw something else.
A figure standing beside it.
The figure turned.
Aryaan could not see its face.
But he heard the words.
You are late.
The vision snapped shut.
Aryaan fell.
Ron caught him.
“Aryaan!”
Aryaan couldn’t breathe.
His head felt as though it had split open.
Blood ran from his nose.
Ron held him.
“Hey.”
Aryaan tried to speak.
Nothing.
Ron looked towards the others.
“Help!”
The ship doors opened.
Lane appeared.
He saw Aryaan.
His face changed.
“What happened?”
Ron looked at him.
“He saw something.”
Lane knelt.
Aryaan grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t.”
Lane froze.
Aryaan forced the words out.
“Don’t let them…”
“What?”
“Go…”
Aryaan struggled.
“Gaia.”
Lane stared.
“What about Gaia?”
Aryaan’s eyes widened.
His temporal perception flickered again.
For one second, he saw Lane standing in a burning landscape.
Sia beside him.
Ron somewhere behind them.
Potter screaming.
Riyansh covered in blood.
Mitchell surrounded by light.
Bonita tracking something invisible.
Saiyuki holding a broken blade.
And Aryaan himself— standing before a planetary core.
He blinked.
Gone.
Lane shook him.
“Aryaan!”
Aryaan looked at him.
“Don’t go to Gaia.”
Lane’s expression hardened.
“We weren’t planning to.”
“No.”
Aryaan struggled to sit.
“Listen.”
The others gathered around him.
Aryaan looked at each face.
“Someone wants us there.”
Potter’s face became serious.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Devdutt?”
Aryaan hesitated.
He remembered the voice.
Don’t trust Devdutt.
Then his mother’s.
Especially if he tells you he is protecting you.
Aryaan looked towards the dark viewport.
“I don’t know.”
It was the first time Potter had seen him genuinely afraid.
Then the station shook again.
The communication system activated.
A voice came through.
Devdutt.
Aryaan.
Aryaan froze.
Ron looked at him.
Devdutt’s voice continued.
Do not enter the lower chamber.
Aryaan stared.
Potter’s face changed.
Bonita whispered:
“How would he know?”
Aryaan didn’t answer.
Devdutt continued.
Listen carefully.
Whatever you have discovered, leave it where it is.
Do not activate anything.
Do not interact with the structure.
Return to the ship and come home.
Aryaan stared at the communicator.
His father’s voice returned in his memory.
Don’t trust Devdutt.
His mother’s followed.
Especially if he tells you he is protecting you.
Aryaan’s fingers curled.
Devdutt spoke again.
Aryaan, I know what you’re thinking.
Aryaan went still.
And I know what your parents told you.
Silence.
Every person in the room looked at Aryaan.
Ron whispered:
“Dude.”
Aryaan didn’t respond.
Devdutt’s voice softened.
You are not ready to know the truth.
Aryaan stood.
His headache became unbearable.
Blood dripped onto the floor.
He stared at the communicator.
“Then tell us anyway.”
Silence.
“Devdutt.”
Nothing.
Aryaan’s voice hardened.
“You’ve known for years.”
Still nothing.
“You knew about our abilities.”
Ron looked at him.
“You knew about our parents.”
Lane’s eyes narrowed.
“You knew about Gaia.”
Aryaan’s voice rose.
“And you sent us here.”
The communicator crackled.
Then Devdutt spoke.
I sent you here because you needed to see it.
Aryaan’s anger faltered.
“See what?”
Devdutt didn’t answer.
“Devdutt!”
A long pause.
Then:
The first mistake.
The communication ended.
Nobody moved.
Ron stared at the dead console.
“What does that mean?”
Sia’s face had gone pale.
Aryaan looked at her.
She shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
She backed away.
Lane stepped towards her.
“Sia?”
She looked at him.
Her voice was barely audible.
“My grandmother’s story.”
Aryaan stared.
“What about it?”
Sia looked towards the dark chamber beneath them.
“The mistake.”
Aryaan’s blood ran cold.
“What mistake?”
Sia swallowed.
“The one that taught the Orions how to consume planetary cores.”
Silence.
Then something moved beneath the floor.
Everyone felt it.
A deep vibration.
Not mechanical.
Not technological.
Something alive.
Something ancient.
The floor cracked.
A line of red light appeared beneath their feet.
Then another.
Then another.
The same symbol formed.
Three intersecting lines.
A circle.
And beneath it, written in an ancient language none of them knew— a single word translated itself into the ship’s display.
GAIA.
Aryaan stared.
The red light spread through the floor.
The ship’s systems screamed.
UNKNOWN ENERGY EXTRACTION DETECTED.
Mitchell looked at the readings.
Her face changed.
“It’s pulling energy from us.”
Riyansh clenched his fists.
“Then we’ll break it.”
“Don’t!” Mitchell shouted.
Riyansh stopped.
“Why?”
“Because it’s not taking energy from our bodies.”
Aryaan looked at her.
“Then what?”
Mitchell stared at the readings.
“It is taking something else.”
“What?”
Mitchell’s voice became quiet.
“Our resonance.”
The chamber pulsed.
Aryaan felt something inside him shift.
His temporal perception opened.
Lane’s spatial sense reacted.
Riyansh’s cultivated energy surged.
Mitchell’s mutation flared.
Saiyuki’s body instinctively moved into a defensive stance.
Bonita suddenly turned towards an empty corridor.
Potter’s eyes widened as dozens of patterns appeared simultaneously in his mind.
Sia’s Dracodian senses exploded into awareness.
And Ron—
Ron laughed.
Everyone turned.
Ron stared at them.
His expression was confused.
“I don’t know why I’m laughing.”
The floor cracked again.
Something beneath them opened its eyes.
Aryaan’s vision fractured.
He saw the chamber.
He saw the eight.
He saw Gaia.
He saw Earth.
He saw the Orions.
He saw Devdutt.
He saw his parents.
And then— he saw Ron.
Standing alone in darkness.
Surrounded by broken stars.
Something enormous stood behind him.
Ron turned.
The creature raised one hand.
And the universe changed direction.
Aryaan gasped.
The vision vanished.
Ron looked at him.
“What?”
Aryaan couldn’t answer.
Because the last thing he had seen before returning to reality had not been a warning.
It had been a possibility.
And somewhere inside him, beneath the fear and the pain, Aryaan understood something that terrified him more than the creature beneath Vanta-3.
Ron was not the weakest of them.
They simply had not discovered his power yet.
The station began to collapse.
The eight ran.
There was no formation now.
No carefully assigned pairs.
No Academy discipline.
They ran because the corridor behind them was disappearing.
Metal screamed.
Walls buckled.
Red light poured through the cracks.
Riyansh grabbed a fallen support beam and threw it aside.
Saiyuki moved through the collapsing passage with terrifying precision.
Bonita found routes that weren’t visible on the map.
Potter followed her.
Mitchell adapted to the energy field, her body shifting with every pulse.
Sia flew for short bursts through the larger chambers, using her wings to cross gaps that had opened in the station.
Lane guided them around spatial distortions.
Aryaan followed.
Ron followed Aryaan.
For once, he didn’t complain.
They reached the docking chamber.
Their ship waited.
The ramp was open.
Aryaan ran.
Something struck the floor behind him.
He turned.
The creature from earlier emerged from the darkness.
Then another.
Then another.
Three.
Five.
Ten.
Their bodies were plated.
Their eyes glowed.
Their movements were coordinated.
Aryaan raised his weapon.
Riyansh stepped in front.
“Stay back.”
Aryaan shook his head.
“We need to move.”
Riyansh punched the first creature.
It flew backwards.
Saiyuki struck another.
Sia’s wings slammed into a third.
Mitchell’s body changed.
Bonita fired.
Potter shouted directions.
Lane distorted the space between two creatures, making them collide.
Aryaan watched.
The eight moved together.
Not perfectly.
Not elegantly.
But together.
For a few seconds, they were no longer eight talented students.
They were something else.
A beginning.
Then Ron stumbled.
Aryaan turned.
A creature lunged.
Ron raised his hand instinctively.
Nothing happened.
The creature stopped.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
Its claws remained inches from Ron’s chest.
Everyone froze.
Ron stared at it.
The creature’s eyes flickered.
Then it turned.
Not towards Ron.
Towards another creature.
It attacked its own kind.
The second creature struck back.
The two tore into each other.
Ron stared at his hands.
“Guys?”
Aryaan’s eyes widened.
The world around Ron seemed slightly distorted.
Not spatially.
Not temporally.
Something else.
Probability.
Causality.
Choice.
Aryaan didn’t know.
But he knew one thing.
Ron had not caused the creature to stop.
He had caused the outcome to change.
And he hadn’t even known he was doing it.
“Ron!”
Ron looked at him.
“Run!”
Ron didn’t argue.
They reached the ship.
The last creature followed them through the docking hatch.
Riyansh slammed the emergency door.
The creature hit it.
The ship shook.
Aryaan reached the command deck.
“Launch!”
The system responded.
LAUNCH AUTHORISATION REQUIRED.
Aryaan stared.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Ron ran past him.
“Use Devdutt’s!”
Aryaan looked at the controls.
Devdutt’s authorisation still existed.
He activated it.
The ship launched.
Vanta-3 dropped away.
The dead orbital body remained behind them.
Then it opened.
Not physically.
The station itself unfolded.
Beneath the ancient industrial shell was something enormous.
A structure.
A mechanism.
A machine built around a black sphere.
The sphere pulsed.
The signal returned.
This time, it was stronger.
It reached across space.
Across the void.
Towards Gaia.
The ship’s sensors caught it.
A line appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
Aryaan watched as the energy formed a path between Vanta-3 and Gaia.
A bridge.
A map.
A route.
Potter stared.
“That’s what your parents were talking about.”
Aryaan nodded.
Ron looked at him.
“About what?”
Aryaan turned.
His face had gone pale.
“The map.”
Ron frowned.
“What map?”
Aryaan looked towards the navigation display.
The path between Vanta-3 and Gaia was not simply a route.
It was a pattern.
Three intersecting lines.
A circle.
The same symbol.
Except now Aryaan understood.
It wasn’t a symbol.
It was a map.
A map of the temporal loop.
And the eight of them were not outside it.
They were points upon it.
Aryaan stared at the glowing lines.
Then he noticed something else.
One line was missing.
A gap existed in the pattern.
A broken segment.
He remembered Devdutt’s words.
The first mistake.
His father’s warning.
The loop.
And the strange message from the ancient structure.
THEY WERE NEVER OUTSIDE IT.
Aryaan whispered:
“They didn’t break the loop.”
Lane looked at him.
“What?”
Aryaan stared at Gaia.
“They changed it.”
The ship continued accelerating.
Behind them, Vanta-3 disappeared into darkness.
Ahead, Gaia waited.
And somewhere beneath its surface, something had begun to wake.
Current Power & Skill Development
The events at Vanta-3 mark the first point where the eight’s abilities begin interacting with one another rather than simply developing independently.
Aryaan — Temporal Perception
Aryaan’s ability is becoming more than a momentary glimpse of possible actions.
He is beginning to perceive branches of possibility surrounding events, although he cannot yet distinguish reliably between probable futures and extremely unlikely ones.
Payback: Each uncontrolled use produces neural strain, headaches, bleeding, and increasingly severe disorientation.
Aryaan is beginning to understand that seeing possible futures does not mean he can safely act upon them.
Lane — Spatial Perception
Lane’s ability has developed beyond detecting distortions.
He can now perceive structures and pathways embedded within space, including spatial layers that conventional instruments cannot detect.
Payback: Prolonged use causes sensory overload, disorientation, and difficulty distinguishing physical distance from spatial constructs.
Ron — Causal/Probability Anomaly
For the first time, Ron’s ability manifests clearly.
He does not appear to consciously manipulate probability, but his presence can cause an expected outcome to deviate towards an unlikely one.
The creature should have attacked him.
Instead, the outcome changed.
Payback: Ron experiences no obvious physical consequence yet.
The more dangerous cost is that he does not understand what he is doing, meaning his ability can potentially alter situations without his conscious intention.
Riyansh — Body Cultivation
Riyansh’s raw physical power continues to exceed the others at their current level.
Payback: His body absorbs the impact of his own cultivation.
The stronger his body becomes, the greater the strain placed on muscles, bones, organs, and energy channels.
Mitchell — Adaptive Mutation
Her body is beginning to adapt automatically to unfamiliar energy fields.
Vanta-3 demonstrates that her mutation is capable of responding to environmental energy rather than simply physical threats.
Payback: Her adaptation is not completely voluntary.
Each adaptation changes her physiology temporarily, raising the possibility that repeated exposure could permanently alter her.
Saiyuki — Precision Combat
Her traditional family training allows her to operate efficiently in confined and unstable environments.
She remains one of the group’s most technically refined fighters.
Payback: Her precision depends upon control.
Against overwhelming force, she cannot simply rely on technique without eventually exhausting her body.
Bonita — Tracking
Bonita’s ability now extends into tracking disturbances left by creatures and environmental changes rather than conventional physical trails.
Payback: Her greatest weakness remains targets that deliberately erase or manipulate their traces.
Potter — Pattern Recognition
Potter begins connecting the Vanta-3 evidence to the broader planetary-core mystery before most of the group.
Payback: His mind tends to pursue patterns even when doing so places him in danger; knowledge itself becomes a liability when he sees something others would rather remain hidden.
Sia — Dracodian Heritage
Sia’s inherited senses reveal information inaccessible to the human members of the group, while the discovery of the Dragon’s Eye establishes a direct connection between her ancestral history and the Orion mystery.
Payback: Her inherited abilities come with inherited history, and Sia is beginning to realise that her family’s past may contain a truth she has never been prepared to confront.
Most importantly, the eight have now experienced their first true group resonance.
Their abilities briefly interacted during the Vanta-3 incident, suggesting that their connection may be more than friendship, shared upbringing or coincidence.
They are still far from powerful.
But for the first time, something outside them has begun to recognise them as a group.