The Grey seam opened in the air of the Kagu Ancestral Estate's command centre, and I stepped through it out of the airless quiet of the Moon. The change was hard on the ears: from nothing at all to the pressurised hum of a bunker full of machines and frightened people.
My boots hit the polished floor with a heavy, final sound.
The others came through behind me. Lucifer, his coat scorched to the lining, still grinning, still buzzing with the fight. Ren Kagu, as calm as ever, though a sheen of sweat sat on his brow. Then the six: Rachel, Seraphina, Cecilia, Rose, Reika and Luna, in a tight knot, their High Radiant auras still flaring a little with what they had just done in orbit.
They were expecting noise. Technicians rushing over, generals clapping, someone opening something fizzy and spraying it at the ceiling. They had just wiped out a fleet that could have ended the species. They had earned a little noise.
They walked into a tomb instead.
