Desolate space stretched in every direction, a graveyard of failed stars and shattered planetoids drifting without purpose. Cold dust hung in clouds so thick they swallowed light. Korrath and Selene stood on the cracked surface of a dead moon, their presence the only living thing for light-years. Void-forged armor and liquid starlight looked almost out of place against the absolute emptiness.
Selene's black eyes swept the void once, twice, then a third time with clinical precision. "She is not here."
Korrath's white fire flared in the cracks of his armor. The temperature around them dropped until residual ice on the moon's surface began to crack and scream. "Not here," he repeated, voice rising like grinding continents. "We tore three layers of her false seals. We followed every residual signature she left like breadcrumbs. We crossed dead systems and collapsed timelines. And for what? Another empty rock."
