The ruins of Thaless weren't ruins at all.
Noble stood in the middle of what looked like a living city, buried beneath eons of dust and ash. The walls around him shimmered faintly—not metallic, but something more… reactive. As if the structures could think.
Behind him, The Daggerfall waited in idle hover, half-submerged in a crater of glowing dust. He kept his sidearm holstered but ready. This wasn't the kind of place that let you go once it noticed you.
He didn't know how he'd gotten this far. One moment the ship had landed, the next he'd blacked out. The shard had pulled him toward this place like a magnet tugging on bone.
Now, in the heart of the spiral complex, he stood before a sealed chamber. Its surface was smooth as obsidian glass, and on the front was etched a strange symbol—a spiral inside a star.
The shard on his wrist buzzed.
"Open it," the voice whispered. This time it wasn't alien. It sounded like his own.
Noble raised his palm. The shard glowed—and the chamber hissed open.
Mist billowed out. Cold and fragrant, like flowers blooming under snow.
And inside, she lay sleeping.
A girl—no, a woman—resting in cryostasis. Skin pale as moonlight. Hair like dark silk tangled with starlight. Her hands were folded across her chest, and embedded in her palm was another shard, identical to his.
Nobel's breath caught.
She was beautiful, yes. But more than that—familiar.
He'd never seen her before, yet her face stirred something in him. A memory not quite his. A warmth that didn't belong.
Suddenly, her eyes snapped opened
Brilliant violet.
She gasped and coughed, lungs dragging in air for the first time in who-knew-how-long. Nobel stepped forward instinctively, catching her as she stumbled from the pod.
" Easy," he muttered, "you're safe. I think."
She stared up at him, disoriented. "Nobel?"
He froze.
"What did you just call me?"
She blinked. "You don't remember… do you?"
His stomach tightened. "No. Should I?"
She touched the shard on his wrist. "You're Spiralbound. Like me. …. ."
( She feels something approaching)
Then her gaze lifted, eyes scanning the sky.
"They're coming."
Nobel turned. The temple's lights flickered—then dimmed.
From orbit, a black vessel emerged through the cloud cover. No engines. No heat.
Just hunger.
The Scorch had found them.