Kael Varn's heart was a warzone, and for a guy who'd once sweet-talked a bounty hunter into buying him a drink, that was a new kind of chaos. He stood in Voryn's core, a cavern so vast it felt like the planet's beating heart. Glowing crystals lined the walls, pulsing red, each throb shaking his bones. At the center, a stasis pod glowed, and inside was Mira, his sister, frozen like a ghost in amber. Her face, so like his own, was calm, but Kael's gut twisted. He'd spent years chasing rumors of her, only to find her here, in the belly of a planet that wanted him dead. Zara stood beside him, her scar-faced glare fixed on the pod, her pistol gripped tight. The air buzzed with energy, and the Devourer's voice, a low growl that crawled into Kael's skull, echoed from nowhere. "Free her, and I am free."
Kael's hands shook as he raised his pulse rifle, its charge blinking critical. "Syl," he said into his wrist comm, voice rough. "Tell me this isn't as bad as it looks."
Syl, his ship's snarky AI, crackled through static. "It's worse. The pod's tied to Voryn's core. Open it, and you might unleash the Devourer. Leave it, and Mira stays trapped. Oh, and the planet's seismic activity is spiking. You've got minutes before this place collapses."
"Perfect," Kael muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. His ribs ached from fights with crystal beasts, his head throbbed from visions of galactic wars, and now he had to choose: save his sister or save the galaxy. Typical day.
Zara stepped closer, her boots echoing on the crystal floor. "Kael, we can't trust that thing's voice. The Coalition used Mira as bait before. This could be another trap."
Kael rounded on her, anger flaring. "You knew she was here, didn't you? Your damn Coalition project did this!"
Zara's jaw clenched, but her eyes flicked away, guilty. "I didn't know it was her, Varn. They were experimenting on Ascendant tech, trying to control Voryn. I quit when I saw the bodies."
"Bodies?" Kael's voice cracked. He grabbed her arm, forcing her to meet his gaze. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing!" Zara snapped, yanking free. "I was a grunt, not a scientist. But I saw what they were doing. People went into pods. They didn't come out."
The cavern shook, crystals cracking like thunder. The Devourer's voice boomed again. "Choose, human. Her life, or your worlds."
Kael's chest tightened. He stepped toward the pod, Mira's face lit by the eerie glow. She looked peaceful, like she was just sleeping, not trapped in a planet-sized prison. He'd failed her once, when the Coalition took her on that mission years ago. He wasn't failing her again.
"Kael," Zara said, softer now, her hand on his shoulder. "If you open that, we're dead. All of us."
He shook her off, voice low. "She's my sister, Zara. I don't expect you to get it."
The ground bucked, throwing them to their knees. Crystals shattered, raining shards. Syl's voice cut through. "Energy surge! The core's reacting to you!"
Kael scrambled to the pod's console, its surface covered in Ascendant runes. His fingers hovered over the controls, heart pounding. The Devourer's voice whispered, tempting. "Free her, and I grant you power. Save her, and rule with me."
"Pass," Kael muttered, but doubt gnawed at him. Mira's hologram had warned not to trust Zara or the Coalition. What if the Devourer wasn't the enemy? What if Mira needed it?
Zara grabbed his arm again, desperate. "Kael, listen. The Coalition wanted the Devourer awake. They think they can control it. They're wrong."
He stared at her, searching for lies. Her eyes were hard, but there was pain there, raw and real. For the first time, he believed her. "Then help me," he said. "Get her out without breaking the galaxy."
Zara nodded, moving to the console. "Syl, scan the pod. Find a bypass."
"Working on it," Syl said. "But the core's energy is spiking. Something's coming."
The cavern roared, the sound shaking Kael's teeth. The crystals pulsed faster, and the air turned thick, like breathing soup. A shadow moved in the darkness, not the cloaked figure from before, but something bigger, its form shifting like liquid night. Eyes like burning stars locked onto Kael, and the Devourer's voice hit like a hammer. "You cannot stop me."
Kael raised his rifle, its last charge flickering. "Wanna bet?"
The shadow lunged, claws of darkness slashing the air. Kael dove, shoving Zara out of the way. The claws grazed his armor, sparking. Zara fired her pistol, bolts vanishing into the shadow like it was nothing. The pod's glow flickered, Mira's face fading in and out.
"Syl!" Kael shouted, rolling to his feet. "Bypass, now!"
"Got it!" Syl said. "Console's got a secondary lock. Input the sequence I'm sending to your HUD!"
Kael's HUD blinked, showing a string of Ascendant runes. He punched them into the console, hands shaking as the shadow roared closer. Zara kept firing, her curses drowned by the noise. The pod hummed, its glow stabilizing, but the shadow didn't stop. It split, forming two smaller forms, each with glowing eyes.
"Bad news!" Syl said. "The Devourer's splitting its essence. You've got multiple targets now!"
"Great!" Kael yelled, dodging a claw. He slammed the final rune, and the pod hissed, steam venting. The lid cracked open, revealing Mira, still and pale, but breathing.
"Mira!" Kael reached for her, but the shadow forms lunged, forcing him back. Zara grabbed his arm, pulling him toward a tunnel at the cavern's edge.
"We can't fight that!" she shouted. "Move!"
Kael hesitated, eyes locked on Mira. The pod was open, but she wasn't waking. The Devourer's voice laughed, shaking the walls. "She is mine. You are too late."
The tunnel glowed with crystals, leading deeper into Voryn. Kael's heart screamed to stay, but Zara dragged him, her grip like iron. They ran, the shadow forms chasing, their claws scraping the walls. The tunnel narrowed, crystals pulsing like a trap waiting to snap.
"Syl, where's this lead?" Kael panted.
"Unknown," Syl said. "But it's away from the core. Energy readings suggest another Ascendant structure ahead."
Zara glanced back, her face grim. "The Coalition's coming. I heard their comms before the spire collapsed. They'll kill us to keep this quiet."
Kael's blood boiled. "Then we beat them to it. We find Mira's pod controls, wake her up, and stop this thing."
The tunnel opened into a new chamber, this one filled with floating platforms, each glowing with Ascendant tech. At the center was a massive crystal, pulsing with red light, bigger than any they'd seen. The shadow forms stopped at the tunnel's edge, their eyes glaring but not following.
"That's not good," Zara said, catching her breath. "Why'd they stop?"
Kael's HUD blinked: energy surge critical. The crystal at the center flared, and a new hologram appeared: Mira, but different, her eyes glowing red. "Kael," she said, voice cold. "You shouldn't have come."