The collapse stopped as suddenly as it began. The walls of the living labyrinth froze mid-motion, pulsing once like the final beat of a dying heart. Then they opened—not outward, but upward, revealing a vast void filled with stars arranged in impossible geometries.
Kaelen blinked against the light, sword still raised. "Is it… over?"
"No," Lyra murmured. She could feel the labyrinth's presence, vast and ancient, still watching.
The central chamber reformed around them, spiraling into a single towering spire of crystal. At its apex, Ceyra stood, levitating, her eyes blazing with alien symbols.
"Ceyra!" Rhyss shouted, stepping forward—only to be thrown back by an invisible force.
Ceyra's voice was layered, inhuman:
> "You are chosen. Marked by the Infinite. You cannot hide from what comes."
A beam of light shot from the spire, striking each of them in the chest. Kaelen roared, dropping to his knees. Lyra clutched her heart as heat seared through her veins. When it faded, glowing sigils writhed faintly beneath their skin.
"What did you do to us?" Kaelen growled.
> "The factions will know you now," the voice of the labyrinth intoned. "They will come. All of them. The Seed cannot belong to one. It will belong to the one who survives."
The spire shattered.
---
They stood on a barren plain beneath an alien sky of twin suns, the labyrinth gone as if it had never existed. Around them, enormous structures floated in orbit—cities on massive rings, fleets maneuvering like vultures waiting for a kill.
"Where… are we?" Rhyss whispered.
Ceyra dropped to her knees, breathing hard, her human voice finally returning. "The Nexus… the meeting place of the great factions. We've been delivered to them."
As if to confirm her words, the horizon lit up with incoming ships. Sleek, angular vessels with the sigil of the Harbinger Empire. Colossal dreadnoughts bearing the golden crest of Admiral Veyric. And above them all, a shimmering veil tore open in space, revealing a single ship of pure light—the Seer Azhira's vessel.
Lyra stepped forward, her hand unconsciously touching the glowing mark on her chest. "They're coming for the Seed."
Kaelen drew his blade again, eyes hard. "Then let them come."
Above, the sky filled with war.
---