Lyra fell.
Not through space—not through anything real—but through a tapestry of memories, colors, and voices. Stars unfurled around her like petals; suns bloomed and withered in the span of heartbeats. She reached for something solid and touched only light.
"Where… am I?" she whispered.
A voice answered, deep and resonant, but it spoke inside her mind.
"Within judgment. Within me."
The Seed.
Images assaulted her: civilizations rising, devouring worlds, then extinguishing themselves. A thousand wars fought over power, each ending in ruin. And always, always, something watching from the void—the Architect's hand guiding, manipulating, waiting for the moment of collapse.
"You see why I was made," the Seed said. "To end the cycle. To decide if life is worthy to continue."
Lyra's heart hammered. "And what's your verdict?"
"Undecided. Until you."
She froze. "Me?"
"You hold my core. Your choices will bind my judgment. Show me why existence deserves to go on."
Outside the Rift
The Aurora's Spear buckled under the rift's gravity. Kaelen gripped the captain's chair.
"Status!"
"Bad!" Rhyss shouted over alarms. "Hull integrity dropping, reactor overloading—if we don't leave in sixty seconds, we're dead!"
Kaelen's jaw tightened. "We're not leaving her."
Ceyra slammed her fists on the console. "Then we die with her! Unless…" She hesitated.
"Unless what?" Kaelen snapped.
"I found coordinates in the Seed's data before she jumped—an anchor point inside the rift. We might be able to follow."
"Do it," Kaelen ordered.
Rhyss swore. "That's suicide."
Kaelen's gaze was iron. "So is living without her."
Inside the Rift
Lyra stood before a colossal figure of shifting geometry—neither solid nor light, an impossible thing that hurt to look at.
"The Architect," she whispered.
It turned to her, its form reshaping into something vaguely humanoid, mocking familiarity.
"Little spark," it said smoothly. "The Seed tests you, but I will break you. You cannot save them. No one ever has."
Behind her, something flickered—a flash of Kaelen's face, reaching for her through impossible distance.
She set her jaw. "Watch me."
And she lunged, wielding not a weapon, but the Seed itself, blazing in her hands like the birth of a new star.