The galaxy didn't sleep after Eden-9.
Broadcasts were banned, memories scrubbed, sensor records classified — but truth moves faster than censorship. Within seventy-two hours, footage of the white Ruinborn kneeling circulated through back channels and pirate feeds. The impossible image burned itself into the galactic consciousness.
And with it, one phrase whispered across every habitable system:
"The Teacher made the monster kneel."
Location: Bureau Central Command — Virel Station, Orbit of Carthus Prime
Director Voss hadn't slept since Eden-9.
His aide, Lieutenant Harven, stood beside him, posture stiff but voice trembling.
"Sir, we've confirmed at least thirty-two factions referencing 'Helios Break.' Half of them are treating it like scripture. The other half…"
"…want to recruit her," Voss finished. He rubbed his temples. "Of course they do."
"Sir, what exactly is she now?"
Voss glanced at the hologram — Sera Vance's frozen image, eyes alight with code, expression calm. "A variable we never calculated. A growth constant without boundary."
Harven hesitated. "We've already begun field reports of copycat awakenings."
Voss looked sharply. "You mean…?"
"Yes, sir. Abilities mutating beyond registered parameters. Some match her energy pattern. It's spreading."
Voss turned away from the screen. "Then she's not just a threat." His voice dropped to a whisper. "She's evolution itself."
Eden-9: Academy Grounds, 18 Days Later
The ruins were quiet now. The white Ruinborn remained motionless outside the perimeter, almost peaceful. Locals called it "the Kneeling God."
Sera sat in the shattered classroom where it began. The desks were half-melted, the walls marked with strange fractal burns where her power had leaked through.
Her students stood around her, no longer children in the eyes of the world — each now considered "Class Omega assets" by Bureau decree.
Kael broke the silence first. "You're being hunted."
"Always have been," Sera said.
Ryn's crystal body flickered with nervous light. "They call you Helios Break now. A living anomaly."
"Then they should study harder before naming things."
Iri knelt beside her. "The Ruinborn… it still kneels. Why?"
Sera's eyes glowed faintly. "Because I told it to."
Internal Log – Student Observation: Kael Ardent
She doesn't sleep anymore.
I ran her vitals through three separate systems — there's no baseline. Her body adapts faster than I can measure it.
The Bureau wants her erased.
The Resistance wants her to lead.
And I… I just want to understand what she's becoming.
Scene: Outer Rim – The Burned Worlds
Among the wreckage of forgotten colonies, a group of mercenary captains gathered. Species from across the stars — reptilian, crystalline, gasiform, synthetic.
One slammed a fist into the table. "You're telling me a teacher broke a Ruinborn?"
The other snorted. "Not just broke it. Rewrote it."
They laughed uneasily.
But the laughter died when the transmission played — a silent clip of Sera standing in rain while the kneeling creature bowed.
No one spoke for a long time. Then one said, "If she can do that… imagine what she can teach."
Back at the Academy
Night. The wind howled through shattered windows.
Sera stood outside, staring at the horizon. The stars seemed closer now, as if they were leaning in to listen.
Behind her, Tava approached quietly. "We could leave," the lizard-girl said. "Go off-world. Disappear before they reach us."
Sera smiled faintly. "Disappear? No. We've been invisible our whole lives. It's time they see what they created."
Tava looked at her curiously. "What are you planning?"
Sera's tone was calm — too calm. "I'm going to rewrite the laws that made this galaxy broken. If the Bureau thinks they can control evolution…" She raised her hand, letting her power shimmer in her palm like molten glass. "Then I'll teach evolution how to think for itself."
Orbiting Satellite Feed – Bureau Intercepted Signal
SUBJECT: SERA VANCE
DESIGNATION: HELIOS BREAK
CLASSIFICATION: BEYOND-OMEGA
STATUS: UNCONTAINED
WARNING: CONTACT WITH ENTITY RESULTS IN COGNITIVE CORRUPTION
ADVISORY: DO NOT ENGAGE. DO NOT APPROACH.
Final Scene: The White Ruinborn
Its thousand eyes opened one by one. It had been waiting for her word — a command, a direction. But none came.
So it began to whisper her lessons into the ground, seeding its code through the planetary crust. The world began to change.
The creatures of the dark listened.
The galaxy trembled.
And somewhere in the Bureau, Voss finally said what no one wanted to admit:
"She's not building an army.
She's building a curriculum."