Kael didn't trust people who spoke in riddles. He trusted people with guns. Explosives. Maybe snacks.
Vexa had none of those.
She floated more than walked, tendrils weaving silently behind her like smoke trails from a dying star. Her body hummed with old tech and sacred programming. Ancient—but updated. Beautiful—but terrifying.
"I'm not the Moon's voice," Kael said, still holding his plasma blade between them. "I'm just a messed-up orphan with brain glitches and bad dreams."
Vexa tilted her head.
"You heard her. That's proof enough."
"I hear lots of things. Most of them tell me to jump into reactors."
"That would silence you, yes," she said calmly. "But also… disappoint her."
Kael shivered. "Who is she?"
Vexa turned.
"Come. I'll show you."
Deep Within the Cathedral Ship – Root Core
The passage narrowed, twisting like a spine. Along the walls: carvings. Living script, half-machine, half-magic. Stories in a dead language. Kael touched one—and felt it pulse beneath his skin.
"She doesn't speak with words," Vexa said. "She speaks through memory. Through loss. Through echoes."
They entered a chamber shaped like a ribcage. In the center: a root.
Not a plant. Not tech. Something in-between.
It pulsed slowly, like a heart made of bone and wire.
"The Whispering Root," Vexa said. "It's what's left of her connection to this galaxy. Buried here when the First Collapse began."
Kael approached it. Hesitant. Fascinated.
"You're telling me the Hollow Moon is alive?"
"No. Not alive." Vexa's tendrils recoiled slightly. "She's… waking."
Kael touched the root.
And was somewhere else.
Vision Sequence – Echo Overload
Fire. Screaming stars. War.
He saw cities devoured by black light. Heard children singing in languages long dead. Watched moons fall like stones into oceans of ash.
And then—her.
A massive, spectral eye opening in space.
Looking through him.
"Kael…"
He screamed.
Cathedral Ship – Return to Reality
Kael collapsed to his knees. Sweat pouring. Gasping like he'd drowned in a dream.
Vexa stood above him.
"Now you understand."
He looked up at her, eyes wide.
"I saw everything. I saw… nothing. She was there, Vexa. She's real. She's waiting."
Vexa nodded slowly.
"And now she knows you're listening."