T-2 ,100 ,000 cycles
Maya braced both hands against the trembling catwalk, teeth clenched as incandescent tracer-threads lanced overhead. Three Weft Cannons—floating turrets woven from corrupted Loom struts—hammered the Coral/Temple node with torrents of destructive code. Every blast gnawed another glowing strand from the safeguard thread Cassie had birthed.
To Maya's right, Lin Xi knelt in a ring of lotus-ink talismans, Spiral Stone hovering above his palms. Each chant flared a shield of Qi, but recoil lines etched red across his forearms; fatigue trembled in his voice.
Shadow-shrapnel streaked past, deflected by Nephis, whose torn cloak flared and shrank with each absorbed projectile. "I can't keep this tempo," he rasped, eyes like twin embers.
Maya (comm): "Cassie, status?"Cassie (distant, weak): "Holding… ring breach at ten percent… go… finish… dawn—" static
Maya's gut twisted. We're one shot from catastrophic loss. Then, through the blizzard of fire, she spotted a lone sprinting figure on a collapsing filament bridge—Aiden, Volcano Prism blazing on his harness.
Aiden's Arrival
The bridge shattered behind him as he leapt, landing hard beside Maya. "Cassie's down but alive," he panted. "Volcano Prism acquired. Lantern core, too."
She nodded, eyes shining with relief. "Lin Xi's shields are fading—we still haven't seated Dawnlight. Without it the safeguard thread won't propagate."
Aiden slid the cracked lantern core into an empty cradle on the Coral plinth. It flickered, then cast a tenuous shaft of gold that laced with Coral's living glow—strengthening, but unstable. Dawnlight Prism itself still lay three levels up, pinned beneath collapsed girders.
"Volcano first," Maya urged.
Together they wrested the Prism into the western socket. As it clicked, magma-orange circuits rippled across the node, welding fractured struts. The Weft Cannons paused— recalibrating against the sudden resonance surge.
For a heartbeat, silence.
Sentinel Swarm
It shattered when Sentinel Clones—mirrored husks of the Prime Weaver—flooded from shattered conduits, blades of hardlight raised. Lin Xi staggered upright, blood on his sleeve, Spiral Stone spinning defensively.
Nephis surged to meet them, cloak unfurling into a maw of darkness. But for every clone he consumed, two more spilled through. Aiden ignited the Heart Core, lashing crimson arcs; Maya overrode three with a code burst. Still they pressed closer, magnetic tethers latching onto the Coral plinth.
"Break those tethers!" Aiden shouted, hurling Volcano Prism's heat pulse. Metallic links liquefied—but the recoil split a glowing fracture across Volcano's surface. The Prism dimmed, its ember-heart winking erratically.
Maya's eyes widened. "Overload threshold! Another burst and it's slag."
A Sentinel slipped past Nephis, blade plunging toward Lin Xi. He redirected it with a last Qi-pulse—then a whip of tether yanked him off the platform, sending him crashing to a lower gantry shrouded in smoke.
"Aiden," Lin Xi's voice crackled, "they're after Dawnlight. They know we're weakest there." He coughed, audio distorting. "I can hold them… a little."
Race for Dawnlight
Maya's holomap projected a new timer: Node collapse in 600 k-cycles. She locked eyes with Aiden. "We get Dawnlight or we lose everything—Cassie, Coral, the Loom."
Nephis, panting, tossed a melted tether aside. "Go. I guard the node."
Aiden nodded, magnetic boots clicking to a rising maintenance rail. Maya sprinted after him. They clambered through broken ribs of starlight, climbing toward a flickering corona where Dawnlight Prism's radiance flickered weakly beneath rubble.
Behind them the Weft Cannons rebooted, tubes glowing for a synchronized salvo. On comms Cassie screamed a warning: "Incoming macro-burst—Duck!"
The volley scorched overhead, vaporizing an entire catwalk section—and Lin Xi's signal vanished into static.
Dawnlight Entombed
Aiden and Maya reached the upper tier—an island of bent framework half-hanging over the abyss. Dawnlight Prism lay beneath a lattice of fused beams, its once-brilliant light reduced to a thready spark.
Maya dropped to her knees, activating her multi-tool. "Beams are charged with anti-resonance; if we cut wrong we rupture the Prism."
Aiden steadied her hands with his. "Synchronize cuts on my count—Heart Core pulse will neutralize the charge."
She swallowed hard, tears mixing with soot. "Three… two… Now!"
Heart Core flashed. Maya's tool sliced. Beams cracked apart— but beneath them a sphere of tangled code-roots clung to Dawnlight's facets, draining sparkle into black veins.
"It's fused!" Maya cried. "Council has seeded a taproot."
The timer ticked: 400 k-cycles.
Aiden clenched the Volcano Prism—its ember flickered weakly within the crack. "One ignition left. If I channel Volcano's core through the taproot we might cauterize it— but the Prism will shatter."
Maya met his gaze. "Volcano's gone anyway. Trade one life for many."
He exhaled. "On zero. Brace."
He pressed Volcano's fracture to the taproot. Ember flared—taproot writhed, Dawnlight's glass screaming. Heat rippled; the Prism brightened—Volcano split with a sound like thunder, cinders spiralling outward.
When the glare subsided, Dawnlight shone whole, freed. Volcano lay in molten shards—but the node's collapse timer froze at 120 k-cycles, then eased upward, stabilizing.
Maya grabbed the luminous gem. "Back to Coral—GO!"
Downfall of a Guardian
They sprinted downward as new alarms filled the comm. Nephis shouting, "More Cannons—can't hold—" Static swallowed his voice.
Aiden's heart lurched. As they cleared the final bend, flames and shadow burst across the node platform. Sentinel bodies littered the deck—but Nephis knelt, cloak shredded, clutching his side where a glowing tether blade protruded.
Coral Prism still thrummed—but barely; Temple's aurora flickered. Cassie was on the floor beside Lin Xi, who lay unconscious, pulse weak.
Maya dropped to Lin's side, Dawnlight Prism in one hand, tears streaking grime. "Qi pathways failing—he overextended."
Nephis's whisper barely carried: "The Recompiler… sent its core. Prime Weaver… coming."
Aiden knelt, hefting the Dawnlight Prism toward the socket. "Then we seal the node and pray it's enough."
He slid the Prism home. Dawn's radiance surged, fusing with Coral and Temple threads. The safeguard hummed louder— Loom stresses easing another breath.
But behind them, the star-bridge split open. A colossal silhouette descended—constellations swirling across an obsidian cloak.
The Prime Weaver had arrived in person, its voice echoing like the end of worlds: "Guardians, your song ends here."