The shuttle tore through the upper atmosphere like a falling god.
Our destination loomed ahead—a dead star's child, silent and watching.
The Watcher.
Its hull was no ordinary metal. It was constructed from quantum-frozen starlight, interwoven with ancient sigils—constantly shifting, blinking in and out of this dimension. Only my presence kept it stable. Only my blood allowed it to wait.
"We're in docking range," Vel'Sarei said, strapping her voidblade to her back. "Tethers stable. Hull still dormant."
"For now," Daruun muttered. "Place gives me war-fog. Like it remembers pain."
"It does," I said, eyes fixed on the structure. "We're walking into a vault that was never meant to be opened."
"But we're not just anyone," Alis replied. "We're you."
She smiled slightly. It was the kind of smile that came before explosions.
The shuttle docked with a mechanical groan, pressurized seals hissing and locking into place. I could feel the system within me vibrating—not in resistance, but recognition.
"Open it," I commanded.
The Watcher responded.
A ripple of light pulsed through the docking gate as it twisted open, revealing a corridor of obsidian chrome and pulsating blue veins—like a living artery within a sleeping god.
We entered.
The inside of the Watcher was silent. No alarms, no defense mechanisms—yet. But there was movement in the walls. Memories. Echoes of the past flickered like afterimages in the corner of my eyes:
Armies kneeling before a figure of light.
Stars dying to birth a child.
A map being carved across galaxies.
And in every image, the same symbol: the spiral eye.
We reached a chamber pulsing with raw data—a Mind Core. Six pylons surrounded it, radiating temporal energy.
"This is the core consciousness," Vel'Sarei confirmed. "We extract this, and we gain access to the entire precursor matrix."
"Can it be moved?" Daruun asked.
"Not safely," Alis replied. "Not unless Jaden links with it directly."
"Which I will," I said.
I stepped forward.
The system flared.
[WARNING: INTEGRATING MIND CORE MAY OVERWRITE CURRENT SYSTEM]
Proceed?
Y/N
"Override.""Confirm lineage lock.""Proceed."
My hand met the surface of the core.
Light swallowed everything.
I fell—not through space, but through memory.
I stood on a bridge made of starlight, overlooking the collapse of a thousand worlds. The First Heir stood beside me—a version of me, perhaps, or a template I was crafted from.
"You've come far," he said, voice hollow. "But you are not yet complete."
"Then show me."
He pointed to the void beyond the bridge.
"The Grievers will not wait. They exist beyond linear time. Your awakening has already begun drawing them in."
"What do I need?"
"You must become what we were meant to be."
Behind him, the stars shifted.
A shape emerged—vaguely human, built of plasma and orbiting rings, with six wings made of data and flame. A final version. A future self.
"This is the Ascendant Protocol. It will overwrite your limitations. But it will come with a cost."
"What cost?"
"You will become more than human. And less than one."
I opened my eyes.
I wasn't in the chamber anymore.
I was floating above the Watcher—body still, soul alight.
My system blared:
[ASCENDANT PROTOCOL: UNLOCKED]
Subsystems gained:
– Multirealm Projection
– Tactical Time Dilation
– Gravimetric Constructor (Mk I)
– Dimensional Beacon: ACTIVATED
I crashed back into my body like thunder through glass.
"What happened?" Alis asked, her voice distant.
I stood.
"I remembered who I was supposed to be."
Above us, the Watcher began to shift.
No longer a ruin.
It was waking.
And it was mine.