Locke and Big D rushed out of the tunnels back onto the surface. Behind them, their team struggled to carry Arros on a stretcher. The dark, crimson glow from the conduit stretched into the heavens like a pillar signaling the apocalypse.

  The battlefield was a smoking ruin of twisted metal and mutilated bodies scarred by the relentless bombardment of Nexus artillery. Communications were scrambled, equipment malfunctioned, and the disciplined formations of Nexus troops were devolving into chaos. Deep, rhythmic tremors shook the earth, cracks crawling outward like veins.

  Locke squinted his eyes, focusing on a familiar sight.

  “Are those Luminarian ships?“ he asked.

  Big D followed Locke's line of sight. “You can't tell by the Sentinels standing next to them?“

  Behind them, Aetherveil stumbled out of the tunnel, her armor battered.

  “They're not all gone,” she said with a small smile. “You guys look like you need a ride.“

  Locke shot her a glance, then turned to one of his men. “Rally the survivors. Quick.”

  “On it,” he replied. He sprinted toward the nearest coalition defensive line, weaving between wreckage and scattered debris.

  Aetherveil moved toward the Sentinels, the remnants of Luminaria’s elite. One of them straightened as she approached.

  “Ma'am. We came here looking for a fight,” his helmet tilted down slightly as he looked at the hole in her chest plate. “We didn’t expect to find you.”

  “The coalition pulled me off Luminaria,” she said, waving it off. “That’s a story we don’t have time for.”

  She stepped in closer. “How many did you save, Eury?“

  “Twenty thousand civilians. Five hundred Sentinels. A fleet of thirty-one ships…most of them commercial transports,” he replied.

  Aetherveil’s head dipped. Her insides burned, but she resisted the tears. Slowly, she lifted her head back up, locking eyes with him again.

  “All of you did more for our people than I did. You should be proud of yourselves,“ she said quietly.

  Eury straightened, his expression concealed behind his helmet. She wasn't surprised a warrior of his caliber survived.

  A resonant, low-frequency drone vibrated through her chest as the Sentinels' ships powered up. It was a sound she was all to familiar with. It reminded her of the training grounds on Luminaria, where recruits were being selected to join the Sentinel's ranks.

  Where she first met Lilyon.

  “We have two new candidates,” Eurymachos said, presenting the two young soldiers—their uniforms flawless.

  “It's been a hundred years. I didn't need advisors then, and I don't need them now, Eury,” Aetherveil replied.

  “You're a good leader, but a reckless person,” Eury said. “You need as many angels on your shoulder as you can carry.“

  He gestured for the man to step forward first. His golden eyes subtly contrasted his brown skin, and scars from the fires of many conflicts marked his face.

  “Psionus graduated the first phase of his training at only twenty years old with a near perfect record,” Eury said. “He was sent to Centauri where he successfully infiltrated their army's ranks as a lieutenant. After many victories across the Frontier, he was promoted to colonel. He completed his eight year phase two, ready to command his own Sentinel battalion.“

  Aetherveil gestured for the woman to step forward.

  “And who is she?“ Aetherveil asked. “She's a little…little. Don't you agree?“

  “This is Lilyon,” Eury said. “She is a prodigy. Her scores are exceptional, nor does she scare easy. She completed at twenty three, then joined the Valerian Navy. She served as an officer under the command of Admiral Reynolds of high command.“

  Aetherveil stepped up to her. Her eyes were level with Aetherveil's chest, not deviating from their path. At a mere five foot six, she was considered quite small by Luminarian standards.

  Aetherveil scoffed. “I trust your judgement, Eury, even if I think you're wrong,” she said. “I'll give her a chance. If you were anybody else, she wouldn't be leading any Sentinels, much less mine.“

  Eury dismissed them, clearing the room.

  “We have pressing matters to discuss,” she said.

  “Those concerns being the skirmishes in the Core?” Eury asked.

  “We need to get involved,” she said. “They can't keep their creation in check, and I don't want it breaking out.“

  “That is why you need advisors. You grow more arrogant every passing century,“ Eury replied.

  Aetherveil's eyes locked onto his.

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  “Don't lecture me,” she said. “They've lost three worlds to it already.“

  Eury stepped forward, his eyes never leaving hers.

  “I issued orders. Observe and report,” he said. “There's little risk to us. We're beyond their scopes, and we believe that includes the Nexus.“

  She turned away, looking out of a large window opening up to a training ground.

  “We'll see,” she said.

  Aetherveil exhaled. Eury had been right. Her arrogance cost Luminaria everything. It had cost her everything.

  “Can you get more transports down here?“ Aetherveil asked. “We're running out of time.“

  “Consider it done,” Eury replied, sprinting toward his ship.

  Aetherveil looked up toward the sky. The conduit was still building up energy. They had minutes. Maybe less.

  Locke and Big D joined Aetherveil's side.

  “Where is the evac?“ Locke asked.

  Big D swept the ruins. “Do we need flares, or—”

  He stopped.

  Aetherveil felt it too.

  “The gravity,” she said, looking at the ground.

  Her boots pressed harder into the dirt for a brief moment, then she felt weightless. Dust and debris lifted around them, hanging in the air. Bodies—both living and dead—drifted upward slowly. The Sentinel’s ships lifted off the ground momentarily, stabilizers burning white-hot as pilots fought against the fluctuating gravity.

  Then, just as suddenly, the weight returned. Everything crashed back down.

  “Locke, move!” Aetherveil shouted.

  Locke grabbed Arros’s stretcher with two others, hauling him toward the nearest dropship. The remaining coalition survivors were already running, dragging the wounded toward whatever ships remained.

  A Sentinel shouted from the landing zone.

  “More transports en route! Six minutes!”

  “Six minutes? We don't have six minutes.“

  The ground erupted.

  A gaping fissure tore through the battlefield. Aetherveil barely managed to stagger back as searing red light burst from the earth. The air warped, bending in waves that formed a dome above the chamber's location.

  What was left of the Nexus forces collapsed, their cybernetic bodies sparking and limbs convulsing. Aetherveil's skin prickled as an invisible force passed through her—a wave rippling outward in every direction.

  Aetherveil ran to Locke, grabbing his arm as he and Big D lifted Arros. She led them to the ship, helping them load Arros into the transport's hold.

  “Go,” she ordered.

  Locke looked at her. “You coming?” he asked.

  She looked past him—toward the conduit, toward the massive energy pillar.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” she said.

  The ship’s engines ignited. As the ramp closed, Big D pointed at her from inside.

  “If you die, I’m keeping your sword,” he called.

  Aetherveil smirked. “Try it.”

  The transport lifted off, joining the evac fleet as the sky burned around them. Aetherveil turned, gripping the hilt of her sword tighter as she faced the approaching collapse. Violent storms of crackling crimson arcs and gravitational distortions spread throughout the sky.

  The planet was dying.

  Aetherveil stood at the edge of the battlefield. Her ship was gone.

  She had to make sure everyone else got out. She wouldn't leave anyone else behind.

  Aetherveil led the evacuation, directing the remaining Loyalists to their transports.

  "We’ve got everyone loaded up," a lieutenant told Aetherveil as they piled into the last ship. "We’re ready to go."

  "Good," Aetherveil replied. "I’ll meet you at the extraction point."

  The Sentinel fleet lifted away, their engines burning bright as they broke free of the planet’s deteriorating gravity. The ground beneath her feet fractured, molten veins carved through the surface.

  "Move. Now."

  She turned and sprinted as the ground collapsed behind her. Entire sections of the planet lifted from the surface, floating weightlessly.

  Aetherveil vaulted over fallen Nexus machines, her body moving on motor memory.

  Gravitational shifts sent her into freefall for a moment before slamming her back to the ground, rolling as she barely avoided a falling boulder.

  She looked across the horizon.

  One dropship still hovered low, engines roaring as it tried to hold its position against the winds.

  Aetherveil locked onto it.

  “Maybe a hundred meters away.“

  She kept moving forward, ignoring the way her legs burned—ignoring the way the world pulled at her.

  A massive gravitational shockwave tore outward from the conduit, sending bodies hurtling into the sky.

  Aetherveil felt her feet leave the ground. She was weightless, spinning out of control. The world flipped over itself in a blur of motion.

  The dropship was getting farther away.

  "No."

  She reached out, twisting midair, forcing herself into a controlled spin. The ship’s ramp was still open. She focused, calculating the trajectory.

  She had one chance.

  She hooked her armor's tether to her sword, then threw it. The blade sank deep into the ship’s hull, embedding itself just inside the open ramp.

  Aetherveil clenched her hands around the cord, then she pulled. The momentum yanked her forward in an arc toward the ship.

  The impact against the ramp knocked the air from her lungs, but she didn’t let go. She dragged herself up, gripping the edge of the ramp as the ship banked away from the debris.

  A hand shot out, grabbing her wrist.

  “I’ve got you!”

  She let the Sentinel pull her up.

  The moment her feet hit the deck, the pilot gunned the engines.

  Aetherveil exhaled, hands on her knees.

  “That was cutting it close,” she muttered.

  The moment the ship broke free of the surface, turbulence hit like a hammer. The dropship was jerked around violently, its stabilizers cooking against the gravitational shifts.

  Arcs of electricity forked through the sky, flickering across the clouds. The entire atmosphere felt like it was trying to tear itself apart.

  Aetherveil braced herself against the bulkhead, her fingers locking onto the nearest rail as the ship rolled sharply to the right, dodging a chunk of rock tumbling past the viewport.

  The heat was unbearable. Gravity came and went irregularly.

  The dropship was sent into momentary freefall before returning, the hull groaning under the immense pressure. The pilot shouted as he was fighting the controls, the wind howling around the ship's plating. The comms were nothing but static, cut apart by the electromagnetic interference.

  Aetherveil pressed her forehead against the cold metal of the bulkhead, taking slow breaths.

  They weren’t out yet.

  A detonation from within the planet struck the dropship like a giant’s fist. The ship pitched hard, alarms screaming. Loose equipment and passengers tumbled into the ceiling.

  The ship rolled end over end, sent into an uncontrollable spiral. The viewport became a blur of red fire and black expanse.

  The pilot pulled back hard, thrusters burning hot. The hull shuddered as the dropship finally leveled out just as they breached the last layer of Paleon’s sky.

  The Sentinel fleet hovered above, their engines already burning for high orbit. The weightlessness vanished as the dropship's artificial gravity engaged, slamming everyone back to the deck.

  Aetherveil exhaled, gripping the cold metal railing beneath her.

  “That,” a Sentinel said from across the hold, “was bullshit.”

  Aetherveil laughed breathlessly, shaking her head as she finally looked out of the viewport.

  Paleon was gone. The conduit’s pillar had collapsed. A wave erupted outward from the planet, disabling all of the ships in it's path.

  The last remnants of Paleon’s atmosphere burned away, leaving nothing but a dying ember against the cold vastness of space.

  Aetherveil leaned back. They had barely made it.