High above the clouds, the capital of Astralis shimmered in perpetual daylight. Massive aether pylons rotated around the Citadel of the First Light, distorting gravity and drawing power from anchored celestial bodies.
Inside the chamber of the Twelve Ascendants, silence reigned.
Until the Warden of Orders broke it.
"The Nullhound failed."
Murmurs rippled across the long obsidian table. One figure stood slowly — tall, cloaked in a mantle woven with orbiting shards of captured starlight.
"Then it's time," the woman said. "Let me go."
✦ Council Log: Subject – Commander Ilira Voss
Title: Starchanter of the Seventh Orbit
Affiliation: CelestiaCore Tactical Enforcer
Role: Riftborn Suppression Specialist
Designation: Starforged Executioner
☼ [Council Chamber – Aetherbound Corevault]
Ilira Voss stood before the vaults of the Ascendants, bare feet hovering an inch above the polished crystal floor. Her presence bent light subtly — not with heat, but with mass.
A thousand years ago, her line was crafted in the Eclipse Forges — warriors born not from blood, but from fused CelestiaCores.
She was the last of them.
"Send me," Ilira said. "Before the Riftborn becomes more than a name."
The High Ascendant tapped her index finger on the table.
"Kaien is still in his early evolution. He's no Voidbinder."
"Yet," Ilira answered.
She gestured, and her blade unsheathed itself from thin air — a spear of refracted gravity, wrapped in solar thread.
"The Nullhound couldn't adapt because it only mimicked structure. I devour it."
✦ Ilira's Power System: CelestiaCore – Polaris Class
Power Name Description
Stellar Pinion Materializes floating gravity spears that can fix an object in dimensional space — locking teleporters and Riftwalkers.
Orbitline Bind Anchors herself to celestial threads; allows her to fight upside down, reverse momentum, or sling gravitational force in arcs.
Solar Shear Compresses starfire into a blade-thin slash that slices through unstable aether (like Rift folds).
Aphelion Grasp A passive field around her that distorts ranged attacks and weakens unstable cores.
Judgment Zenith (Ultimate) Channels stored solar pressure into a beam of mass-folding force — collapses localized space while pinning the target mid-fold.
She walked down the steps as the Council opened a viewing rift.
A projection of Kaien shimmered into view — fighting the Nullhound, folding space, adapting. Even wounded and exhausted, he was learning.
Ilira narrowed her eyes.
"He's dangerous," one Ascendant said.
"He's Riftborne," said another. "That core is unstable. He'll destroy himself."
Ilira remained quiet… then smiled faintly.
"Maybe. Or maybe he'll force the Rift to choose a side."
☼ [Private Orbit – Ilira's Warpod, Asterion Vow]
Later that day, Ilira stood at the edge of her drop bay, arms folded, staring down at the wildlands far below — the last known signature of the Nullhound before its collapse.
Her second-in-command approached.
"Commander. We've isolated Rift dissonance in sector Delta-Fold. It's weakening. Stabilizing."
Ilira grinned.
"He's learning."
She turned, cloak trailing stardust in her wake.
"Good. Let him. Let him feel strong. Let him build hope."
Her voice grew quiet.
"Then I'll burn it into the stars."
End of Chapter 7.