Location: Skyfortress Aegis – War Council Chamber
The chamber was too quiet.
Not the quiet of peace—this was the suffocating stillness before a blade found your back.
Aeris sat at the head of the long obsidian table, hands folded, gaze fixed on the flickering hologram before her. It wasn't a transmission. It was a presence—and every soldier in the room felt it pressing against their lungs.
The figure standing in the projection wasn't fully formed. Its outline shimmered like heat mirage, but the voice… the voice was painfully clear.
"We come to offer you a choice, Aeris Vale."
Lucien was at her right, arms crossed, jaw tight. "She's not interested."
The figure ignored him. "The Forgotten rise. The Ascendancy stirs. You cannot win. But you can reign—with us. All it costs… is yourself."
---
Aeris leaned back, her tone deceptively calm. "You mean you want me as your puppet."
"Not a puppet. A queen. The only queen. You will rule every soul that breathes. We will grant you power that makes your mother's empire look like a child's game."
"And in return?"
The figure's smile deepened. "You will open the gates. Let us into the human code. Let us rewrite it all. No more resistance. No more war."
---
Lucien took a step forward. "You're offering mass enslavement wrapped in a crown."
"We are offering survival," the voice purred. "Half the galaxy will be ash within months if you refuse. We've run the calculations."
Aeris's eyes flickered—just for a second. They had studied her enough to know exactly where to press: the part of her that could not bear to watch the innocent die because of her choices.
---
The figure's gaze locked on hers. "Millions, Aeris. Saved. All you have to do is stop fighting us."
A single beat of silence.
Lucien saw it—that flicker of doubt. He stepped closer, leaning down so only she could hear.
"Look at me," he murmured. "They're not offering you a bargain. They're offering you chains."
"They could save them, Lucien," she whispered back. "If they're telling the truth…"
"They won't save them. They'll hollow them out and wear their skins." His hand brushed against hers under the table, a subtle anchor. "And they'll hollow you too."
---
The figure tilted its head. "We sense your hesitation. You were made for this, Aeris Vale. To ascend. To sit on the throne that was denied to your mother. Let him go, and you'll see it clearly."
Her jaw tightened. "Let him go?"
"He is your weakness. We both know it. Remove him, and you will finally be perfect."
Lucien's expression didn't change, but she felt the shift in his grip beneath the table. He wasn't afraid—not for himself. Only for her.
---
She rose slowly, every movement deliberate. "You want me to believe you're offering me freedom when all you're giving me is a prettier cage. I've lived under one cage already. I burned it down. And I'll burn yours too."
The figure's smile didn't falter. "We will return. And when we do, you'll be begging for our chains."
The projection dissolved into black static.
---
Location: Observation Deck – Minutes Later
The stars were cruelly beautiful tonight. Aeris stood with her hands pressed to the glass, the reflection of the cosmos wrapping her in silver light.
Lucien joined her silently.
"You hesitated," he said quietly—not as an accusation, but as a truth between them.
"I thought… if I could save them all, maybe…" She trailed off, voice shaking.
He stepped closer, his reflection merging with hers in the glass. "You don't save people by giving them away, Aeris."
Her throat tightened. "Then how do I save them?"
"You lead them. You fight for them. And you never—ever—let anyone take you from you."
---
She turned then, meeting his gaze fully. The weight in her chest was heavy, but his eyes made it bearable.
"They'll come again," she said.
"Then so will we."
And in that quiet, star-drenched moment, his hand found hers—not to protect her, not to claim her, but to promise her that no matter how deep the darkness got, she would never stand in it alone.
--