The Memory Core floated inches from Rourke's face, its swirling layers slowing as if examining him cell by cell. Every pulse it emitted echoed inside his bones. Seren shifted uneasily beside him, her hand instinctively resting on her hip—even though she had no weapon that could hurt something like this.
"Rourke…" she whispered. "If that thing tries to crawl inside your head, I swear—"
"It already has," he murmured.
But he didn't back away.
The relic brightened.
"To understand how to stop the Obsidian Engine,
you must understand how it was born."
The ground beneath them shifted.
Glass-like tiles rearranged themselves.
Lines of light unspooled like threads.
The shattered sky flickered—
And suddenly they weren't standing in a fractured dimension anymore.
They were standing inside a star.
Not a real one.
A memory of one.
Seren stumbled. "Woah—WHOA. Did we just—?"
The guide steadied her.
"We are inside a Solarii echo-projection.
An imprint of a moment recorded by their ancestors."
The Core drifted forward, leaving a comet trail of gold and blue.
Rourke stared in awe.
Everywhere he looked was blazing white fire—yet the heat didn't touch him. Plasma storms swirled beneath transparent walkways. Magnetic arcs curved into shapes that resembled architecture.
A civilization built inside the heart of a sun.
"This is Solara Prime," the relic spoke softly.
"Our cradle.
Our sanctuary.
Our downfall."
The Birth of a Weapon
The star's interior shifted, revealing a vast chamber made of living light. Dozens of Solarii figures—ethereal, tall, luminous—stood around a massive dark sphere suspended above an energy well.
Seren stepped closer. "Is that… the Obsidian Engine?"
The Memory Core pulsed affirmatively.
"This was the prototype.
The first attempt to command the force of collapse."
Rourke felt the scene ripple inside him, as if the memory recognized his presence.
"Why build something so dangerous?" he asked.
The relic drifted nearer, its voice layered with sorrow.
"To save our dying sun."
The star around them flickered faintly, dimming in places. Swirls of black energy licked the edges of the chamber.
Seren whispered, "Your star was dying?"
"All stars die," the relic answered,
"but Solara Prime aged too quickly.
Our civilization drew its power faster than it could replenish itself."
Images flashed:
Solarii running diagnostics.
Gravity collapsing in pockets.
Elders arguing.
A child—silver-eyed—watching the sun tremble.
Rourke felt a chill.
He'd seen that child before.
In the Heart's dreams.
In the echo he touched during the sphere resonance.
"Who is that?" he asked.
The Memory Core dimmed, almost like a wince.
"…That was the Solarii destined to bond with the Heart.
Before the Hunters rebelled."
Seren frowned. "So the Hunters didn't start as enemies?"
"No.
They were our protectors."
The First Collapse
The scene shifted violently.
Alarms blared.
Gravity warped violently across the chamber.
Solarii scientists screamed warnings.
The Obsidian Engine crackled with dark flares—twisting with unstable gravitational knots.
A Solarii elder lunged toward a console.
Rourke felt the echo of the moment—
The Engine had reached runaway collapse.
"It's tearing the sun apart," Rourke whispered.
The Core's voice dropped to a grave whisper.
"Yes.
The prototype miscalculated the ratio of controlled collapse to stabilizing resonance.
The moment the Engine surpassed threshold… it devoured Solara Prime."
The memory skipped—
jumped.
Broke.
Then—
A star exploded.
Not outward.
Inward.
A sphere of brilliant light folded into a pinhead-sized speck—
then detonated into darkness.
Seren shielded her face even though it was only a projection.
"Oh gods—how many died?"
"Millions," the relic answered.
"Including the Heart's chosen."
Rourke's stomach twisted.
"So the Hunters saw… all this?"
The Memory Core throbbed.
"…They saw their creators destroyed by their own creation.
When the Obsidian Engine anomaly tore through Solara Prime,
the Hunters believed the Solarii had lost their right to wield such power."
Seren's eyes widened.
"So they rebelled."
"Correct."
The Truth in the Collapse
The memory dissolved, dropping them back onto the glassy terrain of the broken world.
The relic floated lower, dim and heavy.
"The Hunters were not evil.
They were afraid."
Rourke stepped closer.
"But they used the Engine again. On other worlds."
A pulse—
sadness mixed with anger.
"Yes.
Once they reclaimed the Engine…
they no longer trusted anyone to hold power equal to their own."
Seren crossed her arms, anger rising.
"So they became the very thing they feared.
Destroying instead of protecting."
The Memory Core hummed low.
"Fear breeds destruction when left without wisdom."
Rourke stared at the relic.
"Show me what they're doing now."
The Core hesitated.
Its light dimmed.
"…You are not prepared."
Rourke stepped forward, voice sharp.
"I am if it saves the universe."
The relic's glow intensified—
testing him.
Judging him.
Finally—
"…Very well."
A Vision of the Present
The world around them snapped.
In an instant, they stood in the void of space—
stars swirling like paint strokes around a colossal structure of black metal and shimmering gravitational wells.
Seren gasped. "What… is THAT?"
The guide trembled, its form destabilizing.
"The central Obsidian Chamber…"
The relic continued:
"…and the Hunters have nearly finished rebuilding it."
Rourke felt pressure around his ribs—
not fear.
Recognition.
The Engine's resonance felt familiar.
Too familiar.
"Why does it feel like…"
He gripped his chest.
"Like it's calling to me?"
The Memory Core drifted close.
"Because the Heart and the Engine were forged from the same star."
Seren froze.
Rourke's breath caught.
"What do you mean?"
The relic pulsed once, gravely.
"The Heart is the stabilizing half of the Solarii Sun.
The Engine is the catastrophic half."
Rourke's eyes widened as the truth sank in.
"The Heart and the Engine… are two halves of one cosmic power."
"Yes.
And if the Hunters activate the Engine fully…
the Heart inside you will react."
Seren backed away, face pale.
"React? How?"
The relic's light turned black for an instant.
"It will ignite.
You will ignite."
Rourke swallowed hard.
"And the result?"
"…The universe folds into a single point."
Silence.
A cold, impossible silence.
Then the relic added:
"Unless you master the Heart before they finish the Engine."
Seren grabbed Rourke's arm. "Then teach him. Teach him now!"
The relic floated higher, its form expanding.
"I will.
But be warned, Rourke Talon—
the training required to stabilize the Heart may kill you."
Rourke didn't flinch.
"Then let's begin."
Seren groaned, "I hate this plan."
The relic's glow intensified—
The ground cracked—
the sky shattered—
energy flooded the broken realm—
And Rourke stepped into the first lesson of a power that once destroyed a sun.