Sera couldn’t move.

Her mother stood only a few steps away.

Alive.

Real.

Not a hologram.

Not a memory.

Her mother looked exactly as she had in the recording.

But there was something different in her eyes.

Fear.

“Sera,” she whispered.

Sera’s voice finally returned.

“You’re my mother.”

Her mother nodded.

“Yes.”

“You lied to me.”

“I was trying to keep you alive.”

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

Sera’s voice cracked.

“First Grandmother. Then Cael. Now you.”

She looked around the room.

“Who is telling me the truth?”

Nobody answered.

The alarms continued.

Red light swept across the palace walls.

Sera’s mother stepped closer.

“My name is Lyra Aster.”

Sera stared at her.

“Why did you leave me?”

Lyra’s eyes filled with tears.

“Because your father wanted to kill you.”

The words struck harder than any weapon.

“My father?”

Lyra nodded.

“He discovered what you were capable of.”

“What am I capable of?”

Lyra looked at the glowing symbol beneath Sera.

“You can control the Heart.”

Cael interrupted.

“Lyra, we don’t have time.”

She turned toward him.

“You brought her here.”

“I had to.”

“You knew what would happen.”

“I know.”

Sera looked between them.

“What is the Heart?”

Lyra took a deep breath.

“Aetheria is not simply a city.”

She pointed toward the ceiling.

“It is a living system.”

The artificial stars above them began moving.

“Long before humans lived on Earth, something fell from space.”

Sera watched the stars form a strange pattern.

“A fragment of a dying world.”

Lyra continued.

“It contained energy unlike anything humanity had ever seen.”

“Moonlight?”

“Something older.”

Lyra touched the wall.

The palace changed.

A holographic image appeared.

A gigantic silver structure floated through space.

“It was called the Aether Core.”

Sera stared.

“Your ancestors built Aetheria around it.”

“Why?”

“To control it.”

Lyra’s voice became bitter.

“They believed unlimited energy would make humanity immortal.”

The image changed.

Cities appeared.

Spacecraft.

Artificial planets.

Millions of people.

“Aetheria became the center of human civilization.”

Then the image turned dark.

“Until your father discovered the truth.”

Sera looked at her.

“What truth?”

“The Core was alive.”

Silence.

“It wasn’t a machine.”

Lyra continued.

“It was a consciousness.”

Sera remembered the voice from the palace.

MY DAUGHTER HAS RETURNED.

“The voice…”

Lyra nodded.

“The Heart knows you.”

Sera stepped backward.

“Why?”

“Because you were born from it.”

Sera stared at her mother.

“What?”

Lyra’s voice softened.

“You were not created naturally.”

Sera’s face went pale.

“Then what am I?”

“You are human.”

Lyra stepped closer.

“But your DNA carries the Aether Core’s energy.”

Cael looked toward the palace doors.

“We have to leave.”

A violent explosion shook the building.

The Dominion soldiers were approaching.

Lyra grabbed Sera’s hand.

“Come with me.”

Sera hesitated.

Then she followed.

They entered a secret corridor beneath the palace.

Cael followed behind them.

Grandmother came last.

The corridor descended deep into the city.

Sera looked through the transparent walls.

Below them was something enormous.

A glowing sphere.

Blue and silver energy moved inside it like a heartbeat.

“Is that the Heart?”

Lyra nodded.

“Yes.”

Sera stopped.

It was beautiful.

And terrifying.

Suddenly, the sphere pulsed.

A wave of energy traveled through the city.

Every light turned white.

Sera heard a voice inside her mind.

SERA.

She closed her eyes.

“Who’s there?”

YOU HAVE BEEN AWAY TOO LONG.

Images appeared in her mind.

Her childhood.

The lighthouse.

Her grandmother.

Her mother holding her as a baby.

But then another memory appeared.

A man.

Her father.

He was standing beside the Heart.

He was crying.

“I can’t do this.”

A younger Lyra stood behind him.

“You have no choice.”

Her father looked at a newborn baby.

Sera.

“She’ll die if we stay.”

Lyra shook her head.

“She’ll die if we leave.”

Then her father turned toward the Heart.

“I’ll take her.”

The memory disappeared.

Sera opened her eyes.

“My father didn’t betray you.”

Lyra stopped walking.

“What?”

“He tried to save me.”

Lyra’s expression changed.

Sera continued.

“I saw it.”

Her mother looked confused.

“That memory was sealed.”

“Not anymore.”

The Heart pulsed again.

This time, everyone heard the voice.

HE DID NOT BETRAY AETHERIA.

Lyra stepped backward.

“No.”

HE SAVED MY CHILD.

Cael looked at Sera.

“The Heart considers you its daughter.”

Suddenly, the lights went out.

A man’s voice echoed through the corridor.

“You finally understand.”

Sera turned.

A figure stood at the end of the corridor.

Tall.

Wearing a dark coat.

Silver hair.

Sera’s breath stopped.

Her mother whispered:

“Daniel.”

Her father stepped into the light.

Alive.

Older.

But unmistakably hers.

Sera stared at him.

“You…”

He smiled sadly.

“I’m sorry, Sera.”

She ran toward him.

But before she could reach him, Cael raised his weapon.

“Don’t.”

Sera stopped.

“Why?”

Cael’s eyes were filled with fear.

“Because that’s not your father.”

The man smiled.

His eyes suddenly turned completely black.

And the Heart began screaming.

INTRUDER DETECTED.

The entire city shook.

The man looked at Sera.

“You were never supposed to awaken.”

Then the floor beneath him cracked open.

Something enormous climbed out of the darkness.

A creature made of silver light and black smoke.

Lyra whispered:

“The Voidborn.”

The creature opened its eyes.

And every star above Aetheria went dark.