I heard it the moment the doors parted.
"—incompetent," Daryus roared, his voice echoing off metal and crystal alike. "If they cannot hold a perimeter without—" I barely caught sight of a form standing in the center of the room before the holovid cut abruptly, followed by a flying vase. It shattered spectacularly against the far wall. I took one stepinside and stopped, assessing. The suite was vast, designed not for comfort but for dominance, with vaulted ceilings and layered shielding disguised as art. Windows framed a spectacular view of space and the Dark Abyss, now at a more respectable distance. Everything about the space spoke of carefully curated power. A female, who had to be the Empress Heather, stood near Daryus, utterly unflinching.
"Oh no," she said mildly, surveying the wreckage. "I liked that one."
Daryus spun toward her, fury still crackling through him like a live wire. "They will answer for this."
"They always do," she replied, stepping closer. She placed one hand flat against his chest, fingers splayed over his skin, and I prepared myself to interfere. She was so much smaller than he was. Fragile. "But not if you rupture a vessel before dinner."
His breathing slowed. Not immediately, but itdidslow. I watched carefully. Daryus was a large male. Larger than most Pandraxians, built like a siege engine given flesh. He could have broken her neck with minimal effort, anger making it easier rather than harder. Still, the empress did not hesitate. She never raised her voice. Never stepped back. She simply grounded him.
That took courage. Or trust so absolute it bordered on madness.
Daryus exhaled sharply and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, the worst of the storm had passed. That's when he noticed me. "Dravok, you're early."
"I considered leaving," I replied honestly.
Heather turned, giving me her full attention. The Empress of the Pandraxian Empire was human, like Nadine, but where Nadine burned with restless intellect, Heather radiated something steadier. She moved with quiet confidence; her presence was neither submissive nor defiant. Her hair was golden—a little darker than Nadine's—worn loose over oneshoulder, her expression warm but sharp-eyed. I couldn't help but get the feeling that nothing escaped her.
"I'm glad you didn't," she said. "Dinner is already a battlefield. An extra warrior won't hurt."
A corner of my mouth twitched before I could stop it. She had called me a warrior—when I was a god—but I supposed I could forgive the misclassification. Mortals often lacked the appropriate scale. Perhaps that was how she survived him, Daryus.
Dinner itself was… illuminating. Mostly because Nadine sat across from me, looking as beautiful as sin. She wore her hair down, soft waves framed her face, and the color caught the light in a way that made her eyes seem impossibly vivid. She wore a flowing dress—simple, elegant, entirely unsuited to a warship—and somehow that made her presence more disruptive rather than less. I tried not to look at her and failed miserably.
She held her eating utensil—some Pandraxian-human hybrid that resembled a spork, according to Heather's thoughts, which I quickly probed—with absolute seriousness, as if it were an instrument requiring precision. Her brow furrowed slightly when she concentrated. I had fought wars that consumed star systems, and here I was being undone by the way her eyes narrowed when she disagreed.
"So," she said, fixing me withthatlook. "You keep saying the Abyssabsorbsplanets. That's not how gravity works."
"It's how the Abyss works," I corrected evenly.
She scoffed. "That's not an explanation. That's mythology."
Daryus said nothing. He was watching. Measuring.
"The Abyss is older than your equations," I continued, unbothered. "It does not consume immediately. Itwaits. It accumulates mass, memory, consequence."
"That's poetic," Nadine shook her head, amusing me. I'd been called many things, but nobody had ever accused me of being poetic. "Not empirical."
I leaned back slightly. "Give it time."
Her lips pressed together. "That's not science."
"No," I agreed, enjoying our little war of words. "It's experience."
Her nostrils flared. "You're enjoying this."
She caught on quickly. I was. Frygg. But I wasn't about to stop either. "I'm stating facts," I threw out another hook. "You're the one reacting emotionally."
Heather hid a smile behind her drink. Daryus eventually set his glass down with deliberate finality, interrupting our little war of words. "Dravok, why don't you tell us more about those Mmuhr'Rhongs. Zapharos mentioned they're different from the ones we've encountered in this universe."
Nadine looked confused, "Mmuhr'Rhongs?"
I exhaled slowly; the Mmuhr'Rhongs weren't anything I wanted to discuss. Still, I felt compelled to explain, "They are a swarm. A consuming force that moves between systems, stripping them of resources, life, and memory. We thought them contained to Nox Eternum, but we were wrong. They're destructive, dangerous, and utterly remorseless."
Nadine leaned forward slightly. "So… parasitic entities? Self-replicating constructs?"
I shot her a look. "They arenotconstructs."
