‘Wild,’ Molan growled, shaking out his shoulders. ‘I’ve jumped through wormholes with less kick than that.’
‘It’s efficient,’ Idan added, his gaze scanning the perimeter with a warrior’s instinct. ‘But I’d prefer a warning shot next time.’
A beautiful, familiar-looking creature with dusky skin and glittering eyes approached them.
She wore a deep plum velvet pantsuit and impossible heels that clicked rhythmically against the crystal floor.
‘This is Miko, our synth assistant,’ Maxim rasped.
‘Whatever you need, please let me know, and I’ll get it for you,’ she intoned, smiling with a winsome grace.
‘You’re almost Mirage’s twin,’ Sheba stated in wonder.
‘She’s close enough,’ Mirage announced, glimmering into being. ‘She’s my node with similar architecture and a few modifications theDraquisimplemented.’
Miko gave a cry of surprise as the two synths collided in an embrace.
‘It’s been too long, big sister,’ Miko murmured.
‘Indeed, little one,’ Mirage replied, the gilded mist of their mingling consciousness illuminating the hall.
Sheba shook her head in disbelief.
This was a world of ghostly dragons and machines she’d never imagined.
Her awe spiked into dread as yet another new figure emerged from the shadows.
The entity was a succubus of midnight mass who loomed a head taller than the gods beside her.
He possessed no facial features; his head was a smooth, unbroken void, excised from the heart of a black hole.
Light bent and died before it reached his outline, and the air around him was so cold that she caught drifts of a visible frost.
‘His name is Veruth, and he’s my Head of Security,’ Zavier murmured. ‘Now, please come with me.’
The group followed the prowling spectral man to the nerve center of the sanctum, a vault-bunker filled with artifacts that thrummed with ancient energy.
Miko ushered them into an observation room, a plexiglass-walled crucible suspended over the studio, offering a panoramic vista of a laboratory that was unlike any Sheba had ever seen.
At the core of the room was a glowing, glimmering core of energy.
Along the walls, shelves held diamonds and precious stones in varying grades, alongside a jeweler’s equipment and tools.
Below, Zavier prepped the workspace, as Sheba stood by Idan and Molan, enamored by the view through the transparent panes.
‘How many masks am I creating?’ the Dracolich master rasped.
‘Three, please,’ Molan confirmed.
With a nod, theDominibegan his work.
Zavier’s spectral hands moved with a blurring speed, weaving threads of light from star-gems, an ancient Paladian hex falling from Zavier’s lips, in a rhythmic, guttural chant.
‘We harvest the star jewels from the core of collapsing supernovas,’ Maxim explained as if it were a walk in the park.
Slowly, three visors materialized from within the ghostly flames.
Zavier grasped them one by one, revealing a trio of shimmering diamond masks that glowed with the wild fire of distant stars.
