The fleet was mobilizing.
Elias stood on the observation deck of The Vanguard, the command carrier leading the expedition back to The Nexus. Through the reinforced viewport, he could see the docking bays alive with activity—squadrons of Valkyrie-class fighters being prepped, engineers making final checks on the pulse disruptors, and specialized containment units being installed across the fleet.
This wasn't just a research mission anymore.
It was a war effort.
Sienna stepped beside him, her arms crossed. "Hard to believe, isn't it?" she murmured. "Less than a week ago, we were just scientists chasing anomalies."
Elias exhaled. "Now we're the first line of defense against something that shouldn't even exist."
Sienna shot him a look. "Do you really think we can stop it?"
Elias didn't answer immediately. The truth was, he wasn't sure.
The Nexus had sealed one breach. But the map they had seen back on Helios had shown dozens forming across the galaxy. Whatever was on the other side, whatever the Forgotten truly were—they weren't waiting anymore.
They were coming through.
And soon, no force in the universe would be able to stop them.
Roarke's voice cut through the ship's comms.
"Final fleet synchronization complete. All vessels, prepare for jump to Nexus coordinates."
The countdown began.
Elias turned to Sienna. "Once we're back there, we have to figure out what the Nexus wants us to do."
Sienna's brow furrowed. "You think it's giving us a choice?"
Elias hesitated. "I think it already has."
Then the countdown reached zero.
The fleet jumped.
---
The transition through hyperspace was violent.
The Vanguard rattled as the surrounding void twisted and bent, the anomalous energy signatures of The Nexus interfering with their drive calculations. Elias felt a momentary pull—like his body was lagging behind reality itself.
Then—
They arrived.
The Nexus loomed before them, its golden energy unstable. Massive tendrils of darkness were coiling around it, pulling, tearing at the seal.
And beyond it, in the deep void…
They were waiting.
Hundreds of Forgotten constructs, their forms shifting like broken reflections in time. Warships, titanic and grotesque, flickering in and out of dimensional stability. At the center of them all, a singular, towering figure stood—a silhouette of absolute darkness, its form twisting reality around it.
Sienna inhaled sharply. "Elias… tell me I'm hallucinating."
Elias's pulse thundered in his ears. He had seen them before. In visions. In nightmares.
But this was real.
The Forgotten Sovereign had arrived.
And the war for the universe was about to begin.