The Silver Heir – Chapter 31: "The Captain's Eyes"
The hum of the Valkyrion's engines sounded wrong. Too slow—too human.
Rhea Vael opened her eyes to darkness threaded with silver veins. Her breath misted, and every exhale echoed like a whisper from something else breathing beside her.
"Status?" she asked.
No one answered.
She rose from the captain's chair and saw her reflection ripple across the bridge glass. The image lagged a heartbeat behind her. When it finally caught up, its lips moved again—without her.
"Do you remember my name?"
The voice wasn't hers. It was soft, ancient, soaked in lunar static.
Rhea stumbled back, clutching her head. Flashes surged behind her eyelids—Pearl's face, the collapsing Citadel, Kaelith's dying smile. Then light: cold, endless, spilling through her veins.
The bridge lights flickered on. Crew at their stations turned toward her in perfect unison. Eyes silver. Smiles wrong.
"Captain," Darek said, voice flat. "Course set for the Citadel core."
Rhea's pulse hammered. "We're already inside it."
The crew froze. Then, like puppets cut from strings, they slumped forward. A single voice spoke through all of them, layered and metallic.
"You were chosen because you saw the dawn. Now see what comes after."
Screens across the bridge bled with static until they formed an image: the Bone Citadel, but alive again—veins glowing, gates open. Something vast moved behind them, shifting like a body turning in sleep.
Rhea whispered, "Pearl… what did you do to me?"
"Not I," the voice replied. "The crown remembers its bearer."
The reflection smiled again, eyes bright as new stars.
"Welcome home, Heir."
Rhea's pupils flared silver.
The ship's systems roared to life, engines screaming as if dragged by unseen hands toward the resurrected fortress. Alarms blared; hulls groaned. She tried to override controls, but her hands wouldn't obey.
"Stop fighting," the voice cooed. "The universe needs its heart again."
Outside, the Citadel opened like a blooming eclipse. The Valkyrion plunged toward its light.
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