The rift above Neptune widened until it split the night into ribbons of light. Every sensor in the Citadel shrieked at once; data-streams crashed under the weight of readings that refused to make sense. Through the glass hull, the stars no longer shone, they rippled, as if seen through water that stretched in every direction.
Kaelen stood alone on the outer deck, the pale glare of the fissure washing across the plating. The Forge pulsed in his chest like a second heartbeat. Each pulse sent a faint vibration through the railing, a low metallic hum that only he could hear.
"Stabilizers are failing," Lyra said from behind him. She was leaning over a console, one hand steadying herself against the trembling floor. Her voice was controlled, but there was a rough edge to it now, the edge of someone who had stopped pretending she wasn't afraid. "The field's folding in on itself. Whatever's causing that, it's using your frequency as an anchor."
Kaelen didn't turn. "I'm aware."
"You sound calm for a man whose name is on every alarm."
He gave a faint, humorless smile. "If I panic, the rest of you will."
The Forge spoke, its voice smooth and cold.
"Dimensional density increasing. Compression limit in twenty-three seconds."
Then the light above them bent inward.
The rift did not open so much as invert; the universe seemed to pull inside out. Static filled the air, and for an instant, Kaelen felt as though his bones were being rewritten. A silhouette took form in the tear, thin, human-shaped, but wrong in the details. Its outline jittered, sometimes taller, sometimes shorter, never settling.
Lyra drew in a breath. "Is that…?"
"It's not from this side," Kaelen said. The Forge brightened in response.
When the figure spoke, it did so directly into their minds.
"Cortex Signature 07-A confirmed. You breach too quickly. The Axium Flow must remain unbroken."
The words weren't sound; they were impressions forced into thought. The language bent halfway through each sentence, rearranging itself before it reached the ear. Kaelen's head throbbed with it.
He clenched his fists. "Identify yourself."
"Designation irrelevant. Function: correction."
Lyra's screen hissed and died. She cursed softly. "It's jamming everything. Command can't see us."
Then another voice came through, faint, distorted, but familiar.
"Kaelen…!"
He froze. "Seris?"
Static drowned her out. The Forge pulsed sharply.
"Signal origin traced. Temporal coordinates unstable."
A spark of light formed beside the rift. It grew, wavered, and then snapped into focus, Seris stumbled out of it, her armor scorched and her breathing ragged. She dropped to one knee, clutching a module that sputtered with dying energy.
Lyra's eyes widened. "You…, where have you been?"
Seris coughed, forcing a smile. "The edge of time's throat. Don't recommend it."
Kaelen moved toward her, but she waved him off. "I followed the Titans' trail past the Oort gate. Found… something. A machine older than their wars. It pulled me into a temporal fold." She glanced at the fissure. "Looks like I wasn't the only one who made it back."
The mirrored being turned its faceless gaze toward her.
"Intrusion source confirmed. Temporal anomaly interfering with Axium stabilization."
Seris steadied herself, meeting its stare. "You're not supposed to be here either."
"Correction protocol initiated."
The air imploded.
Kaelen moved before he thought. One instant he was standing beside Seris, the next he was colliding with the creature mid-air. The Forge flared, and for a heartbeat they both vanished, space folding around their impact point. A shockwave of silver light rippled across the deck, hurling Lyra backward.
"Kaelen!" Seris shouted, gripping the railing.
The two figures reappeared fifty meters above the platform. Kaelen's fist connected with the creature's chest, and the void around them screamed. The strike didn't draw blood; it tore frames of reality. He landed hard, knees bending to absorb the recoil, sparks scattering from his boots.
The creature re-formed instantly, its body rearranging itself through multiple perspectives. Every time it moved, Kaelen saw three versions of it, past, present, and potential, overlaying one another like a broken projection.
The Forge spoke rapidly.
"Combat analysis: opponent exists in four spatial vectors simultaneously. Predictive countermeasures at sixty-two percent reliability."
Kaelen grinned, sharp and humorless. "Good enough."
He lunged again. This time the Cortex reacted before the Forge's words finished; threads of light coiled around his arms, guiding the trajectory. The impact bent air, and for a moment, gravity inverted. The Citadel's outer hull creaked as energy rolled across it.
Lyra crawled to the nearest console, half-blind from the glare. "He's going to tear the station apart!"
Seris joined her, rerouting power to the stabilizers. "If we cut the field now, they'll both drop into the fissure."
"Then what do we do?"
"We hold it together," Seris said, fingers flying across the keys. "He needs a ground to return to."
Above them, Kaelen vanished and reappeared in a flicker. Each time, the clash created ripples of frozen rain, tiny spheres of water suspended in mid-air, time staggered around him. He caught the creature by what should have been its throat and drove it downward, slamming it into the deck. The plating buckled, heat blooming outward.
The being convulsed, its body fracturing into dozens of mirrored fragments. From each fragment came a whisper, overlapping and discordant.
"You cannot sustain Axium without consequence. You are not built for this plane."
Kaelen's breath came ragged. "Then I'll rebuild myself."
He raised his hand, the Forge responding instantly. Metallic filaments streamed from his palm, forming a spiral that hummed with violet light. When he drove it forward, the fragments screamed in unison. Light engulfed the platform; everything turned white.
For several seconds, there was nothing but silence.
Then the light faded.
Kaelen stood alone amid scorched metal. The rift above was closing, though faint echoes of the being's form lingered like afterimages on water. He looked down at his arm, the filaments had fused into his skin, glowing faintly. The Forge spoke softly.
"Integration complete. Cortex parameters rewritten. New resonance field detected: Axium alignment."
Seris approached carefully, limping from the shockwave. "You absorbed it."
Kaelen didn't answer.
Lyra's voice crackled through the comms. "Kaelen… global readings just spiked. Every satellite near Titan is showing a new rift forming, bigger than this one."
Seris turned toward the horizon. Even from Neptune, the faint shimmer of the new tear was visible against the black sky. She swallowed hard. "They're not stopping."
Kaelen's expression didn't change, but the air around him seemed to tighten. The Forge's hum deepened, resonating with his heartbeat.
"Warning," it murmured. "Prolonged Axium exposure will alter cognitive architecture."
Seris laid a hand on his shoulder. "You're changing too fast. If you keep pushing, you'll lose what's left of you."
He looked at her, eyes now faintly silver. "Maybe that's the point."
For a long moment, no one spoke. The Citadel groaned around them, its lights flickering like tired eyes. In the distance, the new rift spread wider, a perfect circle of darkness devouring starlight.
Lyra exhaled shakily. "Then what now?"
Kaelen stepped to the edge of the platform, staring into the void. "Now we evolve again."
The Forge whispered, "Then let evolution begin."
Far beyond Neptune's orbit, the stars bent inward, and the universe held its breath.