The Citadel drifted over Neptune's night side, half-hidden beneath the planet's cobalt storms. Inside, the command decks throbbed with quiet energy. Panels glowed dimly, the air filled with the steady pulse of reactors syncing to Kaelen's new resonance.
He moved through the corridors without touching the walls. The ship knew him now, doors opening before he reached them, lights adjusting to his heartbeat. Since the integration, his presence carried a subtle gravity, a sense that space bent a little to accommodate him.
Seris followed a few steps behind, reading the diagnostics on her wrist console. "Every system's latency dropped to zero. It's like the Citadel's anticipating commands before they're issued."
Kaelen didn't slow. "That's the Cortex. It's learning through me. The Forge just opened the channel wider."
Lyra's voice echoed over the intercom. "Then we've got a problem. Two, actually."
They entered the command bay. Holographic displays filled the air, orbital maps, sensor grids, energy readings. Lyra pointed to a cluster of red flares orbiting Titan. "Problem one: the Titans just sealed their Council chambers. No transmissions leaving or entering. Problem two…"
She rotated the projection. A ripple spread from the outer edge of the solar lattice, a disturbance shaped like a spiral wave, moving inward at impossible speed.
"It's not a rift," she said. "It's something coming through one."
Kaelen studied it. The Forge vibrated faintly in his chest. "Fourth-dimensional matter."
Seris frowned. "You mean a being?"
"No," he said. "A construct."
The spiral wave struck the edge of the system twenty hours later. No explosion, no flash, just a pulse. Instruments failed, restarted, then failed again. Space itself seemed to ripple.
Kaelen stood on the exterior observation deck when the pulse hit. The air shimmered; his breath crystallized mid-motion. For one instant, everything froze, the clouds of Neptune, the hum of the ship, even sound. Then came the whisper.
Conduit located. Interface attempt #2.
The world resumed. A figure coalesced before him, tall and translucent, as though sculpted from refracted light. Its edges vibrated, flickering through multiple poses at once.
Kaelen's fingers twitched toward the Forge. "You again."
We = Echo. Form derived from your perception. You understand now what you touch.
Kaelen stepped closer, studying the being. "You're data given shape."
We are structure beyond curvature. We did not intend collision.
"Yet here you are."
Containment fractures. Pattern collapses. Your Titans knew.
Kaelen's pulse quickened. "They built the lattice."
Built, then forgot purpose. Cage without key. We observe to preserve.
The figure's tone shifted, vibrating through several timbres. "Axium is bridge; not weapon."
Kaelen felt the Forge flare, reacting instinctively. The Echo tilted its head.
You altered the bridge.
Kaelen's voice hardened. "You forced me to."
Correction: you chose. Choice creates dimension.
The being flickered, splitting into a dozen overlapping frames before collapsing into light and dispersing. The hum of the Citadel returned; time felt normal again.
Seris' voice broke through the comm. "Kaelen, readings spiked off the chart, what happened?"
He exhaled. "They call themselves Echo. And they claim the Titans lost control of the lattice ages ago."
Hours later, Seris stood in the archive chamber, staring at a holographic slab of Titan's recorded data, encrypted layers that only Kaelen's upgraded Cortex could now decode. He stood beside her, projecting lines of light through the air, rewriting encryption in real time.
The recording finally cleared, revealing a grainy image: a Titan, not as it appeared now, colossal and formless, but smaller, mechanical, almost human in outline. Around it stood others, constructing a massive framework.
Seris leaned forward. "That's the lattice generator."
Kaelen nodded. "They weren't born cosmic. They became it. Engineers, not entities."
Footage flickered, machines collapsing, one Titan enveloped by light as its body stretched beyond visibility. Then static.
"Axium exposure," Kaelen said. "They transcended physical limitation by accident. They didn't master the Fourth Realm; they merged with it."
Seris swallowed. "So the Titans are… the first victims."
"Victims," Kaelen murmured, "or prototypes."
The Forge pulsed urgently.
"Axium resonance climbing. New breach forming near Earth's orbit."
Lyra's voice cut in. "We can't intercept in time. The wave will reach the colonies before we even clear Neptune."
Kaelen turned toward the window. "Not if we fold."
Seris blinked. "You mean a dimensional jump? The Cortex can't handle that scale."
"It can now." He tapped the Forge. "We synchronize with the Axium lattice. Instead of fighting the current, we ride it."
Lyra hesitated. "That's never been tested."
Kaelen's lips curved faintly. "Everything worth doing starts that way."
The Forge's tone deepened.
"Calculating spatial inversion route… Ready."
"Do it," Kaelen ordered.
The Citadel vibrated, light bending around its hull. Space thickened, colors stretching, the stars warping into lines. Seris gripped the railing as the view turned inside-out, Neptune vanished, replaced by a black ocean threaded with arcs of white.
Then, silence.
A single planet appeared ahead, suspended in emptiness. Blue, clouded, faintly luminous.
"Earth," Seris whispered.
But the planet was wrong. Above its atmosphere, thin fractures of light spider-webbed across orbit like glowing scars. Massive structures drifted between them, rings of unknown material, humming with energy.
Kaelen's expression darkened. "They've been preparing this. The Titans weren't just observing Earth, they were using it as the anchor."
Seris looked at him sharply. "Anchor for what?"
The Forge answered for him.
"For the final breach."
Kaelen's jaw tightened. "Then we end it here."
He turned toward the main console, eyes reflecting the blue shimmer of the planet below. "Prepare every weapon system. And Seris…"
She met his gaze. "Yes?"
"Whatever happens next, don't hesitate."
The Forge pulsed once, brighter than before.`
"Stage Three evolution available."
Kaelen closed his eyes. "Then begin."
Outside, the fractured sky over Earth began to glow. The Axium lattice trembled, its patterns shifting. And in the space between worlds, unseen by all but a few, the Echo watched, the first of the Fourth-Dimensional beings now fully crossing the threshold.
The end of the first arc had begun to take shape.