A year after the fall of the Eclipse, a ship arrived in the Arthoje system. It was not an Imperial vessel. It was sleek, ancient in design, and made of a familiar crystalline material. It hailed Dawnspire on a frequency that made the Living Stone sing in recognition.
The communication showed a being similar to Vaktari, but male, his form radiant and solid. "I am Valerius, of the Crystalline Diaspora. We felt the great resonance—the Awakening, the Dissonance, the Silence filled. We have been searching for the lost daughter of our house, Vaktari, and the heirs of her covenant for a thousand cycles."
The lost family of Vaktari had returned. They were not conquerors, but explorers, preservers of knowledge. They had fled the ancient cataclysm on different ships.
Valerius's message was an invitation. The galaxy was vast, filled with both wonders and horrors. The empire that enslaved Arthoje was but one rotten branch of a troubled galactic community. There were other oppressed peoples, other lost fragments of their ancient civilization, other Living Stones waiting to be awakened.
They offered knowledge, technology, and a place in a wider community.
The Concordat council debated. Was it time to look outward? Or was it too soon, too risky?
Skodar listened to the debates, but his mind was made up. He looked at Sukodar, now a confident young man with a gentle, powerful light. He looked at Makosra, content in her garden. He looked at the recovering Kaelen, who had finally opened his eyes a week prior, his gaze clear and free of pain for the first time.
Arthoje was safe. It was healing. It had good people to guide it.
His place was not here, in the peace he had built.
His place was out there,in the chaos where peace was needed.
He stood before the council. "We have built a beacon here. It is time to let it shine beyond our sky. I will go with Valerius. Not as a conqueror, not as an emissary of Arthoje, but as Skodar Vakhas. To find others like us. To share the Awakening. To be the bridge."
There were protests, fears, tears. But also understanding.
In the hangar of the crystalline ship, The Dawn Chaser, Skodar said his goodbyes.
To Makosra,a long, wordless embrace.
To Sukodar,a proud clasp of shoulders. "The mountain is yours now, brother."
To Vaktari…it was a look that held eons of gratitude and unspoken connection. She would stay, to guide their people. Her long vigil was over.
He boarded the ship. With him, he took a satchel containing a shard of the Living Stone, a Hudoj-pad leaf from Mohsi, and the broken data-core from Kaelen's original cybernetics—a reminder of what they had overcome.
As The Dawn Chaser ascended, breaking through Arthoje's atmosphere, Skodar looked down at the green and blue world, at the tiny light of Dawnspire on the mountain.
He was leaving home to protect the idea of home for others.
The slave was free.
The ghost was a legend.
The king had abdicated for a greater throne.
The bridge was reaching for the stars.