Time moved.
On Cybertron, ideology hardened into banners.
Megatron rose from the mines, his words forged from grievance and fire. Optimus emerged from the archives, carrying hope like a burden rather than a weapon. What began as debate calcified into division, and division into war.
Darctavious Prime watched from afar.
Through folded observation nodes hidden within space-time, he witnessed the Long War ignite. Cities fell. Energon reserves vanished. Titans awakened only to die screaming. Each victory cost more than it gained.
Then came the moment Primus had shown him.
With Cybertron collapsing under the weight of its own conflict, Optimus Prime made his final choice. He launched the AllSpark the Cube into the far reaches of space, casting Cybertron's soul into exile to deny Megatron absolute victory.
Darctavious felt it pass.
A vast resonance rippled through reality as the Cube tore through folded dimensions, vanishing into the void. The portion of its power Darctavious had safeguarded pulsed in response stable, preserved.
The cycle continues, he acknowledged.
The war dragged on.
Millions of stellar cycles reduced to skirmishes, ambushes, and attrition. Cybertron became a hollowed relic, sustained only by hatred and memory.
Darctavious did not intervene.
Not yet.
Preservation sometimes required distance.