The central void bridge between Moon Six and Moon Seven groaned as two pairs of armored boots stepped onto its obsidian span.
Sovereign Vael and Sovereign Nyx hovered three feet above the black stone, their celestial capes billowing in the vacuum.
Behind them, ten thousand Immortal Edict Guards stood in rigid, silent ranks. Their white enamel breastplates reflected the distant, dying light of Moon Five, their twin-bladed polearms held at absolute salute.
Below the bridge, the shattered plateau of Moon Six lay bare and smoking.
The great quartz domes that had sheltered the valley for five months had vanished, reduced to millions of glittering crystal shards drifting into the black void.
Only a solitary terrace of scarred star-granite remained intact around the waterfall pool.
“A pathetic display,” Sovereign Vael said, his voice echoing across the void like grinding millstones. “Five months of defiance, and their grand rebellion ends behind a broken cedar fence.”
Sovereign Nyx sneered, her pale silver eyes reflecting the glowing coals on the terrace.
