The nine origin fire dragons coiled through the white-hot void like living constellations.
Each serpent was a thousand yards long, forged from concentrated planetary magma and starry solar flare. They twisted around the central floating dais with rhythmic, rumbling purrs that vibrated through Kaelen’s slippers.
Behind the dragons stood the Origin-Iron Door.
It rose eighty yards into the volcanic dome, cast from primordial meteor ore that absorbed all light. Swirling astral constellations were carved across its face, pulsing with the faint, suffocating heartbeat of the unfinished Eternal Pill resting inside the Inner Sanctum.
Hovering ten feet before the iron door was the golden flame-avatar of Sovereign Solon.
The avatar stood eight feet tall, cloaked in robes woven from liquid solar light. Nine interlocking celestial halos rotated behind his head, casting sharp, golden shadows across the floating basalt pathway.
His eyes were two pools of incandescent white fire, burning with the cold, absolute authority of a Half-Step Eternal master.
Kaelen walked at the head of the cart, his straw slippers clicking over the basalt stepping stones.
