Sovereign of Shattered Skies

The Goddess' Bargain

Li Na's scars blazed like fissures in a dying sun as Isvalla's presence coiled around her. The Storm's Eye, once a maelstrom of divine wrath, was now a graveyard of light, its silence more oppressive than any scream.

"You want my body," Li Na said, her daggers trembling. "But my soul isn't for sale."

"Souls are currency, child," Isvalla whispered, her voice echoing from the dust. "And yours is already spent."

Memories surged unbidden: Li Na as a girl, kneeling beside her mother's pyre. "The stars will guide you," the woman had rasped. "But never let them in."*

Anara stepped between them, her pistol aimed at the emptiness. "We don't need your help. We'll find the Aegis ourselves."

"You'll die screaming," Isvalla hissed. **"The Aegis is no shield. It's a mirror—and you'll shatter what's left of your fragile sky."

Kai's mark pulsed, the frostbite on his wrist spreading. [Synchronization: 25%.] "We're out of time. The armada's here."

Outside the viewport, the vanished gods' fleet descended, their fractal ships peeling reality like rotting fruit.

Cassian's Gambit

Cassian moved like a shadow, his chains discarded, his eyes void-dark. He pressed a shard of black ice to Li Na's throat. "Accept her. Or I'll carve you into a vessel myself."

Li Na laughed, bitter and sharp. "The god's still in you. Pathetic."

"No," Cassian said. "I'm in it."

His blade flickered—not toward Li Na, but into his own chest. Black ice erupted, then retreated, his eyes clearing. *"The Aegis… it's a trap. The Precursors built it to harvest gods. Not stop them."

[The ship lurched. A fractal tendril speared the hull, vaporizing a storage bay.]

The Tomb of Mirrors

The Aegis lay buried in the Storm's heart, a vault of prismatic glass reflecting endless versions of themselves—some triumphant, most dead. Anara decrypted the Precursor runes, her voice hollow.

"It's a battery. It absorbs divine energy and… repurposes it."

"Into what?" Kai asked.

"Power," Li Na said, staring at her reflection—a version of herself with starlight eyes. "Enough to destroy the armada. Or become one of them."

Cassian traced the glass, his blood smearing into fractals. "The Forgotten God showed me. The Precursors used the Aegis to drain their enemies, then stole their strength. That's why the vanished gods hate us. We're thieves."

[The reflections shifted, showing the Dawn's crew as tyrants, their hands dripping with starlight.]**

The Choice of Chains

Isvalla's voice returned, urgent. **"The Aegis will corrupt you. But with my power, you can control it. Let me in."

Li Na turned to Kai. "You trusted Cassian. Trust me now."

"No," Anara said. "There's another way. We use the Aegis raw—channel it through the ship. No vessels, no gods."

"That'll kill you," Kai said.

"I'm already dead," Anara snapped. "We all are. We just haven't stopped moving yet."

The debate died as the vault trembled. The vanished gods' scouts breached the chamber, their liquid metal forms swallowing the light.

"Decide!" Li Na shouted.

Kai looked at Cassian, then Anara. "We don't use the Aegis. We break it."

[The reflections screamed.]

The Shattered Sky

They fought back-to-back, plasma fire and daggers against devouring shadows. Li Na carved a path to the Aegis's core—a pulsating orb of trapped starlight.

"Do it!" Anara yelled, her pistol melting in her hands.

Li Na plunged her dagger into the core.

The Aegis exploded.

Light, raw and vengeful, shredded the vanished gods' scouts. But the blast kept growing, tearing the vault apart.

"Fools!" Isvalla wailed. "You've killed us all!"

Kai grabbed Li Na and Anara, activating Voidwalk. They slipped between realities as the Storm's Eye collapsed behind them.

The Price of Light

The Dawn floated in dead space, its hull cracked but intact. Cassian tended the engines, his hands steady, his eyes human.

"The armada's retreating," Anara said, disbelief coloring her voice. "The blast… it scared them?"

"No," Li Na said, her scars now glowing faintly. "It fed them. The Aegis's energy was a beacon. They'll be back. Hungrier."

Kai studied the mark on his wrist—now threaded with starlight. [Synchronization: 35%. New Ability: Stellar Burst.] "Then we'll be ready."

[The comms crackled. A voice, human and familiar, echoed: "This is Captain Renn of the Frostspire Remnant. Can anyone hear us? The gods are everywhere."*]