The Gate had fallen silent, but its silence was not peace.
Even from orbit, the tremors of its awakening spread outward — invisible waves that rippled through space, bending the magnetic fields of Mars, rattling satellites, and reaching far beyond the red horizon.
—Earth Orbit, Seven Hours Later—
The Helios Station floated above Earth like a glass crown, its panels glimmering with sunrise. Inside, alarms screamed.
Dr. Helena Voss ran through the corridor, her tablet flashing with red indicators. "Containment surge in Mars sector! I need full sensor reroute now!"
A young technician shouted from across the room. "Ma'am, the readings just spiked past limit — quantum resonance pattern identical to the Eris transmission!"
Helena froze. Her voice came out cold and measured. "Patch it through."
On the main display, a storm of data resolved into an image — the Gate. It shimmered on the Martian surface, enormous, alive, surrounded by glowing fissures.
Helena whispered, "He did it…"
Behind her, Commander Idris stepped forward. "What are we looking at?"
"A breach," Helena said. "He's opened something that was never meant to open again."
---
—Mars Surface—
The crew watched the crater from a distance as their ship powered up. The Gate's energy had subsided, but a faint aurora drifted above it — a new sky forming over Mars.
Mara sealed her helmet. "Systems are stable. If we take off now, we can ride the outbound window before the planet's orbit shifts."
Kael nodded, tightening his straps. "Let's go before that thing wakes again."
Eris sat quietly in his seat, the glow of the shard pulsing faintly beneath his suit. He hadn't spoken since the Sentinel vanished.
Liora sat across from him, watching. "You're different now," she said softly. "The air around you feels heavier."
He turned to her. "I don't know what I've become… only that the Gate won't stay closed for long."
The engines roared. Dust lifted. The ship rose through the thin atmosphere, breaking free of Mars's grasp.
---
—Deep Space—
As they drifted into the void, the hum of the engines mixed with the silence of stars. The Gate still shimmered faintly behind them, shrinking into the distance.
Kael broke the silence. "You think Earth will let us land?"
Mara sighed. "If they believe we triggered that… they'll probably shoot us down first."
Eris looked out the viewport. "Then we give them proof. We show them what's coming."
He reached toward the shard's glow. For a moment, it pulsed — and a small holographic projection appeared, shimmering like a heartbeat. It showed seven fragments, floating across a galactic map, all linked by thin threads of light.
Liora leaned closer. "The Shards of Ascension…"
Eris nodded. "The Sentinel said I'd need all seven to open the path. The Gate was only the first key."
Kael muttered, "So the next ones could be anywhere — moons, planets, hell, maybe even Earth."
"Then that's where we start," Eris said. "Earth."
---
—Earth—
At that exact moment, in the control deck of Helios Station, a faint tremor ran through the walls.
Helena turned sharply. "What was that?"
The technician's eyes went wide. "It's… not from Mars, ma'am. It's here. We're detecting a resonance spike below the Indian Ocean."
Helena's pulse quickened. She opened a live satellite feed. Deep under the dark ocean, faint light pulsed — rhythmically, like the Gate on Mars.
She whispered, "Another one…"
Commander Idris frowned. "You think the two are connected?"
"Yes," she replied. "And if Eris carries what I think he does, he just linked both planets to the same frequency."
Idris clenched his jaw. "Then the war for the Sovereign's throne… has already reached us."
---
—Between Worlds—
As the crew's ship hurtled toward Earth, something stirred in the void behind them.
A distortion — silent, colorless — unfolded near Mars, like a shadow peeling off reality itself.
Through it, a shape emerged — metallic, skeletal, and vast, its form resembling an ancient ship made of bone and black steel. Within its core, a single red eye blinked open.
The Herald of the Void had awakened.
It whispered across the cosmos, its voice older than time.
> "The Heir has moved. The Gate breathes once more… Then the King shall rise."
The light of Mars flickered. The Gate's pulse flared again.
The race for the Sovereign had begun.