The descent was not a fall; it was an execution. The Aurelian Star, once the pride of Northern engineering, became a screaming comet of brass and burning drake-hide. As the Void-Acid shells from Viper's batteries ate through the magical stabilizers, the ship's Sun-core went critical, venting a blinding golden exhaust that trailed across the copper sky like a dying star.
Inside the bridge, gravity had become a fickle enemy. Gwen felt the world tilt at a violent forty-five-degree angle. Kaelen's arm was a band of iron around her waist, anchoring her to a bulkhead as the deck plates groaned and snapped.
"Brace!" Lucien's voice cut through the sound of tearing metal. He was a blur of motion, his fingers weaving a massive, violet kinetic shield around Gwen and Kaelen.
