"Any change?"
A raspy voice cut through the darkness.
"Not yet. He's not going insane… and I can't see what he's doing without opening the cage."
The second voice sounded worse.
Deader.
Two Wraiths hovered near the edge of a dead world.
At its center—
A sphere.
Black.
Inside it—
A figure.
Massive.
Still.
Watching nothing.
Or everything.
They had been here for eons.
Replacements for the last guards.
Their purpose was simple:
Wait.
Watch.
Retrieve.
If he died—
they would search him.
If he broke—
they would take what remained.
But neither had happened.
And now—
they were dying first.
"…Why do we have to wait?" the first muttered, claws twitching.
"Why not open it? Just a little. Take a look."
"No!" the second snapped.
"That would trigger alarms!"
"That's the point."
Silence.
"They'd have to come," the first continued.
"We'd finally be relieved."
The second hesitated.
Thinking.
Calculating.
"…We could fake it."
"What?"
"Make it look like a breach. Say he forced it. We get merit for containment."
A long pause.
"…The Council really didn't strip him before sealing him, did they…"
"…Idiots."
Another pause.
"…Fine."
A slow exhale.
"…Just a smidge."
—Elsewhere—
Stars streaked past.
My vision distorted—
colors inverted—
space folding around us.
Memories flooded in.
Bodach's.
Kyrniz—
as a child.
In the keep.
Laughing.
Hiding.
Learning in shadows no one else noticed.
A warmth spread through me—
through all of us.
Then—
a pull.
Sharp.
From the right.
A memory tried to surface—
something massive—
protective—
Gone.
"Papa…"
The whisper came from below me.
She moved.
For the first time since everything changed.
"I'm… home…"
My grip tightened.
Then—
we were yanked forward.
The pull intensified.
A planet came into view—
dead.
Silent.
Wrong.
And then—
it shattered.
Like glass.
The illusion broke.
What remained—
was something else entirely.
A shell.
Colossal.
Like a turtle—
burned—
drowned—
revived—
and left to rot.
At its center—
a black hole.
Facing us.
Waiting.
"—ROOP—PAAR—"
The roar echoed through space—
impossible—
wrong—
too loud.
A beak snapped forward.
Its mouth opened—
rows of backward spikes—
closing—
ready to crush—
I braced.
Closed my eyes.
Prepared for impact.
…
Nothing.
No pain.
No destruction.
Instead—
[Initiating Link]
A voice.
Inside my mind.
[Link Established]
[Unresponsive Host Detected]
[Initiating Retrieval Protocol]
Then—
—BAAM—
—KABOOOOOM—
The shell snapped shut—
but something forced it open.
We passed through.
Into darkness.
—The Wraiths—
"I SAID A SMIDGE—WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Lights erupted everywhere—
nowhere—
blinding—
wrong.
{Warning. Incoming projectile. Implosion imminent.}
A voice.
Clear.
Female.
Not theirs.
{Turtle Shell Prison integrity failing. Evacuate immediately.}
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"…Why is it bigger on the inside?!"
—Outside—
A figure stopped.
Six arms.
Three glowing.
Three moving.
"Shit… I'm too late."
His hands blurred across his own arms—
interfaces shifting—
calculating—
adapting.
The shell collapsed.
Inward.
Then—
Exploded.
Across the galaxy.
Everything—
pulled back.
Reversed.
Condensed.
A green field surrounded him—
holding—
protecting—
isolating.
Then—
another pulse.
Silver.
Different.
Familiar.
"…That frequency…"
His eyes narrowed.
"Crystal Systems Creator…?"
The ripple expanded—
reaching the edges of the dead galaxy—
Then stopped.
Locked.
Sealed.
From the outside—
it formed a barrier.
Unbreakable.
And within it—
A shape.
A design.
A face.
A tiger.
Watching.
Waiting.
Ready to kill.