[Power Fragment has Detected the Presence of Her Sister’s Fragment.]
A faint pulse of light blinked deep beneath the cracked ground.
From deep inside the crater.
From deep inside Xavier.
[Initiating contact.]
[Contact failed. No response from the sister fragment.]
[Initiating Synchronization.]
[No sign of life from the host. Synchronization failed.]
[Merging with the host to connect to the sister fragment.]
[Connection lost. No contact with the host.]
[Power Fragment is confused. It doesn’t know what to do. Performing a scan of the host.]
[Subject is too far to perform a scan. Waiting for the contact.]
Xavier’s blood slowly slid down the broken edges of the crater, tracing the path of ruin, threading through dust and ash and burnt bones, filling the cracks like ink on a shattered canvas. It moved unnaturally, like it was being pulled. Pulled by something ancient.
And then it reached it.
The fragment.
The shard that had melted through stone and earth like it was slicing through memory.
A single drop of blood fell on it.
Time slowed.
[Contact with the host has been made. No sign of life detected.]
[Power fragment will start the merging process and try to synchronize with the host.]
The earth trembled.
A low hum echoed across the crater, pulsing from Xavier’s broken body. His blood, from dark red to golden. A glow erupted, soft at first, then rapidly spreading like wildfire in liquid form, crawling through the veins of the ground and flowing back—towards Xavier.
And then—
BOOM.
[Power fragment is using its power to heal the host.]
The clouds parted—not slowly, not naturally. They split. Like something invisible had pierced straight through them from below.
Golden beams shot into the sky, burning holes into the clouds, punching through the atmosphere like they were made of paper.
And then the sky cracked.
Literally.
Like glass. Like a mirror breaking across the horizon. Lines of golden light spread like veins across the heavens.
And then... something no one expected.
The golden beams didn’t stop at the sky.
They reached beyond. Past the planet. Past the air. Past the silence of the vacuum.
Out in space—
A surge of golden light shot through the black void like a spear, curving through the stars, slicing across orbital paths. Even satellites flickered and short-circuited. Distant ships, floating in the dark, stopped mid-course. Their systems glitched.
Everyone saw it.
Everyone felt it.
The awakening wasn’t local.
It was cosmic.
And down below—
The crater groaned.
The earth trembled.
The rocks near Xavier’s broken body began to float.
His blood, now glowing, crawled toward the buried fragment like it was alive.
The glow touched his body. His skin began to sizzle as if being branded by something divine. Smoke rose from the hole in his chest, and then the hole began to shrink, slowly closing up as golden light replaced lost flesh and bone.
His ribs cracked back into place.
His breathing returned.
The blood stopped dripping.
His body twitched once.
His black hair turned white—first in strands, then in clumps—until his entire head glowed like a fallen star.
And then his entire body lit up, engulfed in a blinding golden glow that pushed the surrounding ash and debris back with a sudden burst of pressure.
[Merging complete. 90% of the power has been lost.]
[Starting the synchronization with the remaining energy.]
Then the awakening began.
Xavier’s body lifted off the ground.
Weightless.
Floating.
His arms limp beside him, his head hung low, the golden light wrapped him like armor made of stars. The crater lit up entirely, golden beams shooting outward, filling every corner, crack, and shadow.
The beasts—those still breathing—twitched as the light touched them. Burnt fur healed. Bleeding stopped. Broken bones fused back into place. Even Lyra, unconscious and mangled, gasped as the light wrapped around her. Her body began to steam as the last of her wounds vanished.
[Synchronization complete. Power fragment hopes the host wakes up.]
And then it happened.
Xavier’s body stopped mid-air.
Still.
And then—his head snapped up.
His eyes opened.
And where his pupils should’ve been—there was a golden star. Shining. Rotating. Alive.
Piolet, who had been casually walking through corpses, froze mid-step. His pupils narrowed. His jaw clenched. It was the first time he showed a real reaction. The first time his arrogance broke.
"The scent... now I know why it was so familiar," Piolet said, eyes glued to Xavier. "You’re like me... You’re one of us. You can use the power of god."
The golden light began to fade around Xavier, but his body still hovered slightly above ground, his feet barely touching it, as if the world wasn’t done deciding whether it wanted to let him back in.
He didn’t say a word.
He didn’t need to.
Although his eyes were open, he seemed... distant. Lifeless. As if the soul inside had changed—or been replaced. His gaze drifted past Piolet. Past the mercs who were slowly backing away. Past the smoldering wreckage of bodies and weapons.
He looked at Lyra.
Smoke rose from her skin. Her chest rose and fell steadily. She was breathing.
She was alive.
Xavier looked back at Piolet. Not with anger. Not with hate.
With something else.
Something colder.
He didn’t move. But the air around him did. It pulsed with pressure, like the calm before the supernova.
And for the second time since he landed on this planet—
Piolet took a step back.
The same human made him step back not once, but twice.
It was pure instinct.
[Power fragment is urging you to not waste its power.]
[Power fragment wants you to rest.]
[Power fragment warns you that the effect of overloading the power of the power fragment will be irreversible.]
[Power fragment hopes you listen to her.]
Xavier didn’t answer. Not even in his thoughts.
He just kept standing there, motionless. Breathing. Glowing.
Piolet forced a chuckle and pulled a smirk across his lips, trying to fake calm, trying to pretend like he was still in control. But he wasn’t.
For the first time in his life, Piolet felt fear.