Page 127 of Stars in Nova

She forced herself to ingest a mouthful, almost gagging. With grit, she swallowed despite its sourness and gritty texture.

Her body needed the strength, even if her spirit rebelled against the incessant indignity.

Water was delivered in gel pills to minimize the risk of the prisoners breaking them open and using the liquid to fire up their kinetic abilities.

She took one and chewed it, feeling relief when it dissolved in her mouth. However, somehow, it left her more parched than before.

‘Samira,’ a whisper hissed from the cell next to hers.

She turned toward the sound, her heart lifting. ‘Who are you?’

The face of an older Vaelorian woman appeared through the small gap in the adjoining wall.

Her hair was matted, her face gaunt, but her dark eyes burned with a stubborn will. ‘Name’s Kaelith,’ she whispered. ‘Thought I recognized you.’

Samira moved closer to the barrier between them. ‘What’s happening? Why are they keeping us here?’

Kaelith’s gaze flickered to the door, wary of being overheard. ‘It’s not just the androids, child,’ she trembled. ‘Something’s behind them. Controlling them. Something sinister.’

Samira’s brow furrowed. ‘What do you mean, controlling them? I thought the Corilians were autonomous machines. Who might be directing them?’

Kaelith’s eyes filled with fear. ‘Not who. What. I’ve caught whispers and observed glimpses. It’s a power not of this world. It bends the cyborgs and twists their minds. Even the Emperor himself isn’t free from it.’

A chill ran down Samira’s spine, colder than the air around her. ‘Have you encountered this energy before?’

Kaelith shook her head, her face pale. ‘Only shadows, peculiar movements, but look closely, and you’ll feel a shift in the darkness, the atmosphere, their voices. It’s not natural.’

Samira leaned closer, her mind racing. ‘I have spotted something strange in their demeanor. Like an unusual umbra behind their aura. Do you know what it wants? Why—’

The heavy clang of the cell door interrupted her. Two Corilian guards entered, their metal bodies gleaming in the sterile corridor light.

‘Out,’ one of them commanded, his vocalization emotionless.

Samira hesitated, glancing back at Kaelith. ‘Wait—’

The second guard seized her arm in a vice-like clutch, dragging her to her feet. She struggled, gripping the cold alloy, but her strength could not match theirs.

Her protests were brushed aside as they hauled her out of the chamber.

Kaelith called after her, her tone desperate and reverberating against the walls.

‘Purge the source! It’s the only way to stop them!’

Samira turned her head, her heart pounding, but the cage door slammed shut behind her. The corridor ahead loomed, a dark and forbidding path into the unknown.

The guards marched her forward, their grip unyielding, and her mind raced with Kaelith’s chilling words.

What kind of power had taken hold of the Corilians—and did her people have the ability to prevent it before it consumed everything?

Samira experienced the oppressive chill of the Cygnus Stronghold before setting foot inside its looming gates.

The air was stagnant and heavy, with the acrid odor of burnt circuitry and the fetid meld of cyborg metal and flesh.

Jagged towers of dark steel and blackened glass clawed at the blood-red sky, their surfaces flickering with ominous burstsof static electricity. The citadel sprawled across a vast, charred landscape, its foundations fused into the ground like a cancerous growth.

The portal groaned open with a sound that grated on her nerves. Revealing the heart of the fortress—a labyrinth of cold corridors, each bordered with rows of inactive androids standing in eerie silence.

Their lifeless eyes glowed, reflecting the sterile white lights overhead.

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