The path deeper into Helios Prime was a tunnel of half-lit corridors and dormant systems, all slowly coming back to life.
Doors hissed open at Nova's presence. Lights flickered, adjusted, and stabilized. Somewhere beneath their feet, the vast engine veins of the ship rumbled faintly, as if recognizing their master had returned.
Anna followed behind him cautiously, her eyes darting across old wall panels and faded alien script. The entire ship felt ancient, forgotten… sacred.
"This place is unreal," she muttered, almost to herself. "Like walking through a dead god's skeleton."
Nova didn't look back.
Then Anna asked the question that had been pressing on her mind since their last conversation. "Okay… so let's say you're right, and the ship still works. Let's say the core's intact. How are we supposed to access the material vaults? You'll need energy cells, alloys, shipfuel—stuff just to get basic functions going."
Nova stopped mid-step.
"We don't need to access the vaults," he said.
Anna frowned. "Then how—?"
"We wake the AI," he replied. "Once the mainframe is online, she will handle the rest."
Anna blinked. "The AI?"
Nova nodded once.
"She's integrated into the ship's architecture. She controls every door, every circuit, every vault. She's the will of Helios Prime. Once she's awake, the ship will follow her commands… which means it will follow mine."
Anna looked around, suddenly much more aware of how massive this ship really was. "Alright, sure. So how do we wake her?"
Nova didn't answer.
Instead, he turned toward her slowly, silver eyes glinting with something cold.
"Are you good with a sword?"The question caught her off guard. "What?"
"A blade," Nova said. "Close-quarters combat. How skilled are you?"
Anna hesitated, then shrugged carefully. "I'm decent. I've fought in pirate skirmishes, station brawls… I know how to keep myself alive. I'm not a master."
Nova's lips curled into a faint smile.
Not warm. Not amused
Bone-chilling.
Without warning, a pulse of glowing light formed in his hand. The energy twisted and reshaped into a sleek, curved sword—pitch-black with a faint pulse of violet energy running along the edge like a heartbeat.
He offered it to her.
"You'll need this," he said.
Anna hesitated, then reached out. The moment her fingers touched the hilt, she felt something surge into her skin—a whisper of heat, the hum of power barely restrained. This wasn't a weapon… it was a living thing.
She stared at him. "You still haven't answered my question."
He turned away again, gesturing for her to follow. "I just did."
---
They passed through a final vault door—massive, layered, and ancient—and emerged into a circular chamber, far larger than anything Anna had seen yet.
The room pulsed with soft white-blue light. Pillars curved upward like ribs of some ancient beast. At the center stood a suspended glass capsule, levitating above a circular dais, surrounded by layers of dormant conduits.
And inside the glass...
Anna's breath caught.
A girl floated motionless within.
She looked no older than sixteen—small, delicate, with flawless ivory skin and waist-length platinum hair that drifted like silk in water. Her eyes were closed, her face peaceful. She wore a high-collared bodysuit laced with silver threads, and from her back sprouted faint, mechanical wings, like petals of glass and chrome.
She didn't look real.
She looked like a doll.
A perfect, inhuman doll.
Anna stepped closer, her voice low. "Who… is that?"
Nova's expression didn't change.
"That," he said, "is the humanoid AI of this ship. Designation: Nyx. She is the heart of Helios Prime. Once she awakens, the ship awakens.
Anna glanced back at the girl in the glass, unease coiling in her gut. "She doesn't look like a typical AI."
"She's not," Nova replied. "She was grown, like me. But her mind… it is made of code. She is the ship's soul, and she will obey only two people: my creators… and me."
Anna exhaled. "Okay, so we wake her up. How?"
Nova's gaze turned toward the glowing circular floor beneath the capsule.
"There's one problem," he said. "This room is protected by Helios Prime's final defense protocol. To approach the core, all intruders must be eliminated."
Anna went still. "Eliminated?"
The ship doesn't recognize anyone as an ally unless approved by Nyx," Nova explained. "And until she's online… it considers everyone a threat."
Anna felt a chill run down her spine.
"So what happens if we try to reach her?"
"The defense systems will activate. All of them."
Anna backed up a step, staring at the floor. "You mean sentry drones? Laser turrets?"
Nova didn't answer.
That made it worse.
"You're insane," Anna hissed. "We'll be killed.
Nova stepped forward.
The floor lit up beneath his boots.
"Then fight well," he said.
The room let out a low mechanical hum.
Anna's eyes widened. "Wait—wait!"
Too late.
The room shifted.
Panels along the walls slid open with a hiss. Cold vapor poured out, followed by the groan of ancient servos engaging.
From the dark recesses of the chamber, shapes emerged.
Silver constructs. Humanoid defense units. Floating sentries. Bladed drones
Their eyes flickered to life—burning crimson.
And all of them turned toward Nova.
The moment Nova stepped onto the glowing circle, the chamber transformed.
Walls hissed open. Panels retracted. Machinery surged to life with a violent scream of power.
From the ceiling, sentry drones descended like vultures—spherical machines armed with energy emitters and retractable blades. At the far end, humanoid constructs stepped out of hidden alcoves, their chrome armor gleaming, eyes glowing red with hostile code.
The chamber's soft blue light turned violent red.
Anna staggered back. "This is suicide!"
A high-pitched whine built in the air.
Lasers fired.
Anna flinched, expecting to feel the searing pain of impact—but nothing touched her.
A pulse of translucent energy shimmered around her, absorbing the blast. In front of her, Nova stood motionless, one hand raised. A glowing screen floated before him, flickering with ancient symbols and rotating diagrams.
"What the hell?" she gasped. "Is that… a system?"
Nova didn't answer.
His fingers danced through the interface with inhuman precision. Another series of lasers screamed toward them—again absorbed by the energy field around his outstretched hand.
Anna stepped closer, eyes wide. "You're using Ather!"
Nova finally looked at her.
And smiled faintly.
"Yes."
"That's impossible," she snapped. "Ather is dead. The art was erased centuries ago! All records purged by the Council. No one's wielded Ather in generations!"
Nova turned his gaze back to the screen, adjusting a glowing hexagon. The drones fired again. He waved his hand. The energy around them rippled—and the beams bent mid-air, dissolving before impact
He spoke calmly, as if explaining the weather.
"Ather isn't gone. It's simply hidden. Hoarded by the old bloodlines, the ancient factions. The powerful don't erase power. They conceal it."
Anna stared at him like he was a myth made flesh. "You shouldn't be able to do this…"
"If you survive," Nova said, "I'll teach you."
Anna blinked. "That's a very big if, you know!"
"Then start surviving," he said, eyes flicking toward the central vault. "Target the shielding devices. There—those emitters forming the energy ring around the AI's chamber."
She looked. Around the levitating glass capsule where Nyx floated, six small obelisks hovered in a circle, glowing with stabilizing force.
"That's generating the barrier?" she asked.
Nova nodded. "Destroy the anchors, the shield drops."
Anna gritted her teeth and gripped the strange sword he had given her. It felt unnaturally light, its edge humming faintly with pulsing energy. Her instincts screamed to run—but there was nowhere left to hide.
With a curse under her breath, she dashed forward.
---
The moment she left the circle, the energy shield around her disappeared.
Lasers targeted her instantly. Two of the humanoid constructs turned to intercept. One lunged.
Anna ducked, rolling under its swing. Her blade lashed out—clanging harmlessly off reinforced plating. The thing didn't even flinch.
"This is ridiculous!" she growled.
Back behind her, Nova moved like a phantom. Calm, deliberate. He raised his free hand—and a sleek, matte-black firearm materialized in his palm with a crackle of light.
He fired.
The recoil barely moved his arm, but the impact shattered a drone mid-air. A second shot ripped through a sentinel's power core, sending it into a cascade of sparks and flame.
Anna glanced back mid-struggle, breathing hard.
"You've got guns and magic?"
"I have what I need," Nova replied, his eyes never leaving the battlefield.
Another drone dropped from above, spinning directly toward Anna's exposed side.
She didn't see it.
Nova didn't look at her.
He simply raised his left hand—and with a flick of his wrist, a curved shield of energy snapped into existence in front of Anna, intercepting the incoming laser in a blaze of sparks.
The force sent her stumbling, but she wasn't hit.
She stared at him. "You didn't even look!"
"I don't need to."
She didn't respond.
Couldn't.
He wasn't just strong. He wasn't just fast. He was something else entirely.
He was built for this
---
Anna's frustration boiled over. She turned and swung her sword with a yell, this time angling toward one of the energy pylons.
The blade bit deep.
The emitter sparked wildly, destabilizing. The humming barrier around the capsule shimmered.
"One down!" she shouted.
Nova responded with a nod and lifted his gun again. Three shots—clean, efficient. A line of sentries dropped before they could reposition.
The second pylon was incinerated a heartbeat later by a glowing disk he conjured with a flick of his fingers, guiding it mid-air like a blade of light.
Anna lunged toward the third, narrowly avoiding another drone. Her sword caught its edge, slicing through the device with a satisfying crackle.
But as she moved toward the fourth anchor, her focus faltered.
She glanced again at Nova.
He moved with terrifying grace. His steps were calculated, precise. His weapons appeared and vanished with thought. His calm, unreadable face—barely showing effort—made her pulse spike.
'It's not fair,' she thought.
'Why is he so far beyond human?'
That distraction nearly killed her.
A searing laser lanced toward her back.
She didn't even hear it until it was too close.
But again—he saved her.
The shield appeared midair, materializing between her and death.
Without turning. Without blinking.
"You can admire me later," Nova said.
Anna flushed.
"I'm not—! Just—shut up!"
---
Two more pylons fell.
The barrier surrounding Nyx's chamber flickered, then dropped entirely with a final shriek of failing energy. The room shuddered as if the ship itself exhaled.
The sentries began to retreat—some powering down, others fading into the walls, awaiting future orders.
Silence returned.
Nova walked calmly to the now-exposed platform, holstering the gun that shimmered into nothing as he moved.
Anna dropped to one knee, panting, sweat dripping down her brow.
She looked up at the floating glass chamber.
Nyx was still there—still unmoving. Serene. Beautiful. Unreal.
Nova stood at the edge, eyes locked on the AI within.
"We're not done," he said. "Now… we wake her up."