“I am the son of a legend. Sired by a god. Named after the human who saved them.”

  - Soren

  The building shook with the sounds of combat, and Aether Dust pulsed faintly beneath her skin like a warning. Soren could almost taste the heat coming off her, he saw the fury in her eyes, and he knew she wasn't thinking clearly. If he allowed her to get past him, she would make an irreversible mistake, causing a tragedy too great to measure.

  “Lulu, please,” he stepped toward her. “You don’t know what this thing will do. Just think—”

  “Get out of my way, Soren.” Her voice was ice over fire. “I will go through you if I must.”

  “It’s not ready. It’s too powerful, we barely understand it!”

  “I understand it enough, it’s a weapon of mass destruction.” She took a step toward him. “They deserve to burn, and I’m done waiting.”

  They were fifty feet apart and she wasn’t running, but it wouldn't take her long to reach him. In all the time he had known her, she had never been more to him than a friend, a colleague, and he had never looked at her as more than such. But it became strikingly obvious to him as she approached that this may be the last time he ever looked at her. She was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. She looked more like a myth than a person.

  The Professor had imbued her with great power, turning her into something Soren barely understood. She’d done things no human should be capable of, and he was sure he had only witnessed a fraction of her potential. She was transformed, but also controlled—forced to do terrible things. Now, free from anyone’s will but her own, there was sadness and cold rage in those eyes.

  Anguish gripped Soren’s heart as he accepted his inability to help his friend.

  “Lulu—” he pleaded.

  But she kept walking.

  When she was fifteen feet away, he lunged, throwing his arms around her. His hands locked behind her back, attempting to hold her in place with a bear hug.

  She inhaled and he braced.

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  Her forehead slammed into the left side of his face.

  At the time it happened, he didn’t hear any sound. Only later would he remember the crunch of bone, the flash of pain, the sudden white of blindness. When he came to, he was on the floor, his back against the Graviton Engine’s control box. Blood filled his mouth. His left eye wouldn’t open. She hadn’t even hit him at full strength and she’d still thrown him like a ragdoll.

  She stood over him now, staring down with hollow eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, and shoved the activation lever forward.

  The Graviton Engine whirred to life. Lights blinked. Cores spun. Then she swung. Her fist went through steel like it was paper, crushing the housing and shattering the control box. The massive crystalline power cables now sat exposed, surging with thousands of tons of Aether Dust pulsing like lightning.

  There was no way to stop it now.

  Soren used the remnants of the control panel to pull himself upright. His whole body felt cracked. When he would think back on what happened over the next two seconds, every instant would feel longer than a year.

  Lulu turned away and he caught her wrist.

  She flinched, looking back at him.

  He reached out blindly with his other hand, found a crystal cable—

  And everything exploded.

  The Aether Dust surged into him like a universe in reverse. It seared down his spine, up into his skull, and out through the arm still holding her. His skin blazed white and his bones rang. He screamed, but it was swallowed by the Graviton Engine, and his consciousness faded to a burning white perception.

  When his consciousness finally felt to be returning, the passage of time felt quickly slow. How long had it been? Was he still on the planet Mandachor?

  No, he thought to himself. I think I am the planet Mandachor. I can see the star that I orbit, and I can see the other planets in the star cluster.

  He could see Avantasia and Hydros, the gas giant. And further back—Perolan and Nox. They moved so fast they were a blur, but he could see them as clear as if standing still. He wondered if planets could get dizzy.

  Soren observed as ships zipped in and out of the star system, down onto the planets and back up again. They moved so fast, like tiny insects, their trips in and out taking less than a nanosecond each.

  Had he always been a planet? He thought he remembered more.

  He couldn’t recall, so he spent some time observing his cozy cluster of stars. Being a planet isn’t so bad. But why does it feel like this? I should feel bigger, and rounder, shouldn’t I?

  He felt so empty—a gaping, empty hunger zipping around a star in space.

  For a brief instant he felt a heat twang at his heart, and a bright light flashed across his star cluster. Did it emanate from within him? He thought he saw a comet after that. He couldn’t remember seeing the comet enter his star cluster, but he watched it leave.

  I think that might be the most beautiful comet I’ve ever seen.

  He felt the heat of neutron stars, the universe, and incomprehensible dimensions overcoming him. He felt like his body weighed more than a planet. He felt exhausted, he felt cold, his face hurt.

  Did that beautiful comet hit me in the face?

  Soren awoke—naked and drooling under someone's table.