⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
NATION OF NARDOX — INNER TERRACES — SOLAR QUARTERS
Kariah dreamed in motion.
Stone gave way beneath her feet. Heat rolled across an expanse.
Kit was ahead of her.
Older. Taller. Shaped different in a way that had nothing to do with size. His presence bent the space around him, decisively.
Something ran.
She couldn’t see it clearly, only the way it fled. Erratic, desperate, tearing across the terrain like it understood exactly what would happen if it slowed down.
Kit followed.
Walking but somehow still closing the gap.
Each step closed space that should’ve taken minutes. His presence pressed outward
Condensed light gathered around his hands, clean and blinding, drawn tight like breath held long.
He lifted one palm.
The light snapped outward—
.
.
.
Kariah’s eyes opened.
She sucked in a sharp breath, sitting upright as the world rushed back into place.
Amber lantern-light flickered above her, the glow stuttering along the walls as if the room itself had felt the moment with her.
The solar lines in the floor pulsed once, then steadied.
Imani stood nearby, hands folded, eyes fixed on Kariah like she’d been there the whole time.
A quiet moment passed.
Then Imani spoke, soft and certain.
“You really are something, aren’t you.”
She knelt and drew Kariah into her arms.
“No need to explain, not until you’re ready.”
Imani’s arms stayed steady around her.
Kariah’s breathing slowed, forehead pressed into the delicate fabric on the Matriarch’s robes.
Footsteps cut through it.
Fast. Frantic.
The oak door slid open hard enough to rattle the frame.
Rob stepped in, cloak still carrying the outside heat, eyes already scanning the room before landing on them. His breath a fraction too quick, like he’d run the whole way.
He stopped short when he saw Kariah cradled there and swallowed whatever he’d meant to say.
Imani didn’t turn.
“What is it,” she said.
Rob drew a breath and spoke clean.
“Emergency council. Chamber of Suns.”
Kariah felt Imani’s chest rise beneath her cheek.
“What happened,” Imani asked.
Rob’s jaw set. “Expedition telemetry just updated. One of the readings doesn’t reconcile.”
Imani finally looked up.
“Explain.”
“Vitals flatlined,” Rob said. “Confirmed dead by instruments. But evac reports place that exact explorer alive at the staging site. Moving. Speaking. Preparing to board.”
Silence pressed in around the words.
Kariah lifted her head immediately. “Is Kit with them!? Have you heard from my uncle?!”
Rob met her eyes. “That’s why the Chamber’s calling it. We’ll have the answers soon, little one.”
Imani’s hand rested at the back of Kariah’s head, firm and grounding.
“They’re waiting,” Rob added. “All of them.”
Imani nodded once.
“Give us a moment.”
Rob hesitated, then stepped back, the door sealing behind him with a muted hiss.
The lantern light pulsed again.
Imani lowered her voice. “Stay here as long as you need. When you’re ready, come join us.”
As she stood her robes settled around her like liquid gold.
Kariah nodded, though her gaze had drifted to the floor where the lines of the solar grid hummed faintly, carrying signals from places far beyond.
Something was changing.
And Kariah had felt it.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣