The Wastelands stretched before the rig like a graveyard of steel and dust, its cracked earth lit by violet lightning from the Aether storm ahead. Kael gripped the rig's frame, blood crusting his sleeve, the Red Veil shard pulsing against his chest. Its hum merged with his own shard's, a double rhythm that thrummed in his bones. Rhea wrestled the controls, her implants glowing as she dodged jagged ruins, the rig's engine coughing from damage. Mira sat braced against a wall, her analyzer sparking, its screen showing the temple's coordinates amid chaotic shard readings. The air inside was thick with dust and the sharp tang of overheated metal.
The skimmer's roar grew louder, its sleek black hull weaving through the Wastelands' debris, cannons glowing with Aether. The pilot's violet eyes haunted Kael, their gaze locked through the rig's cracked window. His shard burned, triggering a vision: a bone temple under a fractured sky, the hunter's shadow holding a star-like shard, a woman's voice whispering, *The cycle calls.* He shook it off, pain flaring in his shoulder, and checked his shard-pistol. Low charge. Great.
"Rhea, can we lose that thing?" Kael asked, his voice rough. The rig shuddered, a drone's blast clipping its rear, sparking wires.
"Not likely," Rhea said, swerving around a rusted spire. Her bloody lip curled into a grimace. "Skimmer's too fast, and this rig's falling apart. Temple's ten klicks out. We either make it or we're dust."
Mira's analyzer beeped, her voice urgent. "The shards are reacting to the storm. Its Aether signature is amplifying their resonance. If we get caught in it, they could overload."
Kael's jaw clenched, his shard pulsing in time with the lightning. "Overload how? Explode?"
"Possibly," Mira said, her cyber-lenses flickering. "Or worse. The storm's energy is pre-Fall, like the skimmer. It's not natural."
The skimmer fired, a pulse slamming the rig's side, rocking it hard. Kael braced Mira, her analyzer skidding across the floor. He grabbed it, shoving it back to her. "Fix the shards, Doc. I'm not dying in a fireball."
She nodded, hands shaking as she adjusted the dampening coil. The original shard's glow dimmed, but the Red Veil shard in Kael's jacket flared, its heat searing his skin. Another vision hit: *a temple gate, violet Aether swirling, the hunter's voice blending with the woman's: Claim the spark.* He gasped, clutching his chest, the rig's jolts snapping him back.
Rhea's comms unit screamed, the hunter's signal spiking. "It's closing!" she shouted, veering toward a canyon of twisted metal. The skimmer followed, its cannons charging. Harbinger roars echoed in the distance, their violet eyes glinting through the dust, drawn by the shards' call.
Kael leaned out the window, wind stinging his face, and fired at the skimmer. The Aether-shot grazed its hull, sparking, but the pilot didn't flinch, their violet eyes fixed on him. The skimmer's speed was uncanny, dodging ruins with precision no drone could match. His shard pulsed, and he felt it: the hunter wasn't just chasing the shards. They were chasing *him*.
"Mira, what's powering that thing?" Kael asked, ducking back as a pulse scorched the rig's roof.
Her analyzer sparked, readings chaotic. "A shard. Bigger than ours. It's like a core, pre-Fall. Whoever they are, they're not human. Not fully."
The rig hit a dune, lurching violently. Rhea cursed, wrestling the controls, but the engine sputtered, smoke billowing. "We're losing power!" she yelled. "Storm's three klicks out. We're not gonna outrun it."
Lightning cracked, violet arcs illuminating a silhouette ahead: the temple. Its bone-like spires jutted from the earth, Aether crystals glowing along its walls, pulsing in time with Kael's shard. The storm swirled above, its energy tugging at the Red Veil shard, making it hum louder. Kael's vision flickered: *the hunter stepping through the gate, a star-shard blazing, the woman's voice: The cycle begins.*
"Head for the temple," Kael said, his voice low but firm. "It's our only shot."
Rhea shot him a look, her implants glinting. "You sure? That storm'll fry us."
"It's that or the hunter," Kael said, reloading his pistol with a scavenged charge. "I'm betting on the temple."
Mira's hands froze on the analyzer, her eyes wide. "Kael, the shards are syncing with the temple. It's not just a location. It's a machine. Pre-Fall, built to channel Aether."
The skimmer's cannons fired, a pulse blowing out the rig's rear hatch. Sparks showered, and Kael fired back, his shot missing as the skimmer weaved. Harbingers lunged from the dunes, their Aether-blades slashing at the rig's tires. Kael kicked one off, its twisted face snarling, but more emerged, their violet eyes locked on the shards.
Rhea floored the accelerator, the rig screaming toward the temple. The storm's wind howled, dust and lightning battering the vehicle. Kael's shard burned, the Red Veil shard's hum deafening. He grabbed Mira's arm, pulling her close as the rig rocked. "Stay with me, Doc. We're almost there."
Her analyzer sparked, its screen showing the temple's coordinates and a new reading: a massive Aether surge, centered inside. "The gate," she whispered. "It's active."
The rig skidded into the temple's shadow, its bone spires towering above, etched with runes that glowed violet. The skimmer roared closer, its pilot leaning out, their black armor gleaming, violet eyes blazing. Kael's shard pulsed, and the vision overwhelmed him: *the hunter at the gate, the star-shard splitting the sky, the woman's voice: You are the key.*
The rig's engine died, grinding to a halt at the temple's entrance. Lightning struck, violet arcs illuminating a massive bone gate, its surface pulsing with Aether. The skimmer stopped, the hunter stepping out, their star-shard glowing like a sun. Harbingers circled, and Protocol drones buzzed overhead, their lights converging.
Kael raised his pistol, his blood-soaked arm trembling. "Any last words?" he muttered to Rhea.
She grinned, shock-knife ready. "Yeah. Don't screw this up."
The hunter stepped forward, their voice cold and resonant. "The shards belong to the cycle. Surrender them, Varn, or I claim your spark."