Page 105

Gathering all his power, he pushed the penetrating needle out of his brain.

He opened his eyes to see his Sable brothers crowding around him.

‘That is no nebula,’ Zane snarled, his face screwed in agony.

‘What is it then?’ Ki’Remi clipped, leaning in to place a hand on the side of Zane’s head, where his temporal artery throbbed in an untamed cadence under the skin.

‘Wait, brother,’ the medic growled as Zane tried to push his hand away.

Ki’Remi shut his eyes for a moment, triggering healing noids to flood the area, pressing down on the thickened blood vessel until it subsided.

‘Done,’ he rasped, stepping back. ‘If you hadn’t let me, that psionic assail would have burst through your brain.’

‘Sante,’ Zane paused and touched the medic’s arm with genuine appreciation.

He strode to the massive view screen of the ship and glared at the entity churning before him. ‘To confirm what that is, I first need to know where we are. Not by current maps and charts, Mirage. I require the ancient name of this place.’

‘Working on it,’ the Sable AI said.

Mirage ran a myriad of computations in a few seconds. ‘It was once called the Mira expanse.’

‘Fokk,’ Zane growled. ‘I thought so.’

Xion harrumphed behind him. ‘Please be more generous with your insight, brother?’

‘Give me a moment.’

Zane closed his eyes and touched his right thumb and forefinger, summoning his psionic energy from within.

Zane’s gaze flew open, revealing a wildness of blue arcs. He turned his gaze to the voluminous tornado beyond. The lightning-like arches from him reached forward, extending past the view screen. They unfurled in ever-growing loops, reaching for the nebula beyond.

A starburst and disturbance in the roiling entity followed as the electrified ribbons touched its edge.

‘The nebula is reacting,’ Mirage intoned.

Zane pursed his lips together. ‘Tis. I sense something familiar in its depths, a presence of sorts.’

‘Who or what is it?’ Xion pressed.

‘Brother, give me a moment,’ Zane groused.

‘Damn, if only I could travel between dimensions and universes and cross over planes of existence, traveling across various forms of reality in milliseconds,’ Xion grumbled behind him. ‘I’d have this wrapped up by now.’

Ki’Remi huffed at his fellow Rider. ‘Isn’t moving at the speed of light enough for you?’

‘Brother, I am never satisfied. I’m a greedy son of a -.’

‘Stop squabbling,totos. I need to concentrate,’ Zane murmured, his mouth twitching in amusement.

After a few minutes, the sapphire arcs died in Zane’s eyes, snapping back to their usual meta-like glow.

‘It’s the lost Shard. The third one that was cast into the nebulas of Mira.’

Xion bucked in shock. ‘Like the one we rescued under Eden II?’

‘Naam. We’re aware of three all-knowing, all-seeing Shards. They were once a single entity, called the Elysian Eye, an Oculus of providence and divine guidance that provided a vigilant gaze over all the Pegasi.’

‘Give me a reminder crash course,’ Ki’Remi murmured. ‘How did these shards come to be?’