Saturn stared at his body, whole again in mere seconds, before pushing himself up to his feet.
He reached for the armor clinging to him. It was barely more than bent metal and broken scraps after the beating I had given him. With a grunt, he stripped it off and rolled his shoulders, shaking his body as if testing whether it still obeyed him.
"Thank you," he said, meeting my eyes. "Let me connect with the Core now."
I gave a small nod.
My perception stayed stretched across the entire area, my domain pressing against every flicker of movement, every shift of air. Nothing here could escape me.
Only three others remained close by—two of his Black Guards standing at a hesitant distance, uncertain whether to intervene, and the unconscious Porus lying still on the ground.
Saturn held my gaze for a final moment before lowering his eyes. He closed them, breathing slow and steady. Then, in the very next heartbeat, a ripple of space burst outward from him, spreading like a wave across my domain.
He forced his hands up and the space in front of him tore like paper. A hole opened, dark and thin at first, then widening.
In that empty reach of nothing, something floated: a cube the size of my fist, glowing a cold, steady blue. It hung in the dark like a small moon, edges sharp, light leaking into the rip. That was the Core.
Time slowed under my perception. Everything slowed down. I saw each heartbeat, each breath, the little tremor of wind that left Saturn’s lips. He reached to the cube and connected threads of light snaking from his chest to the Core. He looked for any exit the Core could give him.
He opened another tear.
It grew wider, and for a moment I saw what lay beyond. It was the capital of Peanu. Maybe he had a place there to hide, or maybe he planned to leave Peanu altogether once he slipped through.
I watched him move almost in slow motion, his hands steady, his face set with focus. I could have stopped him right then, crushed him before he made the step. Instead, I lifted a finger and released a thin beam of violet essence. It slipped into his body, hidden carefully within, and then the tear sealed shut behind him.
The moment Saturn was gone, the Core reacted as though disturbed. Its cube-like form flared, light pulsing, and the first tear began to fold in on itself. The edges curled and pulled tight, knitting shut like a wound.
I connected with Silver and passed a command.
"Silver. Kill the others, then go to the capital. Watch the old man. Make sure he doesn’t run."
I swept my hand and bent the law of polarity to my will. The two guards and Porus froze where they stood, their bodies locking up at once. With a flick of intent, I hurled them into the wall of devouring flame. The fire consumed them instantly. I forced open a tunnel in the wall just long enough for Silver to pass.
From the castle wall, Silver rose. The armor around him cracked apart and fell away as he stretched. With one powerful beat of his wings, he shot straight toward the Lamp Fort first. The flame wall sealed again the moment he was gone.
I turned back and fixed my attention on the World Core.
Another spatial ripple rolled out from the cube-shaped core as it tried to close the tear in space.
But it wasn’t going to be that simple anymore.
My domain flared to life and held the tear open.
"Hey there, can we have a quick chat if you’re available?" I said.
Like a decent man, I tried talking first. Respect all life — that was my motto.
The Core didn’t seem to like me. Another ripple struck, stronger than before. In an instant, the tear broke through my hold and snapped shut by almost eighty percent.
"Ohh," I muttered, honestly surprised.
The Core looked weak, and compared to me, it was. The fact that I had even held its spatial power back for that long proved it. But it still had some fuel left in the tank.
"All right. You need Essence, right? I can give you that."
I lifted my hand. Essence churned inside my generator core, then rushed out through my palm, flooding the space within the tear. The trembling stopped at once. Both the tear and the Core steadied as if soothed.
My Essence drifted toward the cube, and the Core drank from it carefully at first. Then, like a moth drawn to flame, it moved closer, pulling itself between the flow to swallow more directly.
Watching it feed, I knew this was the moment.
The objective of my quest burned clear in my mind:
Objective: Awaken the Dawn Core by feeding it a World Core.
The time had come to act.
I stepped forward, forced the tear wide again, and moved through. The moment I crossed, it sealed shut behind me.
Once inside, I spread my perception. The space felt small, like a pocket cut out from everywhere else. Nothing lived there except the Core, my Essence, and me. No wind, no heat, no light, just space. It was a void in the truest sense.
The cube turned slowly as it drank the Essence I fed it. I noticed a dark swirl inside the blue, something like a black mass moving within the Core. I kept the flow steady. I had a lot of Essence; my generator ran on its own, and I let it pour.
The Core did not react to my body. It only moved for the Essence. When I floated close and put out my hand to touch it, my perception snapped.
My comprehension of the law of space synced with my senses. It felt like a web unrolling from me into Peanu.
First I found my own position: I was above an ocean, far from any city. From there the link widened. I saw the place where I had teleported for the first time. Then the cities I had crossed. I saw the Lamp Fort, broken and ruined, Silver’s work. I watched Silver himself, a streak through the air, tearing toward the capital at terrible speed.
Finally my senses reached the capital. I saw Saturn in his throne room, giving orders. He had not run. That surprised me.
Then my sight widened until I could feel the whole world at once—the Core’s threads tying into land and sea. I understood, in a cold clear way, what it would take to devour this thing. It would not be quick. It would be messy, with resistance from the Core and from the world itself.
But one thing stood out: for a short instant I had access to the Core’s spatial reach. I could borrow its ability to touch the world. With that control, I could open ways for Vaythos forces to slip into Peanu if I wanted. The thought was useful.
I began to search for Vaythos’ spies. I knew their signatures and found them fast. One of them was in a hospital in the capital, a healer writing notes at a desk. A new tear opened beside him. He jumped, then froze.
I stepped out and said, "John. It’s good to meet you." His eyes went wide. "Commander Billion," he breathed.
"We don’t have time," I told him. "Tell Dante to bring our forces back to the place he sent me. I’ll hold it open. Tell him I may be busy. Bring Steve and North too. That’s an order." I stepped back into the tear and closed it behind me.
Using the Core’s link, I weakened the space where I had arrived so Dante would see the change and confirm my signal. How they moved their forces was their problem. I had done enough.
It was just me and the Core in the dark now. The black swirl inside it crawled at the edges of my mind. I steadied my Essence, readied my will, and prepared to finish the task that would awaken my Dawn Core.