Not unlike First Earth, Tranquility was a tiny little jewel of a green-blue planet. Using technologies we still didn’t understand, the Ealen had terraformed a vast number of planets, making them habitable. So many that Tranquility, despite its plentiful seas and temperate climate, was still sparsely settled with only three major metropolitan areas on the entire planet. It was the closest such planet to the Far Reaches, beyond the borders of civilized space and too far from the major wyrmholes to be any place of much importance in the Coalition to which it theoretically owed its allegiance. The haunting Ealen structures that dotted the continents, supposedly holding monsters and booby traps, didn’t help either.

To me, it had been home.

Galactic vessels of ancient circular Ealen design hovered in orbit above the planet’s surface. They reminded me of imaginary historical ships I had seen in saga vids of imagined Ealens and Dragonlords. According to the files I had stolen from the Library, these were the ships filled with more of the undead, whom had been sleeping in the Far Reaches for millennia. Despite refusing all hails, our sensors told us they were tracking us as we sped towards the planet. Though they did not fire upon us, and only trailed us, I was still glad for the Nightclaw escort of a squadron of starship fighters.

But my father’s generosity would only last unto the upper atmosphere of Tranquility.

As the green continent of Kuan Yin rose up to meet us and the last of the Nightclaw ships peeled away, I could see the massive blanket of smoke covering my home, San Chen, the largest city on Tranquility.

I covered my mouth, turned and walked away.

No, the least I could do was witness.

I forced myself to go back to the window and look.

The ever-present threat of interstellar war meant some places were prepared for planetary-wide evacuations. Tranquility, far from the main starlanes, wasn’t.

“Most of the population was able to get out,” said Red, suddenly.

“What?”

“It’s not like there are that many people on Tranquility. Your so-called cities are but a few square blocks on a Gaian city.”

Gaia was one of the capital planets of the Coalition, renowned not only for its culture but for the staggering density of its populace. Though I had never been to Gaia, it still seemed impossible. “How?”

“Dean Iyer.”

The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. “Who?”

“The sextillionaire. He was on vacation with his personal cruiser, a retrofitted War Star. The stellar feeds estimate that he was able to pack at least 80% of the population onto his ship.”

I thought about the War Star we had just left. It had been a huge thing and just might have been big enough, but barely. They would have had people sleeping in the hallways.

“What about the rest?”

Red said nothing.

I should have known better than to ask.

The sight of those ships hung in my memory. Annatu’s words filtered back to me. Even if we were able to wake the Dragonlords, it wasn’t a guarantee they would help us. We were gambling on ancient myths.

More than likely, we would all die.

I put my hand on Red’s shoulder. “When we land on Tranquility, I want you to find another ship and get the hell out of here. The merc can pilot us back. Find your way back to the kids. You can’t leave them.”

Red looked at me. A sad smile spread across her face. “Look who is giving orders now, Princess. For what it’s worth, I think you would have made a decent Tigerlady.”

I squeezed her shoulder and left the cockpit.

* * *

We landed in the forests of Mentian, not too far from San Chen. I almost wanted to laugh at the irony of it, for this was the very forest in which I had first met Kai, and had tried to arrest him, thinking him a mere treasure hunter.

What was even worse was that the Ealen ruins which supposedly housed the Dragonlords had been assigned to my charge.

Certainly, Annatu had had plans for me.

And still did. If it weren’t for the sensors that showed zombies behind and several klicks to the left and right of us, I would swear we were on our own. They knew we were there, and yet they were doing nothing to stop us.

It was almost as if they were herding us.

“They want us to find the Dragonlords,” said Kai, the crest of the House of Nightclaw on his shoulder. It seemed odd to see the crest of another House on him, but armor was armor, and he was no fool to turn down protection that could save his life. Even I had been given

a space marine’s exo-armor, even though I didn’t have the appropriate spinal nodes to give it full functionality. Still, it was a welcome gift that I was still learning to use. I nearly crumpled a pulsar cannon by accident because I didn’t know how to adjust the strength of the suit.

“You still have Ealen nanites in your blood. Though they have been modified, I cannot say what they have been changed for or what could change them again,” said Dr. Silver, as she stood next to me, absently scratching at her exo-armor, carrying the organs taken from the Library in a shielded pack on her back. Kai had apparently made her the same offer of escape that I had given to Red, but she had insisted on accompanying us.

“And what would it mean if they did? Do they want the Dragonlords to waken? I thought the Dragonlords were the key to defeating them,” said Dr. Silver. By now, everyone knew the stakes.

“They are,” said Kai. “They have orders to let her pass, because they believe Seria will ensure their victory.”

And for the briefest moment I felt as if I were an alien, covered with tiny invisible bots that would control my actions against my own desires.

I took a deep breath. “I’ll let you know if I start craving brains,” I said.

“They probably taste better than those nutrit-bars,” said Dr. Silver under her breath.

The dense green purple shrubbery looked the same with the towering trees and sharp leaves designed to cut unwary prey. Tiny pink flowers still turned towards the smell of blood, launching tiny pollen darts that while harmless in small number, would put you to sleep if you took too many of them. Even the air smelled the same, with a faint stench of sulphur that seemed to overlay everything.

And just as I got used to the peace, there was an explosion of movement.

Figures rushed toward us, their movements as smooth as if they had been alive, save for the blood and bits of decaying flesh that leaked from sections of shattered armor.

Anduin and two Nightclaw marines met the attackers head on, their snarls and roars echoing in the forest.

I lost my balance and the forest shifted underneath me.

Too late I realized that Kai had grabbed Dr. Silver and me, and hauled us both out of there. One of the Nightclaw marines followed, covering our exit, as we headed towards the archway as quickly as we could.

It had been part of the plan apparently, a plan that I was not informed of.

We sheltered in the remnants of an ancient Ealen building, overgrown with plants.

I could still hear the hiss of burnblades in the distance. The merc and the marines were doing their job.

Dr. Silver suddenly cursed, shedding the pack at her back.

A blinking disc was embedded in it.

I began to ask what it was, even as the Nightclaw marine reacted, picking it up and flinging it skyward before anyone else could move.

An explosion resounded through the forest.

Kai stalked to the Marine and punched him in the face.

I screamed, grabbing Kai’s arm. “Kai!”

Muscles bulged, teeth lengthened, a voice snarling obscenities in Tigerish.

I opened my exo-armor, willing him to scent me. “STOP.”

He froze, neither full tiger nor human, but a horrifying monster of both.

“Kai,” I said.

Wild tiger eyes glared at me. In the past, they would have shaken fear into the core of me. But no more.

“I need you.”

The monster blinked, and Kai’s human features returned. “You. They want your death,” he said.

“Does this surprise you?” I said softly, as if we were talking about nothing more than the weather.

His hands were on my shoulders. “I will not let you sacrifice yourself.”

Did he know? He was a seer after all. But some things were beyond even his mortal foresight.

You can’t fight fate.

“We still have Project Phoenix,” I said.

Until we didn’t.

* * *

When we made it back to the other half of the team, the container with Project Phoenix had been vaporized as well. And the attackers had vanished as soon as their goal had been accomplished.

I stood there, trying to figure out what to say.

A monstrous tiger roar erupted into the jungle, shaking the leaves, sending avians and winged reptiles screaming. I let out a yelp of surprise as Kai scooped me up and clambered high up into a massive tree that seemed as tall as the main spiral on the Civic building on San Chen. It was all I could do to hang on to him as we ascended quickly through the branches.

What could I say that would force Kai to allow me into the Ealen ruins? Would the Nightclaw marines follow my lead? Surely Kai couldn’t fight them all, could he? But then how would I protect myself if the undead were waiting within the chamber.

We broke through to the tree tops to the orange sunlight above. Around us, massive leaves stretched for as far as we could see into a thick green carpet.

He set me down on a branch and then sat next to me. “Project Phoenix didn’t work anyway.”

Guilt suffused every bit of me so fast, I couldn’t hide it.

Kai looked into the distance. “I read the files on Project Phoenix after it was loaded on to the ship,” he said. “And you knew.”

“Yes,” I said, my heart beginning to break.

“You forced me to stake the honor of my House and grant a boon to Nightclaw based on a deception.”

“Yes,” I said, not daring to look at him, my eyes fixed upon one of those deadly dart flowers in the distance. I closed my eyes. If this could break us, then let it, for it would make my mission easier. If this could break us, let it happen. “A deception born from necessity. I would do it again.”

“And she shall deceive you again and again, in innocence and in purpose,” he said. “It is a line from one of the prophecies told about this time, by an ancestor of mine.”

“Oh,” I said, casually as if there was no abyss opening up in my chest. I swallowed, my mind already jumping ahead, to pretend a semblance of normalcy. “What else does the prophecy say?”

“And there is naught that you can do, but to trust her.”

I blinked back tears, not daring to speak. He stepped in front of me, forcing me to look at him.

“I am sorry, Kai,” my voice breaking.

“I am too,” he said.

I couldn’t do this, I tried to turn from him but he snagged my arm. To my surprise he pulled me to him, resting his forehead on mine. “There is an ancient Tigerish saying, something along the lines that one cannot expect someone who has no choice, to take the most honorable measures. If you are set on this path, this path that I am responsible for, so be it. We will face what is to come together.”

I blinked.

“I will trust you,” he said. “There is naught else I can do.”

I should have broken away. I should have broken us, but I couldn’t. Even though I didn’t deserve him, I couldn’t.

“Seria,” said Dr. Silver’s reluctant voice, coming through my vambrace. “I think I may have figured another way. It’s more likely to fail than not, but it’s a chance.”

“We’ll take whatever chance we can get,” said Kai, his eyes not leaving my face.

* * *

We followed the map to a sheer soaring cliff face that seemed to jut out from the dense jungle greenery like an overgrown monolith.

“The entrance is supposed to be up there, somewhere,” I waved, silently thanking my father for the power armor that would allow my party to climb.

Deadly pink dart flowers covered the cliff, the air buzzing with the hum of the insectines, blood suckers the size of Kai’s fists, with spear-like mouths designed to penetrate skulls and literally suck the brains from their victims. Thank you, father for the gift of power armor, even if it had come at a price.

Kai looked over at Anduin, who was leaning back on a tree. “Scout the cliff face with one of the Nightclaw marines. Once you find it, establish a position to cover the rest of us.”

We rested and watched while the two figures scaled the cliff, using the power armor to gauge hand and footholds into the solid rockface. At some point, Anduin and the other soldier disappeared from sight. It was because we were looking skyward that we gradually saw dots growing into great circles as the ancient ships we had seen in orbit begin to descend.

“They’re coming,” said Kai. “At the speed they’re moving they’ll be here within two hours.”

Two hours to navigate the interior of an ancient ruin and all its traps and find the resting place of the Dragonlords.

Anduin’s voice came through on Kai’s vambrace. “I’ve found the entrance,” the mercenary said. “You’d better come up here and see this as fast as you can.”

* * *

There was a door engraved with the flowering vines characteristic of the First Ealen Era, a time so far in the recesses of history that it was said to predate Ealen space travel. All attempts to break it, unlock it, explode it, even disassemble it via nanites failed. We didn’t even know what kind of material it was because our sensors kept coming to different conclusions. We couldn’t even find the lock.

“To come this far and be defeated by a door. It can’t be.” I stood there, looking at the door. It was a small door, and to get through it, we would have to temporarily shed ourselves of our armor.

With a few swipes, I unlocked my armor and let it fall away.

Kai growled at me. “What are you doing?”

I walked over to the door, and put my hand on it. It was cool to the touch, but in moments, the door began to warm.

A floating screen of Classical Ealen symbols, the earliest form of the languages appeared before my eyes.

And as I made my way through the puzzle-lock, I finally realized why Annatu had forced me to study such an esoteric subject.

When the lock finally disintegrated, pieces of it falling apart and arranging themselves into a decorative mosaic, we found a stone hallway before us. It was roughly hewn and unadorned, smelling of sulphur and salt. Considering the Ealen penchant for intricate designs, I was surprised. But I reminded myself, that just because the lock was Ealen, didn’t mean that this place was Ealen.

The ground shuddered beneath us.

Silence.

“The enemy has arrived,” said Anduin.

The Library’s forces, whatever they were, would get in here far faster than we would. Already, I heard an explosion and footsteps far behind us.

Anduin and the marines had been setting timed charges in the tunnel a hundred yards back. We could only move forward, not backward.

“They’re being guided,” said Anduin, setting off more of the planted charges. Echoes of explosions cascaded behind us. “There is a lead necromancer somewhere, directing them. They’ll keep multiplying until you destroy the necromancer.”

How did Anduin know?

Kai’s face was grim. “We just have to hold them off long enough to wake the Dragonlords.”

* * *

Above us, dust and rock fell and spilled upon the ancient stone floor.

The lights slowly flickered on, revealing a large circular chamber with four massive egg-shaped modules. Three modules bore the form of humanoid figures in stasis. The fourth was in shards. By the dust that covered it, whatever had happened to it had happened long ago.

The chamber shook and bits of dust fell. “They’re drilling downward,” said one of the Nightclaw marines. One of them barked a harsh Alzarian command and they positioned themselves around us.

A vast light of purple flashed, blinding me, frying the power armor’s visors. When my vision returned, there was a vast hole to the sky in the chamber. The beam had burned through the ground, digging a deep chasm into the chamber, cutting one of the remaining eggs in half. As I watched, the ground beneath it crumbled and fell.

Now there were two.

I put my hands on the nearest egg. It was cool to the touch. The texture was so oddly familiar. And then I realized. They weren’t eggs.

They were healing pods.

I stepped on to the platform and Classical Ealen symbols lit up around the pods.

The first of the enemy crawled through the hole, and the Marines fried it with a charged blast. It fell to the ground a mess of jerking limbs and melted exo-armor. One after another, the undead came and the marines cooked them. For a few moments, it seemed as if we had a chance.

Anduin placed his devices into the machinery around the pods. A blue glow marked a humming to life as they translated, recaptured, reorganized, a millennia of algorithms programmed.

There were several more flashes of purple, more rock crumbling to the ground, smashing into three of the Nightclaw marines and I hoped that their exo-armor was strong enough to give them a chance.

“Where are the hearts?” asked Dr. Silver, looking at a floating screen projected from Anduin’s devices. “They have no hearts.”

She expanded the screen for us to see. The bodies were in stasis, on the border between life and death.

There was no escaping from this.

It had to be my heart.

“No!” Kai gripped my shoulder, fury, anger, and sorrow in his face. His hands gripped mine tightly. “You can’t do this. This can’t be your fate. It’s supposed to be mine.”

My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes. “My fate was to love you. And I do.”

Kai’s face went dark. “And I –“

One of the undead broke through the line of Nightclaw marines. Kai spun to meet the attack, but as he threw the zombie against the wall, another took his place. To my horror, I realized the walls were covered with the undead soldiers, clinging to the wall like spiders, so densely and thickly it was near impossible to see the actual wall itself.

I turned to Dr. Silver. “We have to do it now.”

I gave her access to my armor.

There was an explosive tiger roar. Then, a sound of desperation, as if wrenched from Kai’s chest.

“SERIA!”

Dr. Silver touched me and everything fell away.

* * *

Though it bore a resemblance, I found myself in a place that was clearly not the chamber I had entered. For one thing, there was no ceiling. Above me, a red orange galaxy of stars swirled above me. There were no walls around me either. To the right, was an unrecognizable moon, as orange as a tiger, the left a white sun that should have been blinding in its light. It was as if I stood upon a stone platform that hovered in space.

“Where am I?”

Flames surrounded me, licking me, but I felt nothing.

In a place that has no time.

Two dragons were watched me with golden alien eyes. One was black, the other a deep red gold. They were huge, with gleaming scales that reflected the firelight into patterns on the stone floor. They looked around, as if searching for their brethren, before settling their gaze on me.

What is the time from where you come?

I couldn’t tell which dragon spoke. I didn’t know what they were talking about.

“We need your help. The Lost Ealen Army of the Undead have returned and are threatening all life in the universe.”

They hissed and looked at each other, uttering incomprehensible liquid syllables at each other. Then one turned back to me.

Aid sought, must have an offer in return.

And so the legends always said. No matter the situation, dragons always demanded a price. “I offer my life,” I said, thinking of the heartless bodies. “My heart.”

Do you know who you are?

“I am an orphan. I am the daughter of the Alpha of Nightclaw. I am the daughter of an Infoist whose blood runs back to the Ealen. I am Lady of House Stargazer and beloved of Tigerlord Kai. I am all of these things and I ask for your help in exchange for my life.”

I felt something searching my mind, seeing my past seeing all that I was.

And as quick as he was in my mind, he was gone.

Your physical offering is accepted.

I had thought I had felt pain, when Annatu had surrounded me with spheres, and turned the nanites in my body against me.

But that was only a mere degree compared to the nova of pain exploding from my chest. Something held me upward as a small glowing star erupted from my chest. It divided into two small balls of fire, both of which were promptly swallowed by the dragons.

But it is not enough.

I stood there, dumbfounded. I gingerly touched the gaping hole in my chest. I looked up at the dragons.

It is not your time to pass. Your physical heart is not enough.

My voice cracked. “What more do you want?”

Your heartsoul is no longer yours to give.

And then, another presence, faint but still there all the same. It did not speak with words, but I understood it all the same.

Will mine suffice for one of you?

Who –

I remembered Dr. Silver, bracing herself against the pod, one hand on mine.

No, I tried to scream, but something held me in place as they examined her with the same thoroughness they had taken me.

And then I heard one speak to her. I will take your heart. But you offer one mortal human heart for two dragons.

Dr. Silver’s voice grew in intensity. “Go back to sleep then if you wish, and die. Because if you both do not wake, then we will all die, like your comrades.”

A tendril of fire reached out and touched her. She gasped. The two dragons looked at each other and then looked back at us.

One of them rose, spreading massive black wings as he came toward her.

I shall claim you then, doctor.