Chapter 7
829words
The energy storm in the Talos system has subsided, leaving only a field of cosmic debris in its wake. Fragments of shattered warships float silently in the void like tombstones. In the distance, dozens of undamaged Judgment-class battleships form an inescapable net, their cold cannon barrels gleaming with an eerie light, completely sealing off this small area of ruins.
On a relatively large piece of flagship wreckage, Nikolai kneels, holding the unconscious Serena tightly in his arms.
Half of his body is charred black from energy burns, the Imperial Commander's uniform is in tatters, and blood slowly drips from the corner of his mouth. Their victory has come at such a terrible cost.
The Imperial fleet's encirclement is slowly tightening, and the time left for them is running short.
In this moment of desperation, something unexpected happens!
That same heavily damaged vessel, Nikolai's former flagship—the "Leviathan," suddenly moved without warning! Its enormous body abruptly changed direction, its main cannons unleashing a final, brilliant burst of light, not aimed at Nikolai, but fiercely bombarding a weak point in the encirclement!
The Judgment Fleet clearly hadn't anticipated this sudden "betrayal," and their formation fell into momentary chaos.
"Commander!"
A familiar and resolute voice sounded on Nikolai's private channel. It was the deputy officer.
"This is my... final time executing your orders. The 'Ark' plan—I will now complete the last step for you. Take care!"
As soon as the words faded, the "Leviathan's" engines roared with overloaded power, like a tragic beast charging without hesitation toward the densest part of the Judgment Fleet, using its own body to ram open the only escape route into the endless darkness for Nikolai!
Nikolai's tiger-like eyes instantly turned red. He knew what the adjutant's choice meant. It was a serious crime of betraying the empire, a fate that would certainly lead to death.
He had no time to grieve. Holding Serena, using his last bit of strength, he piloted that battered assault craft, rushing into the passage that his former comrades had sacrificed their lives to create, disappearing into the depths of the universe.
During their aimless escape, Serena slowly regained consciousness.
They hid on the far side of a desolate asteroid, evading the empire's relentless pursuit.
"Did we... succeed?" she asked weakly.
"Yes," Nikolai gently brushed aside the disheveled hair on her forehead, his movement too gentle for a hardened soldier, "we succeeded."
Looking into her clear eyes, Nikolai knew it was time to reveal everything.
He revealed to her the secret about his family that had been buried for tens of thousands of years. As it turned out, his ancestors were among the earliest explorers of the empire, who encountered a "Void Civilization" at the edge of the universe—one far more powerful and ancient than the empire, which survived by devouring the cosmos.
To resist that civilization, Nikolai's ancestors had to build that world-ending device, attempting to draw an impassable "scorched buffer zone" between the two civilizations through extreme measures. But once this plan was implemented, it would lead to the destruction of billions of lives.
In the end, one of the ancestors, known as the "Harmonizer," sacrificed himself to seal the device and left a prophecy. The Qin family, as guardians, bore this unspeakable "original sin," watching over this secret for generations, until the "String Sound" would rise again.
"So, what I betrayed was only the Empire's 'order,'" Nikolai looked at her, his gaze frank and sincere, "But what I uphold is a heavier 'responsibility' that my family has carried for ten thousand years. And you... Serena, you are not some specimen, you are a miracle of the universe, the only hope that can truly 'harmonize' all of this."
Serena listened quietly, tears silently sliding down her face. She finally understood the weight and loneliness behind all his actions. She reached out her hand, gently caressing the ancient scar on his arm.
In this moment, the last trace of barrier between them completely dissolved.
With Nikolai's memory of the ancient star charts, at the end of their escape, they found an ancient jump point that had long been abandoned, marked as "The Void" on the imperial star maps.
Legend had it that this was the path to the divine realm that the ancestors took during the mythical age of the Empire.
Nikolai dripped Serena's fresh blood onto the activation core of the jump point. The blood containing the "Harmonizer" genes instantly activated the entire device!
A gentle yet brilliant light, unlike any seen before, enveloped them. Space-time distorted, and stars reversed their courses. When the light dissipated, they had arrived in a completely new, strange stellar region that belonged to no known territory.
Here, there were no Imperial warships, no human footprints. Only the shimmering primordial nebulae and planets untouched by development, filled with the purest, most primitive life energy.
This would be their new world, the starting point for creating their "New Haven."
