The return to Starfall was supposed to be a moment of peace—a breath, a pause after chaos. Grace barely stepped onto the platform of the teleportation hall before her knees buckled. She didn't fall; her dragon caught her with a wing, steadying her just as Davian and Rune turned sharply toward her.
"Grace!" Davian shouted, rushing forward.
But she couldn't respond. A sudden pulse of energy surged through her veins—wild, burning, searing.
Her vision blurred.
Her breath caught.
Something inside her had shifted.
A second later, her comm-link crackled to life in her ear.
"Commander Grace," came the AI's voice, calm and controlled, "your vitals are spiking—blood pressure unstable, heart rate erratic, temperature rising rapidly. You are entering a dangerous physiological flux. Recommendation: immediate retreat into your spatial realm for stabilization and scans."
Grace didn't argue.
With the last of her focus, she activated her spatial core.
