CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 36 – THE ROOT OF HOLLOW SUNS

The stars shifted again.

It was subtle at first—a flicker in the constellations, a change in the color of distant suns. But to the Cartograph of Tyn-Gol, now integrated into the Jade Vulture’s core, the message was clear:

A path had opened.

A path to the Root of Hollow Suns.

According to Sovereign records, it wasn’t a place.

It was a scar.

A region of dead stars woven together by ancient Sovereign rites. No empire mapped it, no ship returned from it, and no beacon could penetrate the event horizon that wrapped around its edge.

Kairos stood before the holographic projection, arms crossed, watching the route manifest like veins through a dying beast.

"That’s where the third key is," Raya whispered.

"And likely more than just the key," Vael added. "That place hums with burial magic. I’ve felt this kind of presence before... during the Fall."

Kairos looked over his crew.

"The Ashen Sovereign won’t be far behind. We go now. Prep the ship."

Into the Black Core

The jump to the Root took 14 core-hours—far longer than any safe warp transit. Even with the Cartograph synchronizing star-folds in real time, the turbulence nearly tore the Jade Vulture apart.

Space folded, stretched, and convulsed.

Reality bled.

When they emerged, the Vulture was surrounded by a black sphere—stars turned inside out. Planets without light. Moons without gravity. A broken sun hovered above, flickering like an oil lantern.

The Root itself pulsed in the center of the void.

A massive black tangle of stellar corpses, woven together by golden strands of Sovereign circuitry. The Cartograph chimed with a soft harmonic tone.

[Vault Signature Confirmed – Third Sovereign Key Detected – 83 km below surface]

"Inside that?" Raya asked, incredulous.

Kairos smiled grimly. "Time to dig."

The Descent Begins

They left the Vulture in low orbit and descended in a planetary crawler—a Sovereign salvage rig they had retrofitted with their own defenses.

As they descended into the husk of dead suns, electromagnetic storms battered them. Chunks of stellar ash collided with their shields. Ethereal flashes of light danced through the vacuum—memories of stars that had once lived and died here.

Inside the crawler, it grew colder.

Not physically—but metaphysically.

Even Vael, hardened psionic warrior, rubbed her arms.

"This place doesn’t just kill light," she muttered. "It remembers what it destroys."

Raya ran spectral scans. "There’s consciousness residue everywhere. Thousands of voices... crying out."

Kairos felt the fragment in his chest burn hotter.

"We’re close."

The Crypt of Cinders

At 83 km below the Root’s surface, they found it.

A spherical chamber suspended in an anti-gravitic vacuum—lined with towering obsidian pillars. Carvings of Sovereigns long extinct. And at the center...

A floating prism of crystallized time.

Inside it, rotating gently—was the third Sovereign Key.

It looked different from the others.

Dark red, with glowing veins like magma. Its presence thrummed with heat, rage, and forgotten sacrifice.

Vael stepped forward. "It’s not dormant. It’s aware."

As they approached, a ring of light erupted around the chamber—glyphs igniting like fuse lines.

A voice—booming, ancient—rattled the very metal beneath their feet:

"You who claim the path of the Sovereign... prove you are not a thief."

The chamber lit up with projections of past holders—each of them wielding the Sovereign Key. Warriors, scholars, tyrants... and one who looked eerily like Kairos.

A gauntlet materialized around the key.

[Trial of the Root Initiated – Legacy Link Required]

Kairos looked to the others.

"This one’s mine."

Trial of the Root

He stepped into the center of the chamber.

Time warped instantly.

He wasn’t in the crypt anymore—but in a city of fire and stone. Corpses littered the streets. A child cried nearby. Ships burned in the sky.

He recognized it.

Zerath Prime.

The colony where he’d lost his parents.

Where he’d first learned what it meant to survive.

A Sovereign-like figure approached, dressed in the robes of an archivist.

"Do you remember what you did here, Kairos Vant?"

Kairos stiffened.

"I was ten."

"And you traded your father’s research to escape."

"I didn’t have a choice."

"Yet you lived. And your people burned."

The figure extended a molten blade.

"Redeem your legacy. Or repeat your cowardice."

Kairos drew his saber, pulse hammer active.

And fought.

He fought the phantoms of his past. The archivist. The ash-beasts that rose from memory. The betrayal of his own survival.

He bled.

But he endured.

And at the peak of the vision, he refused to run.

"I’m not that boy anymore."

The vision collapsed.

The Third Key Awakens

Kairos stood in the chamber again—chest heaving, sweat pouring down his face.

The prism shattered.

The Third Sovereign Key floated to him and merged with the existing pair. A ring of crimson light circled his wrist, and new data filled his mind.

[Sovereign Key III – "Wrath" Acquired][System Upgrade: Trade Seizure Unlocked][You may now forcibly terminate rival trader links within 100-meter radius][Caution: High visibility signature; other Sovereigns will detect]

Vael steadied him.

"You did it."

Raya stared at the glyphs now appearing in the walls.

"There’s more. This key doesn’t just point to the next vault..."

Kairos nodded. "It points to the Sovereign War Map."

Exit Interrupted

As they began their ascent, their comms cracked with static.

Then a voice.

"You really do know how to wake the dead, Kairos."

Seren.

The enigmatic Sovereign broker who had aided them once—and betrayed them later.

She appeared as a hologram on the crawler’s dash. Her eyes gleamed like twin moons.

"Don’t hate me. I’m just here to balance the board."

"By leading us to a trap?" Kairos asked.

"By making sure you survive it."

She transmitted new coordinates.

"Fourth Vault: The Grave-Engine of Damos. They’ll all be looking for it now. You have maybe... 3 days head start."

"And what do you get out of this?"

Seren smiled. "Chaos. And answers."

The transmission ended.

Departure and Resolve

Back on the Jade Vulture, the Sovereign Keys synchronized for the first time.

A starmap unfolded—seven vaults blinking like candles on a black canvas.

Kairos touched the crimson light on his wrist.

Three down.

Four to go.

And the war was only beginning.

Status Summary

Cosmic Units (C.U.): 22,600Star Credits: 98,200Sovereign Keys: 3 / 7

Key I: Commerce

Key II: Echo

Key III: WrathCrew:

Kairos Vant (Sovereign Trader)

Vael Sarn (Psionic Vanguard)

Raya Quill (Memory Hacker)

New System Perk:

[Trade Seizure] – Forcefully disable rival trader benefits in active radius. Duration: 3 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

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