Darkness. Nobody moved.
Ryan’s console flickered. A single word appeared in the center of the screen.
Master.
Yuki’s console flickered next. The same word.
Master.
Then navigation. Engineering. Comms. One after another, every screen on the bridge lit up with the same word.
Master. Master. Master.
The word began to scroll. Dozens of lines. Hundreds. Every console printing the same thing, faster and faster, the text racing down the screens.
Master. Master. Master. Master. Master. Master. Master. Master. Master. Master. Master. Master.
Carmen stared at the captain’s chair console. Ryan had gone pale.
Then everything stopped all at once. The screens went dark.
Everything was quiet for a moment.
Then the lights came back on. Life support systems rebooted. Yuki’s console blinked back on. Her navigation display returned, showing exactly what it had been showing before the ship lost its mind. Standard orbital data. Normal. As if nothing had happened.
No one spoke.
Augustus stared at the screens. The Sleipnir had just woken up. It had tried to reach Alexander. And it had failed.
He glanced at Carmen. “Make sure the Sleipnir is okay.” Then he turned back to the portal.
“Where are you going?”
He didn’t pause. “Alex is in trouble.”
***
They stood in front of the gateway.
The aperture was sealed. A flat surface of dark metal where the passage should have been, unmarked, featureless.
Annie hit it. MetaMetal formed across her fist a fraction of a second before impact. The ring of metal on metal echoed through the corridor.
She screamed and hit it again. Harder. The echo bounced off the walls and faded into nothing.
Augustus put a hand on her shoulder.
She spun to face him. Her eyes were wide and furious. “What do we do?”
Augustus didn’t answer. He stepped past her and placed a hand against the surface of the gateway.
He closed his eyes.
His power pushed into the surface. Magic pulsed outward the same way he reached for the ethereal hands without his wand.
He found what he was looking for almost immediately.
Magic. A deep, vast ocean of it stretching from the gateway’s surface into a darkness that crushed down from every direction. The further his awareness reached, the heavier the darkness became, until the magic thinned and there was nothing. An absence so complete it reminded him of the void of space.
And threaded through all of it, holding the darkness at bay, keeping the pathway intact between one reality and another, was a framework of magic so intricate and so layered that Augustus forgot to breathe.
His recent studies of the Empire of Stars’ magic, measured against his own superpowered magical abilities, had given him insights that he thought would allow him to push the boundaries one day.
This made all of it look like finger painting.
He opened his eyes.
“Well?” Annie’s voice was tight.
“It’s not protected. I think I can claim it.”
Her shoulders relaxed a fraction, and her eyes sharpened. “Then hurry up and do it.”
Augustus placed both palms against the surface. Closed his eyes again. Let his power pulse outward, spreading across the gateway’s face, sinking into the layers beneath.
His Will followed. It moved through the framework slowly. Each layer was more complex than the last. Each one built on principles he’d never encountered, using techniques he’d never imagined, solving problems he hadn’t known existed.
He wanted to understand all of it. Every thread. Every connection. Every elegant solution woven into this impossible structure. Alexander thought the gateway a machine, but he couldn’t be more wrong.
It was magic beyond belief.
His Will pressed deeper, finding no resistance. If there had been even a fragment of another’s possession, it would have responded the first time.
The gateway drank in his power, as something within it filled. Then his ownership settled over the structure.
—
[GATEWAY CLAIMED]
Congratulations, Augustus Greaves.
You have successfully claimed a Gateway on behalf of Grimnir.
Destination: Earth_5 (“Empire of Stars”)
As a new claimant, you have access to the following one-time option:
Relocation: This gateway may be moved to a new location once within the next 30 days.