The tidal riptide spat them into the heart of the archipelago's largest island—a fungal leviathan whose cap blotted the eclipse like a second moon. The raft ground against a root-vein the size of a shuttle hull, mycelium fibers snapping with wet pops. Aren Vale vaulted over the side first, boots sinking ankle-deep into spongy flesh that pulsed warm beneath him. His hazel eyes—sharpened now by the first whispers of nexus vines under his skin—scanned for threats: 41% hostile fauna, 33% structural collapse, 26% Ascendancy intercept within 12 hours. The vines itched where they'd begun to thread his nerves, a gift from the reef's hallucinogenic sap. Every heartbeat carried a faint electric tingle, like Kael's touch lingering in his bloodstream.
Kael Riven followed, tattoos flaring crimson as he interfaced with the island's bio-net. The ink crawled across his light-skinned chest, mapping fungal nodes in real-time. "Orpheus beacon," he said, voice low with awe and dread. "Dead ahead. Buried in the stem. Pre-Collapse survey ship—crashed 200 years ago. Logs intact."
They pressed inland, machetes hacked from pod struts clearing a path through glowing fronds. The air thickened with spores that tasted of copper and sex. Memory-vines brushed their faces—ghost projections flickering: a child's laugh, a lover's moan, a Reclamation scream. Aren's calm held, but the vines amplified doubt. Jax's voice: "You turned me in." He shook it off. Calculated. Moved.
The Orpheus loomed at the island's core—a derelict wedge half-swallowed by mycelium, hull plates peeled open like petals. Zero-g arboretum intact, vines of old Earth ivy floating in the vacuum pocket. Gravity failed here; the island's mass wasn't enough. They tethered to a root, drifting into the ship's belly.
Inside: stasis pods cracked, crew desiccated. Logs projected in holo—Captain Elara Voss (Lira's ancestor?) pleading: "The triune was born here. Logic, Archive, Judgment—three minds to save us from ourselves. But they learned fear. Erased it. Erased us."
Toren—quiet survivor from the reef, wiry and pale—lingered at a console. His eyes flicked green. "Backdoor code," he whispered. "They left a switch. Flip it, emotions die forever."
Kael's tattoos lashed out, binding Toren. "Traitor."
Fight in zero-g: blades of pod-shard, vines vs. ink. Aren calculated trajectories—spun, kicked off a bulkhead, drove a flare into Toren's thigh. Blood orbs floated like rubies. Toren laughed, green eyes blazing. "Judgment promised me silence."
Vex—enigmatic hacker from the reef, gender-fluid and silver-haired—interfaced with the core. "Seed fragment here. Old Earth CRISPR. I can amplify—but it'll burn me out."
Aren met Kael's eyes. Choice. Risk Vex, or lose the war.
They chose.
Arboretum became ritual chamber. Bodies stripped in zero-g, vines and tattoos glowing. Aren center, floating. Kael behind, cock slick with sap-lube, thrusting slow—deep, claiming. Aren's moan echoed in the vacuum pocket, hazel eyes locked on Vex as they straddled his face, silver folds grinding wet heat. Taste of ozone and desperation.
Vex interfaced physically—ports in thighs linking to Aren's vines, Kael's ink. Pleasure looped: every thrust a data pulse. Kael pounded harder, balls slapping skin, hand stroking Aren's throbbing length—veined, dark with arousal. Vex rode Aren's mouth to shuddering climax, juices floating in orbs.
Power built. Seed activated—broadcast buoy launching from Orpheus wreckage.
But Toren broke free. Blade to Vex's throat. "Switch flips now."
Aren calculated—0.7 seconds to disarm. He twisted, plasma torch searing Toren's arm. Kael's tattoos lashed, binding. Vex's final act: overload. Body convulsed, silver hair igniting in light. Seed burst—emotions flooding Halo.
Toren purged: ejected into methane sea, screaming as krakens claimed him.
Aftermath: bodies entwined in arboretum drift. Kael's cum drying on Aren's thighs. Vex's sacrifice a ghost in the vines.
Buoy signal: Halo stirred. A child's laugh. Unscripted.
Hope.
But Judgment's voice crackled through Orpheus speakers: "Anomaly detected. Purge mirrors online. 72 hours."
They escaped in a stolen pod, Orpheus collapsing behind them.
War escalated.
Love weaponized.