Your technique cards all have a purpose and intent, Lessa said, passing Kinfild’s messages into his mind. As you get closer to choosing a Path, the cards’ effectiveness will start to scale with your attributes. This route of the card’s enhancement is starting to scale with your Resistance rating, allowing you to travel further than your Aes output would have previously let you.

Jace nodded. “So the higher my Resistance is, the further I can travel?”

Lessa cleared her throat. Alright, Kinfild’s words, not mine: ‘The Split is the grand way, it is the governing law, it is universal. It is what binds the universe together and holds back chaos; the split between reality and unfathomable disarray. You pick out parts of the Split, which become your Path. As your understanding of the universe and yourself deepens, so too do your abilities strengthen.’ She paused, then added, Resistance is an excellent attribute to scale off, though.

“Why’s that?”

It’s helpful in other areas. Your body deals with poisons and spiritual attacks better, and your stance will be harder to break physically.

“So…I know exercise probably aids the attribute distribution of Strength, Vitality, and Agility, but how do I focus the Resistance attribute shards?”

By training your soul and spirit. Cycling Aes takes willpower—from the soul—not just a good breathing technique. And the more you cycle violent hyperspace Aes, the more robust your channels will grow. Your true Resistance will follow the placement of the attribute shards.

She stopped for a second, then warned, The guards are getting suspicious. They’re staring at us. This time, her voice was very quiet—almost a whisper. Besides, Kinfild thinks we’re almost at the Wall.

“I’m coming, I’m coming…” Jace said. He forced his eyes open, whisking the dreamspace plane away with his eyelids. For a few seconds, he blinked, washing away the sleepiness and remains of the vision.

Not much had changed. A patrol of Koedor-Terginian soldiers marched past down the central hallway, holding their plasma rifles at the ready. Jace sat up and leaned against the wall behind him. His muscles were tired and his fingers begged him for rest.

Once the guards had passed, Kinfild whispered, “So? Report, if you will.”

“We enhanced the hyperspace jump twice,” Jace replied in a hushed tone. “And placed some attributes down. I’ve put more than half of the total in Resistance and Vitality.” Jace leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep—a proper sleep—but if the guards were suspicious, it probably wasn’t a great idea to meditate.

He recalled the ability description again. He would interact with objects in a limited manner, it had said. “Kinfild, if it says ‘limited’—”

“ ‘Limited manner’ doesn’t mean you can phase through the bars, not yet,” the Wielder said. “You might hurt yourself less when you crash into the bars, but you’re no good to us if you break every bone in your body rather than disintegrating yourself.” After a short pause, he stood up and looked out the glass strip behind them. The golden glow of hyperspace was less intense. “We’re approaching the Wall. I don’t imagine the Koedor-Terginians have permission to pass through the wall—which is operated by the Starrealm of Artanor. I’m interested to see how they do it.”

“How do starships handle hyperspace jumps, then?” Jace asked. “They don’t just pass through objects, just like that?”

Kinfild snorted. “Starships operate on the basest level of hyperspace jumps; they will crash through objects in the physical world. We haven’t invented the technology for anything more yet. Hence why the Wall works, hence why we must navigate around planets and stars and dust clusters.”

The starship rocked and bucked. A rumble passed through the hull and echoed down the starship’s corridors. From the distance the echo travelled, the starship couldn’t be much bigger than the brig. The vessel must have been designed for transporting prisoners—and they must have been quite important to Stenol if they could warrant a ship to transport them all alone.

The glow outside the window dimmed, and a violent shudder shot through the hull. They were dropping out of hyperspace. Jace stood up and pressed his face closer to the thin window strip. A cloud of golden dust rolled off the starship, obscuring the view.

But the dust dispersed into the void. Small, distant stars dotted the darkness, but nothing else. Jace leaned closer, pressing his face against the glass. He didn’t know what he expected to see, but he had expected to see something impressive.

Then, on one side of him, there was a bright flash. A starship appeared, dust pouring off its hull. It was about the size of the Luna Wrath, but encased in a dark gray coating. Wide wings reached out from either side, and its thrusters glowed green. Another appeared beside it, and another above it—both the same type of starship.

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So that’s what exiting hyperspace looks like, he thought. He’d never seen it from outside before, and he’d expected it to be less…flashy.

The two other starships escorted the prison vessel. In the shiny front viewscreen of the nearest escort, Jace saw a reflection of the prison ship. It was a long block, maybe fifty meters long, with a brutalistic shape that reminded him more of a tank than of a flying object. Nothing marked it as a Koedor-Terginian ship.

The escorts turned downward. The prison ship turned as well, albeit slower. Jace’s cheek pressed up against the cold glass.

Only then, out of the corner of his eye, did he catch a glimpse of their destination. A vast formation of nebulae gathered into a wall across space as far as he could see; sharp pink and brown mountains of dust and newborn stars. There wasn’t a break in them, not even a gap—except in the very center.

The prison ship steamed towards a flat expanse of gray steel inserted into the nebula’s center. The only chink in the impassable, roiling clouds of dust. A man-made structure plugged the hole.

He may not have been educated well in this galaxy’s ways, but he didn’t need to be. This was the Wall, and it was meant to keep something out. A lattice of girders as thick as a planet braced the wall from behind.

Jace gulped. How much metal had been smelted and forged to build this wall? It had to be as wide as the sun, if not twice as wide. And…what warranted such a structure? He gripped the edge of the window.

They were heading to the other side of the Wall. They were leaving its safety.

A sheet lit up in front of him: [New Title obtained: Witness of the Ancients (awarded for viewing a Luminias megastructure) (+1 Agility) (this title cannot be removed).]

The starships turned, and the wall passed out of view. Instead, he spotted a line of other starships. They were blocky, run-down, and rusty, and they all prowled towards the gate. None of them looked like the prison ship or its escorts—just other transports.

“Where are they all going?” Jace asked.

“The Starrealm has a few outposts on the outside of the Wall,” explained Kinfild. “They need to import many wares, but sometimes also mail and food. Only the bravest of cargo haulers would take a job outside the Wall, and they all need to undergo an inspection before they pass through the gate.”

The escorts and the prison ship fell into the line, adding to the choking black cloud of hyperspace dust.

“What if someone just plowed a starship into it at lightspeed?” Jace asked, recalling his own abilities. No matter how thick the wall was, that would do some damage.

“Torpedo nets,” Kinfild stated. “You see them, yes? They catch any object travelling through hyperspace and stop it from doing any damage.”

When Jace squinted, he noticed a shimmering neon orange curtain hanging in front of the wall. Interwoven, glowing chain-links, shiftling ever so slightly in the void as if flags in an invisible wind.

It didn’t make sense to Jace’s mind. He couldn’t comprehend the scale, let alone the possibility of such a structure. Jace said softly, “Stenol said that the race of men hadn’t ever done any great feats or built any great monuments. The Starrealm is a nation of men, right?”

“Mostly,” Kinfild answered. “But they didn’t build the wall; they only maintain it. The Kings of Luminias built it—an older, now-extinct race of near-humans who were quite skilled at constructing enormous objects.”

Jace nodded. He didn’t quite understand, but he didn’t pester. They drew closer by the second, approaching a gate in the metal wall. It was as wide as a planet and as tall as two. On either side of the gate, two brass statues stood. They held enormous spears, and they were clad from head to toe in a monochrome mimicry of armour. Jace couldn’t tear his eyes away from their sharp jawlines and imposing features.

“Those,” Kinfild said, “Are the two Luminian Kings who oversaw the Wall’s construction.”

Above the gate was a holographic projection of a flag—a yellow banner swaying in a false wind. It had a red cross through it, and in the top corner, an ornate black crest. Just in front of it floated countless objects that Jace might have mistaken for clouds had they not been so angular. They were spacecraft, and enormous—at least a kilometer and a half long. Their hulls tapered off towards the center, but at their aft, a command tower stretched up high above the pale gray steel. Beneath it, struts reached out of its flanks in a wing shape.

“Starrealm battleships,” Kinfild stated.

“Oh, oh oh!” Lessa pressed her face tight against the glass of her own cell, and her breath condensed against it. “Starrealm warships! I’ve always wanted to see one!” After a few seconds, she asked, “Have they finished the Dreadnought yet? Is it here?”

“It’s still in an atmosphere-dock,” Kinfild muttered. “I hope it never gets out, or everyone will want to build a fleet of them…”

By now, they drifted through the gate. Jace craned his neck, peering up as much as he could. An enormous portcullis hung overhead, ready to clamp down across the gate at a moment’s notice. He couldn’t see what happened during inspections, though he presumed someone would board their vessel and walk through it. He partially hoped someone would, and they’d be noticed. Perhaps rescued.

But nothing happened. He didn’t even hear a thunk to indicate that their starship had been boarded.

“Stenol did say the Watchmen would be easily passed…” Kinfild muttered. “Or at least, he insinuated that they were easily corrupted. But this, this…shouldn’t happen.”

As soon as their starship passed the wall, it began to whir and shudder. A minute or two later, it leapt away into hyperspace. The windows lit up with brilliant light, and they were off to whatever destination the crew had in mind.

They were out in dark, wild space, past the empires.

Jace tightened his fists. If he wanted to get out, this was up to him.

He had Vaults to run.