[Part 1: Paradise]
[Kerrigan III - Imperial Date 14756.89]
[Morning - The Gardens of Eternal Spring]
The void-streams painted ribbons of light across the morning sky, their quantum-entangled paths connecting Kerrigan III to a thousand other worlds. From the floating gardens of the Voss Citadel, they looked like rivers of starlight—the lifeblood of the Atlantean Empire flowing through the galaxy.
Eight-year-old Kain hung upside down from a gravity-defying tree branch, his dark hair dancing in the artificial breeze. "Bet you can't do this, Abel!"
His twin brother, ever the cautious one, stood below with a spell matrix half-formed between his hands. "Mother says we shouldn't play with the gravity fields."
"Mother says a lot of things," Kain grinned, then yelped as the branch's enchantment flickered. He tumbled—
—and landed in a cushion of pure force, Abel's hastily constructed spell catching him.
"Boys!" Alexandra Voss's voice carried equal measures of amusement and exasperation. The ruler of Kerrigan III stood in the garden's entrance, her simple white robes a stark contrast to the ornate fashion favored by most Imperial governors. No chrome implants marred her features, no neural enhancers glowed beneath her skin. She ruled through wisdom, not augmentation.
"He started it," Abel lowered his brother gently to the ground, the spell matrix dissolving into sparkles.
Alexandra crossed the garden, her bare feet silent on the grass that shouldn't exist on this desert world. Everything here was a triumph of void-tech and magic working in harmony—the atmospheric processors that made the air breathable, the gravity wells that held the floating cities aloft, the eternal springs that turned sand into paradise.
They knew that this planet was no paradise, the cracked remains of a planet that was once called Gaia.
"And you'll both finish it with your lessons," she smiled, pulling them both into an embrace. "Archmagister Valerius is waiting."
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Kain groaned. "But Mother, the new void-ships are arriving today! Can't we watch from the observation deck?"
"The whole Imperial fleet is coming!" Abel added, his usual restraint forgotten in excitement. "They say their new flagship can even travel between galaxies!"
Alexandra's eyes softened. The boys had inherited their father's fascination with technology, though they were too young to remember him. The official records said he died testing new void-drive configurations. The truth... the truth was something she'd tell them when they were older.
"Tell you what," she knelt between them, her voice conspiratorial. "Master your lessons with Marcus, and we'll all watch the fleet arrival together. I might even have a surprise for you."
The twins' eyes lit up. Their mother's surprises were legendary.
"Race you to the study!" Kain took off running, his laughter echoing through the impossible garden.
Abel hesitated, looking at his mother. Even at eight, he was perceptive. "Are you worried about something?"
Alexandra kissed his forehead. "The Empire is vast, my star. Sometimes I worry it's too vast, too hungry for expansion. But that's a concern for another day. Go catch your brother before he convinces Marcus to teach him more explosion spells."
As Abel ran after his twin, Alexandra's smile faded slightly. The sensors had been showing strange fluctuations in the void lately. And some of the reports from the outer colonies were...
But those were problems for the ruler of Kerrigan III. Right now, she was simply a mother, watching her sons disappear into the halls of their floating citadel, their voices echoing with the pure joy of childhood.
She didn't know it would be the last truly peaceful moment they would ever share.