Vorzii soared above Terra Para's frozen lands at a steady, swift pace. The skyship's name meant 'bright claw' in the language of dragons, Stamat had explained. Airo cared nothing about such clarifications, and instead searched for something to take care of his injuries. Fortunately, the heavily armed skyship was equipped with a state-of-the-art medbay, and he was as good as new after some downtime in a healing pod.

After getting better, Airo spent most of his time on the bridge. He decided to play the observer, and learn more about the situation passively, since the prospects of gaining more useful information by wrangling the skyship's crew were dubious at best. Veralla proved a nuisance as usual, asking him to come down in the hangar and meet the other dragons. He refused adamantly, and had to yell at her, something he hadn't done in weeks, which drew quite a lot of shock and dismayed glances from the bridge personnel.

With that exception, the trip to the Knights' base was as uneventful as the one with the convoy to Dragon Retreat. The landscape outside the observation window remained bleak and cold throughout the entire journey.

Once, the skyship had to ascend high into the thermosphere to avoid a warpstorm, and all Radiant Knights were on edge during the brief jaunt on the threshold of space. Veralla, Kiana, and Zuckeroff wondered what was so dangerous, but Airo remembered well his orbital encounter with the draconic Revenant. Fortunately, the risky maneuver reduced their travel time drastically. The skyship flew against the planet's rotation, and when it arrived at its destination the night was still deep. Airo began to suspect some sort of pattern.

From a distance, they seemed to approach some random summit in a mountainous region. However, when Vorzii got closer, the summit shimmered, and then the ridge melted away, revealing a gigantic, bevel-edged tunnel. Vorzii flew into the gaping dark. The tunnel was rather short, relative to the skyship's proportions. Within seconds, the skyship emerged on the other side...

...into a great upland, sprawled with mountain peaks everywhere to the edge of the horizon.

"Wow!" Veralla exhaled.

"Impressive," Kiana said in a low voice.

"Seems a bit repetitive, though," Zuckeroff commented.

"This is a self-instanced fractal dimension," Stamat explained, his eyes bright too, despite his familiarity with the sight. "The only way in or out is through the tunnel portal."

Beyond, a large, fortress-like structure rose from one of the mountain peaks. Huge battletowers loomed over wide courtyards. Bastions and ramparts were layered atop one another in intricate terraced patterns. Like in Dragon Retreat, the overall architecture was dominated by stone- and crystalwork, though this time there was a fair amount of light applied as a construction material. Despite himself, Airo was amazed. He hadn't seen such wonders even on Arceria during his youth.

Vorzii approached the stronghold complex, and landed on a clear platform near the top. The Radiant Knights began to disembark, helping the refugees from Dragon Retreat to get settled in the base. Outside, more figures in red-gold armors emerged from the nearest fortified building, bringing tools and machinery, and began to service the skyship.

"Sir, if you would please come with me," Stamat said to Magus Dei. "I'll introduce you to our current warleaders."

"Can we come, too?" Kiana interposed.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Stamat said, uncertain. He then shrugged. "Ok. The elders will have to decide what to do with the survivors from Dragon Retreat anyway. They will probably get shelter here, but since you're from the Consortium, your case can be... well, different. And you have a dragon," he said, glancing at Veralla. "Come."

They left the skyship. En route, Stamat answered his commlink: "Yes. I'm coming for debriefing, alongside several others." Someone shouted his name, and the large Knight turned. Coming from the skyship were Tehalix and Lung.

"Teha?" Stamat asked mildly. "What's up?"

"I'm coming to the debriefing, of course!" she replied. "Deus, Stamat, you just flew away with the new dudes and completely forgot this was both our rodeo. Well, the three of us, including Miss Smartjaw here."

"To this day, I still can't comprehend why you call me with epithets, even if it's done in good spirit," Lung said petulantly, though she nudged Tehalix affectionately with the tip of her snout. The crimson dragon turned to Veralla. "Is this Airo, your soulkin?" she asked, pointing at Magus Dei.

Airo quickly paced forward to evade hearing Veralla's reply.

The group went inside the main citadel. They traversed a series of cavernous halls and passageways clearly made to be used by dragons as well as transhumans. Regardless of its techno-esoteric splendor, the place was spartan in decoration. At the center of the complex was a grand command room, rivaling in dimensions the High Temple of Dragon Retreat.

A great circular table dominated the command room, serving also as a virtual map and a strataplan mainframe. Crystal orbs lined the walls, casting a rich golden light, currently dimmed to simulate nighttime conditions. Shining constellations domed a dark sky instead of a ceiling. The sea of stars turned out to be a projection; Airo's power armor sensors informed him the ceiling was probably covered by a fine mesh of display nanoparticles, or possibly infused with pure Æther, channeled for the same purpose.

Standing at the circular table were two individuals: one was a female giant of a transhuman, at least eight feet tall, and the other was the smallest dragon Airo had ever seen besides Veralla. Both of them quietly reviewed streams of data and video feeds projected from the table's HHI.

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"Quite the retinue you bring, Stamat," the transhuman Knight said, glancing at the group, and suddenly became rigid. "Great Cosmos, is that Magus Dei!?"

"Who!?" Stamat started, and did a double take at the old Knight. "Th-the Order's Grandmaster?!?"

Everyone except Airo and Veralla stopped dead in their tracks.

"One of the Grandmasters," Magus corrected, voice distant. "I have never liked the title, and neither did Aethernalis." Airo saw a momentary flash of sorrow behind Magus' eyes. "And remember, I am a leader of the Order no more."

"But, sir, y-you... you're a living legend!" Kiana said lamely, staring in awe.

"Yeah!" Zuckeroff added stupidly, doing the same.

The old Knight's mouth twitched in wry amusement. "It is encouraging that my reputation – any Radiant Knight's reputation – still resonates positively among some from the Consortium. Gives me a glimmer of hope for the future." Magus turned to the two elder Knights, and nodded. "Lylana, Glawlrhain. It is good to see you again. I could not recognize anyone aboard the Vorzii, like these young Knights here."

"Magus," the dragon inclined his head. "Welcome back." Out of everyone's reaction toward the old Knight's identity, Glawlrhain's had been the calmest. The dragon stood on all fours, his thin, wiry body barely topping Lylana's height. Airo sized up Glawlrhain, and accidentally met the dragon's deep amber gaze. Instanly, it reminded him of Kalessia. He scowled and averted his eyes, concealing an involuntary shiver, and cursed silently for not keeping his helmet enclosed.

"Where did that fledgling come from?" Lylana asked, her stark, resonative alt breaking the brief silence. She furrowed her brow at Veralla, and her Scorchlander features, already severe, became downright condemnatory. "She looks like a hydra."

Glawlrhain shook his head. He had a pair of long, slender tendrils growing from the tip of his snout, and they whirled as he made the motion. "Quite improbable," he said, his voice carrying those alien overtones characteristic to dragons. "Hydras can't reproduce. And we would've known instantly if she had been subverted by the Dark Ones."

"Veralla is a hydra?" Lung asked, slit-pupiled eyes blinking in confusion.

"Oh," the dragonet exhaled, anxious. "I am?"

"She is not corrupted," Magus said firmly. "I vouch for her personally."

"All right, sir," Lylana quickly agreed. "Wait, did you say her name is Veralla?"

"Yes, that is my name!" the dragonet said brightly.

"Fascinating," Glawlrhain remarked. "Sol Force soldiers, a mysterious fledgling named after the Goddess, and one of the founders of our Order. Stamat, your latest patrol must be a notable tale."

"There is also a bit of tragedy mixed in for drama," the young Highlander said, trying to be humorous, but his face was too pale. "We encountered the Lightbringer."

There was a heavy pause.

"Where?" Lylana's tone was hard as stone.

"Deep in the north, at a remote place called Dragon Retreat," Stamat replied.

"How did you escape him?" Glawlrhain asked evenly, yet his draconic features betrayed serious concern.

Stamat glanced at Airo, Magus, and the two Sol Force commandos. "He was separate from his main forces," he said. "He was... distracted by something. We rescued the surviving civilians from the Revenant, and then blindsided him at the town outskirts. We used our entire firepower, and managed to drive him away."

"Impossible," Lylana snapped. Her eyes were almost the same shade as those of Glawlrhain, making her gaze stern and fierce. "The Lightbringer hasn't moved away from the Shard."

"Me and Lung saw him, too," Tehalix countered. "It was him all right. We got the drop on him, and kept scorching until he was gone. Vorzii's systems almost melted to slag, but Stamat made the right call."

"Even if the Lightbringer did leave the Shard for some reason," Lylana said, voice edged with iron, "what could possibly weaken him so much that your foolish bravery prevailed?"

"Well, um..." Stamat obviously had expected praise when he was given none. "The Grandmaster, er, I mean Sir Dei, was there," he said, flustered. "He fought the Lightbringer with us."

Lylana and Glawlrhain looked at the old Knight with hope. "Have you returned to help us fight the Lightbringer, Magus?" the dragon asked.

"I know only what I saw," Magus Dei said, tone grim. "I have seen the Shard, and sensed the atrocity which has been committed there. Yet Ferrtau was not there when I arrived.

"In the meantime, I sensed another ripple in the Æther, strong and resonant. It was near Dragon Retreat, one of the former draconic eyries. When I got there, I crossed paths with Ferrtau by chance. Likely he was searching for the same cosmic resonance I was. My encounter with him was enough to understand he is an enemy now." The old Knight paused. "Tell me, what happened?"

"Ferrtau went rogue," Glawlrhain said, baring his teeth.

"When?" Magus asked.

"It happened shortly after your departure twenty years ago, sir," Lylana said. "The Starblaze scarred all of us, but the Lightbringer... he took it the worst. Something changed him. He... wanted to experiment with the Starblaze. Wanted to test it on people." Lylana's stern gaze softened with wearied horror. "We had to exile him from the Order."

Magus let out a heavy sigh. "I should have known it would come to this," he muttered. "What happened to Kalessia?"

Images flooded Airo's vision, yet he remained silent.

"She went with him," Glawlrhain said. "She was the only reason we didn't consider striking him down then and there."

"Where did they go?"

"Utopia Draconis is the only possible place," Lylana said. "Nobody else in the galaxy would've accepted them, even the Fractured States."

"I don't understand," Stamat cut in. "Why exactly were the Lightbringer and the Firstborn exiled?" He, Tehalix, and Lung traded glances. "I thought they were the greatest Radiant Knights to ever live."

"It was before your time, fledglings," Glawlrhain said sadly. "You never knew Ferrtau and Kalessia like some of us did. They were great, yes; shining examples for every living being. They had been upholding the ideals of the Order for centuries. When the Starblaze happened, they were the ones who saved us all. Yet time slowly changed them." Glawlrhain glanced at Magus. "And one day... Ferrtau wanted to... What he wanted to do was very similar to soul reaving."

Lung hissed, while Tehalix and Stamat gasped in fear. Airo had no idea what the stunted dragon was talking about, yet apparently it was terrible and familiar enough because even Kiana stared with dread.

"That was twenty years ago," Magus remarked gravely. "What has happened now?"

"The Lightbringer appeared one day without warning," Lylana said. "He came from the Shard itself. We don't know how." She studied the virtual graphics before her with unseeing eyes.

"And Kalessia?" Magus asked softly.

"She wasn't with him," Lylana replied. "We don't know what has happened to her. Most of us were on the lower tiers when..." The towering female Knight shuddered. "I refuse to think what he might have done to her."

"Ferrtau became Blazetouched," Glawlrhain picked up from where Lylana trailed off. "Somehow, he retained all of his identity and self-control. However, his power became unstoppable. Most of the last veteran Knights were killed instantly. They became the first Revenant – Ferrtau's own version of the Blazetouched. He then proceeded to tear a rift into reality itself, using the Shard as a focal point."

"So that's what we've been seeing across the entire planet!" Kiana exclaimed.

"Yes," Glawlrhain confirmed.

"What are Ferrtau's end motives?" Magus asked.

"He wants to usher a new era of enlightenment, by destroying the entire universe," someone said across the command room.