The warship hovered high above the ruined vault, lightning arcing across its massive frame, its metallic hull humming with ancient power. The sky above was alive with a gathering storm, as if the ship itself was rewriting the atmosphere around it.
Kael stood at the edge of the wreckage, his body still pulsing with raw energy, his heartbeat syncing with the ship's powerful current. He had won. But there was no time to celebrate.
Ryven watched the massive structure above them with narrowed eyes, his posture tense. "You realize what you just did, right?"
Kael exhaled, rolling his shoulders as the last remnants of static flickered off his skin. "Yeah. I just pissed off every ruling power in the galaxy."
Ryven shook his head. "No. You just declared war on the Dominion."
Kael didn't argue. He knew it was true. For centuries, humans had been forced into servitude, their history erased, their powers suppressed. The Dominion had kept them weak, divided, and desperate. But now, the first Awakened Warship had returned, and Kael was standing at the helm of something that could shatter the galaxy's balance.
The Dominion wouldn't ignore this. They would send everything they had to stop him.
Kael turned toward the ship, his senses intertwining with the raw current flowing through its frame. It wasn't just a machine—it was alive in a way no standard war vessel could be. And it was waiting. For a commander. For him.
A deep rumble echoed through the sky as the ship's core pulsed with increasing intensity. The air around it shimmered, and Kael felt a pull—a direct connection opening between his bioelectric field and the warship's own energy grid.
Ryven frowned. "What's it doing?"
Kael stepped forward, closing the final gap between himself and the massive structure. "It's syncing with me."
Ryven's eyes widened. "You mean—"
Kael reached out and placed his palm against the ship's metallic hull.
Instantly, his mind was dragged into something vast, something boundless.
Data flooded his consciousness—ancient schematics, tactical overlays, battle logs from a war erased from history. For a moment, he felt like he was drowning in knowledge, his brain struggling to comprehend the sheer depth of what this warship was capable of.
Then, he saw them.
Not memories. Not recordings.
The last warriors of the Awakened.
Humans standing at the helm of warships identical to this one, their bodies crackling with the same power surging through him now. They commanded entire fleets, their presence shifting battles, their mere existence changing the tide of war. But they weren't fighting for dominance. They were fighting against something far worse.
Kael's pulse quickened as he saw what they were facing.
A force that devoured light. That consumed energy. That rewrote the rules of reality itself.
And then, he saw the fall. The Awakened fleets crumbling. The Dominion rising from the ashes. The records of history rewritten. The power of humanity buried so deep that no one would remember.
Until now.
Kael gasped, his mind snapping back into his body. His knees buckled, but he caught himself, his hand still pressed against the ship's hull.
Ryven steadied him. "What the hell just happened?"
Kael's breathing was sharp, uneven. "I saw it."
"Saw what?"
He turned, his eyes burning with the energy of the warship itself. "The truth."
Before Ryven could press for answers, a sudden pressure dropped onto the battlefield.
Kael's instincts flared—something was coming.
The air trembled, the warship's sensors flashing with warning signals. Kael could feel the energy signatures closing in before he even looked up. Then he saw them.
Dominion warships.
Five massive dreadnought-class vessels tore through the atmosphere, each one pulsing with Dominion suppression fields—massive generators designed to dampen electromagnetic abilities. And in the center of them, a ship unlike the others.
A Leviathan-class dreadnought.
Kael had heard the stories. Leviathans weren't just warships. They were planetary eradicators, built to wipe out entire civilizations in a single engagement. The fact that the Dominion had deployed one meant only one thing.
They weren't here to capture the warship. They were here to erase it.
Ryven took a step back. "Oh, you have gotta be kidding me."
Kael didn't blink. He had expected this. It was inevitable.
The Overseer's voice suddenly echoed across the battlefield, amplified through the Dominion's comm systems. "Kael Ardyn."
Kael tilted his head, watching as the Dominion's forces positioned themselves above the warship, their weapons priming, their energy fields glowing with deadly intent.
"You have taken something that does not belong to you," the Overseer continued.
Kael smirked. "That's funny. Because from what I just learned, this ship belonged to humanity before you wiped them off the battlefield."
The Overseer's voice remained calm. "You misunderstand, as all who resist do. The Dominion does not seek to destroy."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "No?"
"We seek order."
Kael scoffed. "By keeping humanity broken?"
"By ensuring no species destroys itself again."
Kael's hands crackled with electricity, the current of the warship merging with his own pulse. The Overseer wasn't lying—but he wasn't telling the whole truth either. This wasn't about protecting the galaxy. It was about control. And Kael had had enough of being controlled.
The Overseer's tone sharpened. "This is your final chance, Kael Ardyn. Surrender the warship. Surrender yourself. Or you will not survive what comes next."
Kael exhaled, his fingers flexing as the energy inside him burned hotter than ever before. He turned to Ryven. "You ready?"
Ryven groaned. "For what?"
Kael smirked. "To start a war."
He reached into the warship's systems, feeling the storm within it fully awaken at his command.
Lightning exploded outward, cascading across the ship's hull. The surrounding air ignited with electromagnetic energy, the suppression fields above flickering as the warship's core destabilized them. The Dominion ships scrambled to react, breaking formation, their weapons pivoting toward the warship.
Kael stood at the helm, the power of the storm flowing through him, his veins burning with the return of something long thought extinct. He wasn't just fighting to survive anymore.
He was fighting for humanity's return.
And he was going to win.