His breath was shallow, as the High Chancellor''s mouth moved, but words were muffled like a voice under water. Sound had been stolen by the weight of his chest, the realization sinking its claws into him. His restrained hands trembled on his thighs, he could not even gather the strength to clench his fingers. The world did not feel real, like a nightmare he could not wake up from. The twenty years of his life had passed with the blink of an eye. His memories felt like a dream.


    A scream cut through plaza like a blade, the first sounds Cassian noticed since the Chancellor''s first words. Sharp enough to turn the heads in the crowd, and loud enough to drown out the Chancellor.


    "No! NO! This was not the deal!" Evelyn charged toward Lucian, then got restrained by inquisitors. "You told me you would do him no harm!"


    Lady Evelyn screamed and struggled, her mascara dripping down her cheeks like black rivers.


    Lucian barely moved, standing tall, face unreadable. His hands calmly clasped behind his back, as his face portrayed cold authority. As if he had anticipated the reaction, and prepared for it.


    "Let go of me!" She snarled, attempting to wrench free. "You swore! You swore to me, Lucian! You would not hurt him! You said he would live!"


    Lucian finally turned his head to meet her eyes. No satisfaction was found in his expression, only the look of a man that had made his decision long ago.


    "I did," he said, his voice calm, controlled. "I promised that he would not be harmed unless he invited it. He invited it when he denied my warnings. What you fail to see, my lady, is that this is mercy."


    She broke free, and lunged at him. Only to be caught mid-step by more guards, forcing her into the ground. She fought like a wild animal, a woman stripped of nobility, fury burning in her desperate, bloodshot eyes.


    "You lying bastard! He is my blood!" Her voice cracked on the last word. "You gave me your word!"


    Lucian''s expression did not change. With a slight gesture of his gloved hand, the guards pulled her off the platform as she kicked and screamed. Her hair becoming undone and her dress was dirty from laying on the ground. Her screams echoed all the way until she was taken inside a steam carriage, taking her away.


    "My apologies, High Chancellor," Lucian said, bowing his head slowly.


    A single tear ran down Cassian''s cheek. His unloving, cold aunt had fought like a rabid beast for him, but she was also the reason he was there. He clenched his jaw, every breath stabbed into his ribs.


    "Please continue."


    The High Chancellor straightened himself, clearing his throat. After regathering his bearings, he spoke again.


    “Lord Cassian of House Vaelthorne,” he said, “For the crimes against Valerian and the sky cities of Empyra, your sentence will now be carried out. Any last words?”


    Cassian looked up, staring into the crowd, a rumble starting in his finger tips. His body felt unnatural, as if a fire started in his chest, curling around his ribs. The pebbles around him began shifting, rising from the ground. He clenched his jaw as he turned to look at the High Chancellor. Time felt wrong. Slower. Heavier. The Imperial banners above—once rippling in the wind, hung suspended, as if frozen. Dust from the nobles'' finery drifted unnaturally, hanging in the air like stars in a clear night sky. His pulse pounded, too loud, too sharp, but it was not his heart. But a second rhythm, deeper, darker, vibrating in his bones. A whisper, distant yet deafening, filled his mind like smoke.


    "Fall." A deep voice came from his mouth, but it was not his own.


    His fingers pressed against the ground. The pressure in his chest expanded, like the heat of a great inferno. The stone beneath his hands cracked outward, like jagged veins. Dust trembled, shifting in the air.


    The guards staggered, as the ground beneath them seemed to bend, warping like fabric. Pebbles and dust lifted from the ground, spiraling around Cassian in an unnatural swirl.


    A noble stumbled backward, his footing uncertain to him. As if the whole of Valerian seemed to shudder in Cassian''s presence.


    Muffled shouts echoed in Cassian''s ears, as Lucian''s unbreakable mask finally faltered, the calm arms behind his back now flailing to regain his balance.


    The whispers grew louder in Cassian''s mind. Echoes of a layered voice speaking a language he did not understand, but he recognized. The voice knew his name, knew who he was, had known him his whole life.


    "You are unbound."


    Cassian''s restraints broke off into fragments, scattering along the ground, as Cassian rose.


    Lucian barked muffled orders, but the words never reached Cassian. His ears rang with something deeper than any known sound.


    A guard lunged at him, his hand outstretched, and was flung backward before reaching Cassian. He crashed through a wooden pole that broke, but never fell. It floated as if gravity didn''t exist. Another tried to steady himself, but his feet left the ground and got lifted helplessly into the air before slamming into the ground with a bone-breaking force.


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    Cassian''s eyes snapped open. A blue hue gleaming from his eyes as he turned to Lucian. His pulse thundered, the air around him distorted. He took a half-step toward Lucian, before a sudden, crushing weight slammed his body into the ground, stealing the breath from his lungs. He collapsed, his legs buckled as his vision blurred and the swirling dust around him finally settled naturally. The broken wooden pole, once suspended in mid-air, crashed down into the cobblestone.


    Muffled screams and chaos, were a distant ring in his head. Boots thundered on the platform as guards converged on him. They slammed down on him, twisting his arms almost to the point of breaking them.


    "What the hell was that?" A voice from the crowd yelled in terror.


    "Kill him now! He will destroy us all!" A woman cried, clutching her crying child tightly.


    The High Chancellor stumbled to his feet, catching his breath. "Vaelthorne!" He screamed, "your greed for knowledge has gone too far! Don''t you see? You will kill us all!"


    Cassian snarled weakly, his face pushed into the ground, his cheek bleeding onto the platform.


    "Lucian!" The High Chancellor called, "Kill him, now!"


    Lucian rushed forward, cocking his gun.


    The sky roared with a deafening thunder, as a sky ship soared into the plaza, carrying black flags. Pirates and mercenaries repelled down on ropes as cannons blasted into the square, firing at all imperials on sight.


    Shouts erupted from the plaza as imperial soldiers scrambled, returning fire. Valerian''s imperial anti-aircraft turrets creaked into motion.


    Cassian caught a blurry silhouette sporting a coat whipping behind them, shooting away the guards holding him down. The silhouette rushed to his side, placing a firm hand on his back.


    "It was a grand display, Vaelthorne, but it won''t be your last I''m afraid." The figure lifted him up and flung Cassian''s arm around him. "Cover me, I got him!"


    Pistols and rifles barked, as gun shells clinked onto the cobblestone.


    Cassian barely felt the force that was carrying him. He forced his eyes open, barely catching the battle with his blurred vision. A rope was tied around him, then as he floated up—his body limp—he stared back down. Flashing lights of guns being fired, muffled screams, and crimson pools forming. The rumble in his fingers had disappeared, the pressure in his chest lifted.


    A pair of metallic arms caught him, placing him gently on the wooden deck as familiar optics blinked at him.


    "Sir."


    "Aldric?" Cassian wheezed.


    "Don''t talk, sir. Your chest has experienced multiple injuries, we must get you to a doctor."


    Rushing footsteps approached and fell next to him. "Cassian!" A familiar voice said.


    "Lady Ravenshade, he needs medicine. He will not last long in this state."


    "I get that, you tin can! Get him inside!" Emilia barked.


    A blast sent a shockwave into the side of the ship, knocking Cassian''s head into the planks of the deck. His vision cleared.


    "What is happening?" Cassian said, regaining his senses.


    "We''re pulling you out of a sticky situation, mate," a man clad in a black coat said, reloading his revolver.


    "It''s the Free Skies, Cassian. Aldric called them for help when you were arrested. We couldn''t let them get you as well," Emilia said, placing a soft hand on Cassian''s cheek.


    "It was not an easy arrangement, my lord. But a necessary one—"


    A shriek of metal and fire thundered from above as an imperial fighter swooped down, raining bullets into the ship.


    Cassian barely flinched before Aldric moved. He gasped at the weight of the automaton pressing on him. The mechanical brass arms locked around him. The fire rattled his bones, but the bullets never touched him. The fire stopped, but Aldric did not move. Something was wrong. Oil seemed down onto Cassian''s shirt, as Aldric''s joints failed him.


    Aldric''s strength crumbled as his optics flickered dimly, as his powerful, unyielding body slumped.


    Cassian yelled as he gathered the strength to push Aldric to the side. Bullet holes the size of fists punctured his brass frame, his steam core hissing weakly.


    "No! NO!" Cassian screamed, his injuries forgotten.


    "Get us out of here!" The black coated man barked, waving a hand violently.


    Aldric''s neck creaked as he moved his head slowly to face Cassian. His dim optics flickered weakly.


    "Master Cassian," Aldric''s voice crackled and glitched, "are you unharmed?"


    Cassian''s breath hitched, his throat tightening violently. He gritted his teeth hard. "Don''t—don''t do this. Hold on!"


    His wet eyes scanned Aldric frantically, looking for which damage was the most critical.


    "I''m afraid," Aldric murmured, "I am—am no longer fit—fit for duty, sir."


    Tears streamed down Cassian''s face as the ship blasted away into the clouds. "Don''t say that. I can fix you. I will fix you, it''s okay."


    Aldric''s optics flickered. "Do you remember, sir," he said slowly, his voice gentler now, "when you built me. You were just a child. Your first command was to teach you how to cook—cook for your mother."


    Cassian''s vision blurred. Drops falling onto the brass chest plate.


    "You burned every steak, and over cooked every potato," Aldric continued, "but you refused to serve it un—until it was perfect."


    Cassian let out a shaky breath. "Aldric—"


    "But then you did it. It was per—perfect. Your mother said it was the best meal she has ever had." Aldric paused for a moment, his optics flickering on and off. Then they lit up dimly. "That was my proudest moment."


    Cassian let his head fall down onto Aldric''s chest. "Please... just hold on."


    Aldric lay silently for a while, oil spilling out from his mouth, and gurgled on it as he spoke again. "I was honored... to watch you grow into the man you have become."


    One final time, Aldric''s optics flickered, then slowly dimmed into black.


    Cassian slammed a fist into the deck, screaming until his lungs burned.


    Then he opened his blurred eyes again, to look at his friend one more time. The gears had stopped whirring, the steam core nothing but an empty brass husk.


    "No..." he whimpered, holding Aldric in his arms.