Here's **Chapter 3**, diving into the tomb's secrets, Kael's growing bond with the shard, and a twist that reshapes the stakes. Let's crank up the tension and lore!
---
### **CHAPTER 3: GRAVESONG**
**Nar'kesh | The Scorched Expanse**
The dunes stretched endlessly, a sea of amber dust devils swirling under twin suns. Kael squinted through his sand-scorched goggles, the shard burning against his chest like a brand. Ahead, a weathered obelisk jutted from the desert—its surface carved with Starbinder runes.
"This is it," Veyra said, her voice muffled by her respirator. She leaned heavily on Kael, her corrupted arm now sheathed in a makeshift sling. The black veins had spread to her collarbone.
Z-9 whirred disapprovingly, its treads sinking into the sand. *"Probability of survival: 12%,"* it beeped.
"Optimistic today, aren't we?" Kael muttered.
The tomb's entrance was a yawning mouth, half-buried. Inside, the air was cooler, thick with the scent of petrified bone. Veyra ignited a palm-sized glowsphere, revealing walls covered in murals—ancient Starbinders wielding shards to cage a colossal, shadowy beast. *The Void Maw.*
"They imprisoned it," Kael said, tracing the art. "But the cult's trying to… what, rebuild it?"
"Worse," Veyra said. "They're merging it with reality. A god of entropy, made flesh."
The corridor narrowed, opening into a circular chamber. At its center stood a stone sarcophagus, lid cracked. Above it hovered a second **Shard of Eternity**, spinning lazily, its light casting jagged shadows.
Kael stepped forward. The shard at his neck flared, and the tomb shard answered, their song harmonizing into a deep, resonant hum.
"Careful," Veyra warned. "The tombs are protected by—"
A rumble cut her off. The sarcophagus split, and a figure rose—a Starbinder skeleton clad in corroded armor, its empty eye sockets blazing with shard-light. **"Thieves,"** it intoned, voice echoing with a thousand whispers. **"The Price Must Be Paid.**
Z-9 unleashed a plasma torch, but the flame dissipated against the guardian's shield. Veyra staggered back, clutching her arm. "Kael, the shards! *Combine them!*"
The guardian lunged, its blade humming with deathly energy. Kael dodged, rolling as the weapon cratered the stone where he'd stood. His shard's heat surged, begging to be unleashed, but Veyra's warning echoed: *It costs life.*
The skeleton swung again. Kael parried with his ion pistol, the weapon disintegrating on contact. Desperate, he gripped his shard—and *pulled*.
Gold light erupted, wrapping the guardian. For a heartbeat, it froze. Then, the whispers returned, softer now. **"Veythos blood… You bear the burden…"**
The skeleton crumbled, its armor clattering to the floor. The second shard floated gently into Kael's palm, fusing with his own in a flash of light. New power flooded him—visions of star systems, equations of cosmic force, a woman's voice: **"Beware the Keeper.**
He collapsed to his knees, gasping.
"What did you see?" Veyra demanded, helping him up.
"A warning. Something called the Keeper."
Her face paled. "The cult's leader. They say he's the first Starbinder who tried to *control* the Maw instead of seal it. If he's alive…"
"He'd be unstoppable," Kael finished.
Z-9 interrupted, projecting a hologram from the sarcophagus—a star map with three shards glowing. One on Nar'kesh (now found), one in a **nebula lab** near the galactic core, and one on…
"Kessel?" Kael's chest tightened. *The Incident.* The explosions. The screams.
Veyra's grip on his arm softened. "We don't have to go there. We can try the nebula first—"
"No." Kael's voice was steel. "Kessel's next."
---
**Aboard the Iron Cypher | En Route to Kessel**
The ship shuddered as it exited hyperspace. Kessel's toxic green atmosphere filled the viewport, lightning crackling over its methane seas.
Veyra slept fitfully in the co-pilot's chair, her breath ragged. Kael studied the fused shard—now twice as large, its light erratic, hungry. Every time he used it, a piece of him frayed. He'd started forgetting things: his mother's voice, the color of Veyra's eyes before the corruption…
Z-9 buzzed, detecting an incoming transmission. **Encrypted. Origin: Unknown.**
Kael hesitated, then opened it.
A hologram flickered—a hooded figure, face obscured, but their Starbinder robes pristine. **"Kael Veythos,"** the figure said, voice warped. **"You're not the only one hunting shards. Turn back, or your sister dies."**
The transmission cut. On the screen, coordinates flashed: a derelict station orbiting Kessel.
Veyra stirred. "Trouble?"
"The usual," Kael lied.
But as the *Cypher* descended, he couldn't shake the hologram's final words—or the chilling familiarity of the figure's stance.
*Master Orin's stance.*
---
**Kessel Orbit | The Ghost Station**
The station was a carcass, its hull scarred by ion burns and claw marks. Kael docked the *Cypher*, leaving Z-9 to guard Veyra. "If I'm not back in an hour, get her out."
Inside, the air reeked of rust and decay. The shard glowed, guiding Kael to a chamber littered with Starbinder relics—and a third shard, suspended in a containment field.
"Hello, Kael."
He froze. The voice—*her* voice.
A woman stepped from the shadows. Her face was older, her hair streaked with gray, but her eyes…
"Ryn?" Kael whispered.
*Ryn Tal'Kora.* His first love. The woman he'd watched die on Kessel a decade ago.
She smiled, lifting her sleeve to reveal a shard grafted to her wrist—pulsing with the same light as his. "Miss me?"
---
**TO BE CONTINUED…**
---
**What's next?**
- **Who is the Keeper?** (Is Ryn working for him—or *is* she him?)
- **Veyra's corruption reaches a crisis point.**
- **The truth about the Incident on Kessel—and Ryn's survival.**