I did the mental math the rebels had taught me. “Roughly two and a half million Earth years. Maybe a little more, depending on how the Sythari measured time during the early harvests.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Ella stared at the rotating Earth as if it had personally betrayed her. “That means… there was an advanced civilization on Earth two and a halfmillionyears ago? Not just hunter-gatherers. Something sophisticated enough for the Sythari to consider us valuable.”
Nadine leaned forward, eyes bright with scientific hunger. “And they’ve been taking people that entire time? Breeding programs spanningmillionsof years?”
I shook my head. “No, they stopped harvesting directly once they nearly extinguished the gene pool they were looking for. They stole entire bloodlines. Cultivated them. Turned us into living oracles and breeding stock.”
Ashley rubbed her temple. “Holy shit. No wonder the scientific community on Earth never found anything. They were looking in the wrong time frame by a couple million years.”
Ella zoomed the hologram out again, staring at the planet like she was seeing it for the first time. “If your people were taken that far back… then whatever Caelor and Ashera left behind on Earth could be buried under layers we’ve never even thought to dig through.”
Thyros’ gaze on me felt heavier now, almost reverent. Like my words had confirmed something he’d already suspected. The golden thread between us pulled tighter, insistent and warm.
I ignored it. Or tried to. Because the truth was settling over all of us like a shroud: Whatever secrets Earth held, they were far older—and far more dangerous—than any of us had imagined.
I watched the reactions ripple across the room like aftershocks. Ella’s hand froze mid-gesture above the holovid. Nadine’s sharp astrophysicist eyes widened with pure scientific hunger. Ashley let out a low whistle. Even Zapharos and Dravok exchanged a rare, startled glance. But it was Xandros who drew my full attention.
The Superior Commander of the Imperial Forces leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, a smug tilt curling his lips. “Two and a half million years? Impressive for a species still using chemical propulsion and primitive projectile weapons.”
Heat flared in my chest. I lifted my chin, refusing to let the arrogant bastard rile me. “We had advanced civilizations. Only the Sythari made sure most of it was erased or buried.”
The smugness didn't budge. Xandro's gaze sharpened as the military strategist in him rose fast. He rubbed his chin, as if recalculating an entire battlefield. “Millions of years… and yet your people were vulnerable enough for the Sythari to harvest you like crops.” His voice dropped, thoughtful now. “Either your ancestors were betrayed… or something far older was at play.”
He turned toward Thyros, his voice quieter but no less intense. “You said the Abyss travels. How many times has it passed through this sector without us knowing?”
Thyros’ crimson-gold aura flickered once, dark threads weaved through the gold. “That is the question, isn’t it?”
Xandros exhaled, leaning forward again, all traces of smug superiority gone. “Our own records speak of the Arkhevari as ancient benefactors who seeded worlds. Guided early civilizations. My people… the Pandraxians… we have legends of golden beings who shaped us long before we built our first empire. Before the Dark Abyss claimed so many of them.” Helooked straight at me, something almost like awe flickering behind the commander’s mask. “If what you say is true, then humanity carries an older spark than we ever realized. And the Sythari found a way to exploit it.”
The room fell into a charged silence. Ella broke it first. “So Caelor and Ashera didn’t just seed Earth. They seeded… entire branches of life. And the Arkhevari were the ones who came before the fall.”
Thyros’ gaze settled on me again, this time, though, it seemed more contemplative, and for once, I didn’t fight it. Not completely. Because in that moment, standing in a room full of gods and warriors, I realized the weight of what I carried in my blood. Not just a survivor of the Sythari. Not just a rebel.
Something older. Something that refused to stay buried.
Xandros studied me for another long beat, then inclined his head almost respectfully. “Then we have even more reason to dig deep on Earth. Whatever the Sythari stole millions of years ago… we need to find it before the Harrowed One does.”
I met his eyes without flinching. “You want my knowledge? My people’s history? Fine. But I’m not handing it over for free. My crew comes with me. And we do thistogether,not as prisoners, not as curiosities. As allies.”
Thyros’ low growl rumbled behind me, possessive and approving all at once. Xandros’ lips twitched, curving into the barest hint of a smile. “I think we can manage that.”
I leanedagainst the far wall, arms folded, letting the shadows of the briefing room cloak me while the others crowded around the glowing holovid. The golden thread between Naeris and me hummed like a live wire under my skin, constant, insistent, impossible to ignore. Every sharp word she spoke only pulled it tighter.
And damn if she wasn’t impressive.
She had turned a simple timeline revelation into leverage within moments. Even the Superior Commander of the Imperial Forces, the male who bowed to almost no one, was listening to her like she held the keys to the entire campaign. Amusement flickered through me. If she could make the Pandraxian war machine dance to her tune this easily, what else was my fierce little rebel capable of?
The human females, led by Ella, were still mesmerized by the slowly rotating 3D map of present-day Earth. Red excavation dots pulsed across continents while they speculated in rapid, overlapping voices about lost civilizations and hidden anomalies.
Naeris stepped forward without hesitation. She plucked the palmtop from Ella’s hand with the smooth confidence of a commander who had long ago learned to seize control. Her fingers danced across the interface, making the world on the holovid… change.
Oceans retreated in a slow, majestic flood, exposing vast new stretches of continental shelf. Northern continents grew heavier with ice sheets that gleamed white under simulated sunlight. Mountain ranges rose and shifted subtly in elevation; entire coastlines reshaped themselves as sea levels dropped dramatically. Beringia emerged as a wide, grassy land bridge connecting what would become different continents. A smaller ocean shrank even further. Massive river systems carved new paths across now-exposed seabeds. The planet looked rawer. Wilder. More primal. More to my liking.
“This,” Naeris said, her voice steady and laced with quiet authority, “is what Earth looked like when my first ancestors were taken. Roughly two and a half million years ago.”
Ella stared, transfixed, slowly turning the reconstructed globe with careful gestures. She spun it repeatedly, zooming in on different regions. “It could have been… anywhere,” she muttered, frustration bled into her tone. “The landmarks we use today simply didn’t exist yet. Whole coastlines are gone. Entire landmasses look different.”
Naeris didn’t speak. She worked the palmtop once more. A second, translucent overlay shimmered into existence—the one more familiar to the females, modern Earth in soft blues and greens—laid gently over the ancient version. The two worldsnow coexisted, one ghosting the other, making the differences stark and undeniable.
