Page 25 of HaL

The Lord of Light knows I am grateful beyond measure, and yet, I am still shocked that He has gifted Dawn to me. But if I am true to myself, I must admit I am terrified and wholly unprepared.

I have long since accepted that a mate was not meant for me.

There were hundreds of us within the compound—an extraordinary number for my kind to begin with. Living in such close quarters meant most found their mates quickly, drawn together by an instinct none of us could escape. Those who did not were left with little hope of ever finding one.

I had made peace with being among the latter.

As I glance around the compound, watching my people move from one place to another, a quiet pride settles over me. Against all odds, we have built something here. Something lasting.

When I first approached Father about creating a better environment on Hallister, I had an idea of what we could be, but no vision for how to move forward. But our numbers were dwindling. We were surviving, although barely. It took several rotations, countless arguments, and more effort than I care to remember, but the compound eventually became more than a refuge. It became a home.

We were thriving now—not as scattered individuals, but as a community.

Of course, not everyone chose unity. Some prefer to keep their distance, content to live apart from the others. But most of the females came once the compound was completed, and our numbers have grown steadily ever since.

Risings have passed. And after all this time, I had finally resigned myself to the truth. If I had not found my mate by now, I never would. At least, that was what I had believed until Dawn … My communicator blares again, and I answer it with a low, restrained growl.

“I’m coming, Oset. This had better be important.”

Before he can respond, I step into the docking bay. The air feels heavier here — stale, metallic, wrong.

Bane, who is rarely seen outside the communication tower, is already waiting beside Oset. His usual composure is gone, replaced by something tight and uneasy, almost wary. That alone is enough to sharpen my instincts. They both turn toward me as I enter, and neither of them look relieved to see me.

“Report.”

Bane is the first to answer.

“HaL, the sensors are detecting a disturbance in the outer atmosphere. At first, I dismissed it as a random chunk of iron drifting through the Void, but the heat signature from its thrusters proved otherwise. It could be debris from the rogue Korgon ship that slipped past your brothers during the initial battle, or it could be a probe searching for the female. What concerns me is that it is not attempting to land. Instead, it is maintaining its position by matching Hallister’s natural rotation. Our surveillance systems are too limited to determine its size or whether it is manned or unmanned.”

“Oset, did you destroy the escape pod?”

“We did. It is at the bottom of Grave Cove. It took three mammoths to pull it from the side of the mountain where it had embedded itself. We removed the modules Bane told us to, and the rest will remain forever frozen at the bottom of that trench, buried beneath layers of ice and water.

The ditch the landing created took longer to cover than Gelid was comfortable with. He nearly pulled the mammoths back before the job was finished, as frost was already beginning to creep along the tops of the mountain peaks in that area. That is why I was trying to contact you earlier. I was ready to throw that male into the cove myself.

You would think those mammoths were his younglings, given how protective he is of them.”

“Is that supposed to reassure me?”

“No.”

“At least you are honest.”

“I have found it tends to save time.”

I glance toward the darkened entrance, though there is little to see beyond the shifting veil of snow. Grave Cove lays somewhere beyond those mountains, hidden beneath a landscape that has already begun to erase every trace of what had happened there.

“How long before the ice seals the trench completely?”

“Gelid believes it has already begun.”

My stomach tightens.

“Already?”

“Yes, the frost … it is moving differently this season. The animals, especially the mammoths, are acting strange. They kept stomping the ground like it is freezing below, not above us.

“Bane, have you detected any changes in the hot springs?”