The stars were no longer silent.
What I did to the Griever King had consequences far beyond our system. My strike—my existence—had echoed across dimensions like a bell tolling from the peak of a forgotten mountain.
Now they were listening.
[SYSTEM ALERT: INTERDIMENSIONAL RESONANCE DETECTED]
Origin: Multisphere Node – Uncatalogued
Nature: Passive Awareness – Unaligned
Observation Level: 21%
Risk Level: [UNKNOWN]
"They're watching," I murmured.
Not gods.
Not devils.
Thrones.
Beings who sat in the vacuum between worlds. Monarchs of collapsed timelines. Tyrants of sealed dreamscapes. Rulers of realities that devoured their own physics to survive.
And I—I had challenged one of their own.
The Watcher began to change.
Its silver spires twisted toward the sky, reacting to the ripple.
Its voice returned—stronger.
"Child of Terra and Flame," the Watcher said. "You have drawn notice. As the First did. As the Last refused."
"Are they coming?" I asked.
"Not yet. They are... gambling. You have become interesting."
I turned back toward the world.
Nova Terra wasn't ready for what was coming.
I saw it in the eyes of my council.
Vel'Sarei. Daruun. Reina. Alis. Even my technosages and spellwrights—they could barely comprehend the Griever King, and now I needed to prepare them for the Multisphere.
But I wasn't going to wait.
I would build first.
I would strike first.
[NEW SYSTEM SUBROUTINE UNLOCKED: MULTISPHERE NAVIGATION]
Function: Dimensional Probing & Anchoring
Requirement: Construct Interdimensional Piercer
Blueprint: Unlocked
Materials Required:
Phaseglass Core (0/1)
Chrono-Stable Alloys (0/3)
Soulstone Matrix (0/1)
Estimated Build Time: 33 Days
"We're going to pierce into the Multisphere," I told the Council.
Gasps.
"Voluntarily?" Reina asked. "Why?"
"Because if we wait for them to come, we fight on their terms. I won't let that happen. We find them first. We observe them."
"And if they find us observing?" Daruun muttered.
"Then we burn their throne to ash."
In the days that followed, the Empire began a new phase:
The Interdimensional Era.
The Aetherforges lit again. New armor types. New engines. Mana-reactive hulls. I assigned entire sky-cruisers to scout design.
In the mountains of Erandor, my engineers harvested soulstone from the ancient ruins of the Forgotten Wars.
Deep in the Sea of Glass, divers risked madness for Phaseglass—the only known material to bend thought across timelines.
And in my private chambers, I began building something else.
A mind-weapon.
One that could rewrite thought itself.
Then came the message.
Not a threat.
A gift.
Delivered inside a mirrored cube, sent through a dimensional crack discovered by my scouts.
Inside:
A single feather, black and frozen in time.
A whisper:
"Not all Thrones wish to rule. Some wish to watch the one who dares."
I crushed the cube.
They would watch.
And when the time came...
They would kneel.