Nucleus 1: The Dust of Moon [Mature Sci-fi Romance]

11:17, March 20, 2295

En route to Mount Lyell, Former Yosemite National Park, Contested Territory

The Space Rover's fusion engine hummed steadily as they climbed deeper into what had once been America's crown jewel. Through the reinforced windshield, Yosemite's transformation spread before them like a wound in the earth. Ancient sequoias stood encased in crystalline ice, their massive trunks twisted into unnatural spirals.

"Good thing we have this map to show us the way, huh?" Xin kept both hands steady on the wheel, navigating around fallen trees and ice formations that blocked the old park roads.

In the Rover's backseat, on a table, sat plates of their finished breakfast, plates that had held ham and scrambled eggs on them now stacked together, with two empty coffee cups on top. The air condition worked, preventing any smell of leftovers.

"Yeah. Good thing…" In the passenger seat, Lorna studied the tactical display, her Pendant of Mánagrát emitting a sapphire glow through the fabrics of her turtleneck, cast on her countenance and the beige trench coat she wore. The closer they got to Mount Lyell, the brighter it became.

"Mamma, cold!" Håkon's chirped from his position between them, tiny claws gripping the center console.

"I know, boy." Lorna reached over to stroke his back gently. "We'll get somewhere warm soon, okay?"

The Rover's proximity sensors chimed. Xin glanced at the display, frowning. "Multiple heat signatures ahead."

"How many?" Lorna leaned forward, her hand instinctively moving to Váli's grip.

"Hard to tell. The readings are... strange." Xin adjusted the scanner's sensitivity. "Some are cooling rapidly. Like they've been there for hours."

Håkon suddenly went rigid, his scales darkening to an alarmed navy blue. A low trill escaped his throat - not quite distress, but definitely concern.

Danger-smell-ahead, the emotion rippled through their shared psychic connection.

"He senses something," Lorna said, checking the Psytum Sword, Baldr, sitting in her chest pocket. "How far?"

"Quarter mile. Around that ice formation." Xin slowed their approach. "Should we investigate?"

Through the windshield, they could see where the road curved around a massive crystalline outcropping. Whatever lay beyond was hidden from view, but the scanner showed at least six heat signatures in a rough cluster.

"Could be survivors," Lorna said, though her tone suggested she doubted it. "Reeves said that GSR forces had passed by this area recently."

Xin brought the Rover to a halt fifty meters from the bend. "Should I be parking here?"

"Yeah." Lorna was already unbuckling her harness. "I'll take point. You cover our exit route."

"No." Xin's response was immediate. "We do this together. All three of us."

Håkon chirped agreement, though he pressed closer to Lorna's side.

"Xin, if it's a trap—"

"Then we stand a better chance together." His eyes met hers, the black-rimmed glasses reflecting distant morning sun.

Lorna looked at him for a long moment, then at Håkon's trusting expression.

"Alright. Together," she agreed. "But stay alert."

They exited the Rover, boots crunching on frost-covered earth. The air bit at their exposed face, carrying scents of pine and something else. Håkon rode on Xin's shoulder, his head swiveling constantly as he scanned for threats.

The Psytum Sword Baldr felt comfortable in Lorna's grip as she drew it. They approached the bend. Behind them, the Space Rover's engine ticked as it cooled.

"There," Xin whispered, pointing ahead, the Kinetic SMG Kuma folded on his back.

Around the curve, the scene opened into a natural clearing where the old park road widened. What they found made Lorna's blood run cold.

Six figures in golden power armor lay scattered across the frozen ground, their bodies twisted in death. The distinctive gleam of GSR Pomo Warden gear caught the sunlight, but the armor had been torn open like cans of food. Dark red stains spread beneath each fallen soldier, already frozen into the earth.

"Buddha's balls…" Xin breathed.

Håkon's scales had gone completely dark, almost black with distress. He made a soft keening sound, showing grief beyond his young age.

"GSR Wardens," Lorna confirmed, moving closer to examine the nearest body. The soldier's helmet had been removed - or ripped off. His face was locked in an expression of terror. "Reeves' people."

"Looks like Radi-Mons. Bad ones." Xin kept his voice low, Kuma ready in his hands.

Lorna knelt beside the closest Warden, studying the damage. The armor's chest plate had been peeled back like flower petals, revealing the devastating wounds beneath. Claw marks scored the golden metal, but these weren't random scratches - they showed intelligence, precision.

"Something that knew exactly where to strike." She stood, her pendant pulsing brighter. "The armor joints, the weak points. This wasn't animal fury. This was calculated. Fenris beasts don't do this..."

Håkon chirped urgently, pointing with one tiny claw toward the Wardens' equipment. Several of their tactical computers were still intact, though splattered with frozen blood.

"Good eye, boy!" Xin said, approaching one of the devices. "If we can download their mission data..."

"Do it, but quickly," Lorna agreed, taking up a defensive position near a fallen tree. "Whatever did this might come back."

Xin activated his Quantum Watch, raising it to scan the first Warden's tactical computer on the arms section. Green data streams began flowing across the air before manifesting above the watch's dial as holographic projections - patrol routes, communication logs, intelligence reports.

"They were tracking the Moondust shard," Xin reported, scrolling through the information. "But there have been multiple contacts moving through this sector. The last entry was..." He paused, reading. "Forty-three minutes ago."

"What were they doing?"

"Engaging some some unknown hostiles. Large signatures." Xin's frown deepened. "They detected some kind of energy spike nearby. Massive psionic resonance."

Lorna's pendant suddenly flared, the sapphire light blazing through her coat with such intensity that all three of them instinctively shielded their eyes.

"Your amulet—" Xin started.

The light wasn't just coming from Lorna. Through the trees ahead, a matching blue radiance pulsed like a heartbeat. The two sources seemed to be calling to each other, creating a resonance that made the air itself hum with power.

"The shard," Lorna whispered, understanding flooding through her. "There's another piece of the Moondust Crystal here!"

Håkon's scales had shifted to an awed golden color, his young mind overwhelmed by the psionic energies washing over them. He made soft trilling sounds, like a song of recognition.

"How close?" Xin asked, still downloading data from the Wardens' equipment.

"Close. Maybe a hundred meters through those trees." Lorna pointed toward where the blue light pulsed strongest. "The Wardens must have been investigating it when—"

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A slow, deliberate clapping echoed through the clearing.

They spun toward the sound, weapons raised. From the treeline stepped two figures that made Lorna's blood freeze.

The first figure made Lorna's skin crawl. What had once been Mac Watrous now bore the twisted marks of necromantic corruption. Half his face had been consumed by grotesque organic growths, revealing muscle and bone beneath. His glowing red eyes cast crimson light across the clearing. His body was encased in blood-stained black trench coat that covered his slender but tall body, exposing his rotten chest. The mocking intelligence and academic arrogance remained.

The second figure commanded immediate respect. It stood over four meters tall, a magnificent polar bear transformed into something mythic. His white fur was pristine despite the battle-scarred stone armor that covered his massive frame. Crystalline growths of blue-white ice emerged from strategic points on his gear, pulsing with inner light. A skull trophy hung from his belt, and cyan energy swirled around his chest plate like captured northern lights. His eyes studied them with ancient wisdom - Lorna couldn't help but feel that this was a creature bound by honor, even in service to darkness.

"Look here, Ulrik," Watrous the Draug said, his voice carrying that same academic condescension Lorna remembered. "The Alliance dogs, exactly where we expected them."

The massive bear-creature - Ulrik - said nothing. When he moved, it was with the careful grace of a predator who had never needed to hurry.

Håkon pressed himself against Xin's neck, scales cycling rapidly through stressed colors. His mental voice came to Lorna: Big-bad-strong-weird-confused!

"Two humans with a Radi-Mon of unknown affiliation," Ulrik finally spoke, his voice a deep rumble that seemed to emerge from the earth itself. His English carried a slight Nordic accent. "The Terra Alliance is more open-minded than I'd presumed."

"You killed them," Lorna said, gesturing toward the fallen Wardens. "Those soldiers."

Watrous laughed, the sound echoing off the ice formations. "The Jokull needed feeding, and these golden toys provided excellent lure."

"Lure for what?" Xin's grip tightened on Kuma.

"For you, of course." Watrous's grin widened. "Though I expected you to arrive with more...backup. Just the three of you against the combined might of two Hordes? The Alliance doesn't even take this mission seriously."

Ulrik stepped forward, his massive form casting a shadow over the frozen corpses. "You are Sigrún Fjeld. Harald's daughter."

It wasn't a question. Lorna felt the weight of recognition in the polar bear's eyes.

"Are you Jokull's leader? I don't know what Harald told you, but—" she replied calmly, though she was ready to activate Baldr should the massive creature inch closer. "The Fenris Horde does not deserve your trust."

"Harald created us as slaves, while the Fenris regard us as equals." Ulrik's voice carried a rumble of anger. His gaze fixed on the Pendant of Mánagrát on Lorna's neck, which continued to pulse with brilliant sapphire light. "But I see you wear his gift. A shard of Moondust."

"The pendant is mine," Lorna said bluntly.

"But you have not used its power." Ulrik tilted his massive head. "I can sense the jewel's psionic frequency. Dormant."

Watrous made an impatient gesture. "We have business to conclude. The Crystal shard awaits, and it's ours!"

Through the trees, that blue radiance continued to pulse. Lorna could feel it calling to her pendant, the two fragments seeking reunion after decades of separation.

"You can't take it," she realized, studying their positions. "That's why you're still here. The shard is pinned to the place somehow."

Ulrik's expression might have been approval. "Harald's daughter sees clearly. It appears the Yosemite shard chooses its wielders. We have tried for days to claim what lies between those trees."

"But you," Watrous added with renewed interest as he pointed to Lorna's neck, "That pretty bauble around your neck somehow resonates with connection."

Håkon suddenly stiffened, his scales shifting to alarm colors.

"Submit the pendant to us, and I will let you leave alive on your—" Ulrik offered as his strong paw gestured to the Space Rover behind them. "Mechanical turtle."

"Nonsense! If this is Sigrún Fjeld, we should take her back and make her a Hundkynda!" Watrous hissed as he turned to Ulrik.

"Distasteful." Ulrik frowned as he spoke, his discomfort palpable. "But effective."

"In your dreams!" Next to Lorna, Xin drew Kuma, the Kinetic SMG unfolding in his hands.

Lorna's hand found Baldr's hilt, the Psytum Sword springing to life with its characteristic quantum-blue blade. On Xin's shoulder, Håkon's scales cycled to deep combat blue, tiny claws beginning to glow.

With deliberately slow motion, Ulrik reached behind his massive frame. The weapon he drew made Lorna's breath catch. A one-handed warhammer that appeared to be carved from a single piece of crystallized ice. Nordic runes spiraled down its handle. When Ulrik shifted his grip, frost spread across the ground in fractals.

"Rimfrost," the Radi-Mon bear said simply, his eyes now glowing cyan lights as he addressed Lorna. "Forged by your father Harald in Europa's depths. Since the Jokull's liberation, it has tasted the blood of eighty-seven who thought themselves warriors." He hefted the weapon with one massive paw. "Will you be eighty-eight and eighty-nine?"

"Big talk from someone who ambushes travelers," Xin said, raising Kuma.

"There's no ambush when one announces themselves." Ulrik's voice carried the weight of certainty. "I gave you the chance to submit. Honor has been satisfied."

Impatient and cunning, Watrous struck first, his movements far more fluid than Lorna remembered. The corrupted professor's hands wove patterns as pale green Void energy gathered around him as he cast in Jǫturmál.

"Rís, Beinagrind!"

The corpses of the fallen GSR Wardens jerked upright, golden armor clanking as they rose. Purple light blazed in empty eye sockets. But these weren't the clumsy undead from their Chicago encounter - these moved with terrible purpose, retaining muscle memory from life.

"Kṣati Vardhana!" Xin's left hand blazed emerald as he channeled Void energy through Kuma. The SMG's rounds now glowed with destructive force, punching massive holes through the reanimated Wardens.

But Ulrik was already moving. Despite his massive size, the polar bear warrior crossed the distance to Xin with shocking speed. His warhammer, Rimfrost, swept through the air.

"Mánafrost Leiftr!" The incantation, also Jǫturmál, boomed from the bear's mouth, deep and resonant.

A bolt of condensed lunar ice shot from the hammer's head. Xin barely dodged, the projectile freezing a tree solid behind him. The entire trunk shattered from the sudden temperature change.

Lorna engaged three skeletal Wardens simultaneously, Baldr weaving patterns of light. But these undead were different - they worked in coordination, one feinting while others struck. She took a glancing blow to her ribs that sent pain shooting through her side. Were it not for her ballistic trench coat and turtleneck absorbing the impact, she'd be taking something much more than a bruise.

"Glacies Lunae Fulgur!" Her spell crushed one skeleton, but the Aether drain was immediate and harsh. It dawned that after her outburst yesterday, her virus-damaged body could not regulate the energy properly. She would need more than a restful sleep to remedy this.

"Hmm. The virus is starting to get to you." Watrous taunted, his ragged coat billowing in the wind. "Járn-önd!"

The professor exhaled a cloud of metallic mist that solidified into iron needles mid-flight. Lorna deflected most with Baldr, but several found their mark, slicing through her coat.

Meanwhile, Xin tried to keep distance from Ulrik, but the polar bear was relentless. Each swing of Rimfrost created walls of ice that herded Xin into increasingly tight spaces. When Xin tried another spell, Ulrik simply powered through it.

"Good spellcasting for a new psion," Ulrik acknowledged, bringing Rimfrost down in an overhead strike that Xin barely sidestepped. "But insufficient against one raised and trained by Harald."

His hammer strike created a crater three feet deep, ice spreading outward. Xin's foot slipped on the frozen ground, and Ulrik's backhand caught him across the chest. The impact lifted Xin off his feet, sending him crashing into a cluster of reanimated corpses.

"Xin!" Lorna started toward him, but Watrous intercepted.

"Beinaklifr!"

Skeletal hands erupted from the earth, grasping at Lorna's ankles. She cut through them with Baldr, but more kept coming. Her Aether was depleting rapidly.

Xin struggled against the undead holding him, pinning his arms and legs. Ulrik approached with measured steps, Rimfrost raised for a killing blow.

"A warrior's death," the polar bear intoned. "Be grateful."

That's when Håkon acted.

"SKJÖLD!"

The tiny Diabolisk's voice cracked with desperation as he launched himself from Xin's left shoulder. A dome of silver-blue energy materialized just as Rimfrost descended. The impact created a sound like thunder, but the shield held.

Ulrik's eyes widened - the first genuine surprise he'd shown. "A hatchling capable of such power?"

But Håkon wasn't finished. Still airborne, his scales blazed golden as he chanted in a high, musical voice: "Ljós-regn!"

A shower of golden motes fell from above, each one burning with gentle warmth. Where they touched undead flesh, the reanimated corpses began dissolving. The skeletal hands holding Lorna crumbled to dust.

"A proper Diabolisk," Watrous snarled, raising his rotten hand. "Kyrrð Ginnungagaps!"

The spell created a zone of absolute silence around Håkon, cutting off his next incantation. The little Diabolisk's mouth moved frantically but no sound emerged. He fell towards the ground, scales flickering with distress just as Xin threw Kuma down to rush and catch him with both hands.

"I've got you, boy!" Xin soothed, though the fear in Håkon's eyes was palpable as he made a panicked trill.

Lorna's Aether was nearly gone. She channeled the last reserves into Baldr for a desperate charge toward Xin and her son. Each enemy she cut down drained more energy, until finally the quantum blade flickered and died.

"No—" She coughed, throat already burning. Without Aether, the Psytum Sword's cylindrical hilt was useless in her hand.

A deep rumble shook the earth. Then another. Rhythmic, like a massive heartbeat.

Underground-big-moving-something-coming-NOW! Håkon's mental voice shrieked, unaffected by the silence spell.

"Ah," Ulrik said with satisfaction. "The Glacierwurm arrives precisely when needed."

The ground trembled, then buckled. Deep cracks spider-webbed across the frozen earth, radiating outward from a central point near the Space Rover.

Then it erupted.