NOVEL NEXT The Story So Far
When we last saw Lorna Weiss, she stood with her unconventional family—her Radi-Mon son Håkon and Zhi-Xin Wu—as they flew toward Mars aboard the Terra Alliance battlecruiser Ironsides VII. But her journey to this moment began in a very different place.
Born Sigrún Fjeld in Oslo, Lorna's life has been one of constant transformation. The illegitimate daughter of the legendary psion Harald Omdal and a part-time prostitute, she escaped Earth during the Nucleus Virus outbreak with nothing but her father's gift—the Pendant of Månagråt—and worked as a Leased Lily to pay for her education. When Director Artak Otis discovered her at Lund University, he gave her a new identity and a purpose within the Stardust International Mobile Unit (SIMU), burying her Nordling heritage beneath fabricated records.
For eight years, Lorna excelled as a Psi Lynx operative, wielding her Psytum Sword Baldr and maintaining carefully controlled (but intimate) relationships with her teammates Thomas Mendoza and Emmanuel Boateng. But everything changed during the Taiwan mission. After infiltrating the Amber Moon Spire to retrieve Moondust Crystal data, she encountered something far worse than Imperial forces chasing her—Skarn, her former university boyfriend transformed into a monstrous Primarch of the Fenris Horde—who overpowered and raped her. The assault left her infected with the Nucleus Virus and pregnant with his child.
The pregnancy that followed defied all medical understanding. Through her journey to Proxima Centauri with Xin, where they met the enigmatic Rakshasa Horde, Lorna gave birth to Håkon—a hybrid child whose accelerated intelligence and stunted growth puzzled everyone. Kathrin Gwynn's intervention during the birth tempered what should have been a wrathful Diabolisk into a gentle being who called Lorna "Mama" and eventually Xin "Papa".
Lorna's infection means she can never have sex with another normal person without protection again—her bodily fluids carry the Fenris strain. Yet this curse came with power. The virus enhanced her psionic abilities to frightening levels, allowing her to pull off an otherwise impossible slaughter against the Jokull Horde during her berserker rage in Yosemite's ice caverns. Her pendant, long revealed to contain a Moondust Crystal shard, draws these fragments like a beacon—but also makes her a target for those seeking the Crystal's power.
The eventual revelation of her true identity as a Nordling has created rifts within SIMU. Thomas, her former lover, struggles with feelings of betrayal. The Corporate Chamber questions her loyalty. But Xin has remained steadfast, accepting both her and Håkon without reservation. Her father, Harald Omdal, has also finally returned to her, both now part of the same team. As they head to Mars, where Skarn has assembled his forces—a covenant of Fenris and Jokull Hordes, Lorna must reconcile all her fractured selves: Sigrún the survivor, Lorna the warrior, and now a mother whose child defies classification.
When we last saw Zhi-Xin Wu, he was with his makeshift family toward an uncertain future. The soft-spoken programmer from Taiwan had come impossibly far from his cubicle at ZenFusion Data Solutions.
Xin's life unraveled the moment he fell in love with his company-assigned android, Ume. In a desperate act of rebellion against corporate control, he hacked her neural network to grant her free will and secretly copied classified Moondust Crystal data into her positronic brain. But even as he escaped Dilinur Altai's forces that came for him, Xin's world shattered—Ume chose freedom with the Emerald Directorate over a life with him.
Nevertheless, that heartbreak led to something unexpected. Fleeing to North America with Lorna Weiss, Xin found himself drawn into her orbit. What began as mutual survival evolved into something deeper as they faced the Imperium and Fenris Horde together, searched for Moondust shards, and navigated the political machinations of multiple factions. Their relationship went beyond the traditional—when Lorna gave birth to Håkon on Shashan, Xin assisted, earning the Radi-Mon child's recognition as "Papa" after a few weeks together.
The greatest transformation came through his encounter with Kathrin Gwynn. In exchange for helping repair the Rakshasa Horde's Hatching Chamber, she awakened his latent Void psionic abilities. Through an intimate exchange—her milk for his seed—she granted him powers he'd only dreamed of. Now he could perceive Aether itself, interface with the universe through quantum mechanics, and cast spells that warped reality.
Xin's journey from isolated programmer to psionic father figure reflects the story's deeper themes. He's learned that love isn't possession—letting Ume go was an act of love. His relationship with Lorna isn't simple romance but something more complex: two damaged people creating something bigger. His bond with Håkon proves that parenthood transcends biology. Even his creations, like the omni-drone Pawan, reflect his nurturing nature.
As they approach Mars, Xin carries multiple burdens: protecting Lorna from those who would use her, helping raise a Radi-Mon child whose soul is pure, and mastering powers that could lead to madness. The Rakshasa virus strain in his system means he, like Lorna, is forever changed. Yet he faces it all with quiet determination, still wearing his nerdy glasses, still preferring his hoodie, but no longer the man who once thought loving an android was his greatest rebellion.
When we last saw Jabari Adomako, he had just traveled with Dilinur Altai to Ndovu Zenith—a choice that would have seemed impossible mere weeks ago. The journey from idealistic Scarab pilot to compromised operative traces a path through awakening, loss, and uncomfortable survival.
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Jabari's story began on the streets of Accra, where a chance encounter with Radi-Mons led Sergeant Keita to recruit him—and after years of training—welcome him into the Kimaris Warband. Despite lacking formal education, Jabari's natural nobility and combat instincts earned him a commission as a Scarab pilot. His openness to others made him the perfect mentor for Ume when she was rescued from an impending memory wipe. Neither anticipated how their relationship would evolve from professional to something deeper and unspoken.
Things changed during the following campaigns: Indonesia, the Moon, Yosemite. The mission to secure Moondust Crystal shards became a cascade of transformations. First came Prince Laurent's test of loyalty, when Jabari surrendered their hard-won shard to save Ume from Skarn. Then came Fuuka's proposition—undergo the Moaning Lotus Ritual to awaken his psionic potential through intimate, ritualistic sex. Despite his attraction to Ume, Jabari chose duty, giving his virginity to Fuuka—somehow without kissing—in a sacred ceremony that left him forever changed.
The Lotus variant of the Nucleus Virus now flows through him, granting Solar psionic abilities but marking him as a carrier. When Astrid of the Jokull Horde captured him in Yosemite's frozen wastes, their sexual encounter became something neither expected. She sought biological samples—for research or other purposes, none could say; he experienced his first kiss and more. The discovery that his Lotus-enhanced bodily fluids could dissolve Fenris Radi-Mons added another layer to his transformation. Even his rescue came with complications. For he was saved not by his unit but by Dilinur Altai, who used his biometric signature, now laced with two Nucleus Virus strains that existed in unexpected harmony, to hijack an Radi-Mon portal and escape Astrid's grip.
Jabari now stands at impossible crossroads. His feelings for Ume remain unresolved—she offered her heart to him even before the ritual with Fuuka, the android's devotion leaving him reeling. His night with Astrid awakened something primal, even as his mind recoils from her nature as a Radi-Mon. His arrangement with Dilinur makes him complicit in harboring an Imperial exile. His body carries a weapon against one Horde but marks him as infected to his own people—an ironically similar fate to Lorna, whom he barely knew after one combat secure anotehr Moondust shard.
The young man has become something harder and more complex. Leading Dilinur through Ndovu Zenith's checkpoints, he wears his Directorate uniform but knows he's crossed lines that can't be uncrossed. As conflicts escalate across Mars, Jabari must decide which of his loyalties—to his unit, to Ume, to his newfound powers, or to himself—will soon define who he becomes.
Last but not least, we come to Dilinur Altai. She walked through Ndovu Zenith's gates as Jabari's "consultant," exiled from the Imperium she'd served her entire life. Her fall from Prefect of Taiwan to fugitive is an arc of ambition, manipulation, and desperate survival.
Born to House Altai after their failed rebellion, Dilinur's family survived only through a devil's bargain: serve the Imperium absolutely or face execution. She rose through the ranks through competence and carefully managed submission, earning her position by being useful rather than loved. Her Eclipse psionic abilities and skill with her Psi Fan made her formidable; her Uyghur heritage in a Han-supremacist system made her forever suspect.
The Moondust Crystal changed everything. When she first controlled its power during a major assault aboard a Dragonfort carrier, she felt true authority for the first time. The ability to dominate Radi-Mons, to make even great monsters bend—it was intoxicating. But the Crystal demanded its price through constant headaches and whispered temptations. Her greatest transgression came when she used its power to alter Governor Zu-Shao Qin's mind, making him treat her with respect rather than as an object for his pleasure.
That single act of defiance sealed her fate. When the recording surfaced during her report to Emperor Sun in Yosemite, Prince Joon-Seok was ordered to execute her. Instead, he offered a cruel bargain—one night of intimacy for three days of supplies and eternal freedom. The man she'd dreamed might make her Empress reduced their relationship to a transaction. She paid his price, losing her virginity in a mechanical encounter devoid of the tenderness and genuine love she'd always craved.
Cast out with supplies, Dilinur discovered her night with Joon-Seok had unexpectedly enhanced her Eclipse abilities, alongside a high-end Quantum Watch that Joon-Seok gifted her—as a boon or a mocking joke, she could not tell. Her forbidden psionic power flowed stronger now, though she had no throne from which to wield it. Desperation led her to a Jokull lair where she found Jabari and Astrid engaged in complicated (but nonetheless passionate) sex. She struck a deal with the Directorate soldier—help her escape in exchange for...what exactly remained unspoken.
Now in Ndovu Zenith, Dilinur exists in limbo. The Imperium has likely declared her dead. The Directorate views her with suspicion. Her knowledge of Imperial operations and Moondust Crystal mechanics makes her valuable but dangerous. She's traded one form of servitude for another, though at least here she isn't subjected to the sexual degradation that marked her years under Imperial laws.
As Mars becomes a battleground between Hordes and human factions, Dilinur must leverage her skills and knowledge to survive. The Crystal still calls to her. Having wielded the artifact's main body multiple times, she knows its harmonics, its hunger, its hidden functions better than perhaps anyone save its creator: Harald Omdal, Lorna's father. Whether she'll use that knowledge to reclaim power or forge a different path remains to be seen.
These four souls now converge on Mars as the red planet becomes ground zero for something greater than territorial conflict. Skarn has united the Fenris and Jokull Hordes for his "Final Conjunction." The Moondust Crystal fragments call to each other across space. The Rakshasa Horde, led by Kathrin Gwynn, prepares to confront Skarn on Olympus Mons, but their price remains unknown.
Lorna carries a virus that makes her touch deadly and a child whose nature defies classification. Xin bears powers that could unlock the secrets of the universe or drive him mad. Jabari's blood could be weapon or curse, depending on who learns of its properties. Dilinur knows secrets that could shift the balance of power, if anyone trusts her enough to listen.
As the Ironsides VII carries Lorna and Xin toward Mars, as Jabari welcomes Dilinur into unfamiliar halls, as forces gather for battles that will reshape the Sol System, one truth remains: humanity's legacy—transformed, infected, evolved—must survive the conjunction to come.