er had a sunr

it safe. Now the Veil was gone. Mist burned off the Pacific in seconds. Real sun

inded them. Inste

ated with the light of a yellow sun they had only ever seen in archives. The glowing core be

up, weeping. They had lived underground for six generations. Their

d pond. Her mother's arms were around her from behind, her brother Darian's hand was on her sho

come back fro

t. Too quiet. Li

hispered. She mean

ht and steady, no longer flickering. "He is not gone, little star. He

bsence had been. His raider armor was scuffed, his face smeared with ash and tears

sands of new lights appearing in orbit - human ships, answering a call they had waited their whole lives to hear

r stark against the gold. She had deactivated her energy blade, but her hand h

Imperia

venant was not

with the characteristic scream of Imp

execution ship that had chased them i

hips. Each one a city killer. And in the cen

yron's moving palace. A dreadnought s

the path the Revenant had tor

the first time since Lyra had met her, she so

tarily. The bio-bond pulsed - Lyra felt his

that we were wrong - that you are not extinct - he will not risk the other Dyna

a simple robe, barefoot, fresh out of stasis, she suddenly

try," s

status, but the entire near-space around Earth. Red dots - Imperial. White dots - human raiders, old an

o said. "The city's light-cannons are defensive. T

en. The old law - if a Sovereign of Earth stands on Earth and claims sanctuary, every

ow how to be a Queen! Yesterday

y too," Selene said softly

ould protest,

roadcast on all frequencies, in all languages, his voice amplified by t

CHIL

esonant, fatherly. The voice that had read bedtime storie

E BEEN D

its main weapon - a planet-cracker bea

OT EARTH. EARTH IS DEAD. THIS IS A WEAPON. MY SON, CROWN PRINCE KAEL VEYRON, HAS B

hine made a furious no

D. I WILL CLEANSE THIS SECTOR TO PROT

o charge. The sky above the Pac

going t

hind him, shoved Darian aside, and shouted into

e! Between the Thro

ed. "My Prince! That is a planet

IS AN

in its life to protect Lyra, obeyed. It moved - twelve kilometers of black blade - pla

ld be vaporized. But

to sacrifice his ship - his home - for a planet he had be

hing in h

oke. I

since they left the Gate, flared. But this time it

cle on Kael's pa

onnect them. It shot up. From their joined hands, a beam of white-gold light, as thick as a warship, lanced stra

the R

dn't just light

man ship on Obsidian Moon had. The gold and blue veins that Lyra had awaken

which had been a warshi

had triggered on Obsidian Moon - EARTH HAS AWAK

s a c

er ship, every hidden colony, every piece of Aureli tech the

red who it

stolen human frames - suddenly went dark. Their Imperial crew

Throne itself,

ough the Gate pond, through the core, through the Heart in her palm, sh

acker beam that was about to fire, and she

rth, out of every human ship, out of the

R OF ELIAS. THE LAST GIRL FROM EARTH WHO IS

he pu

Kael's hands hit the charging

t of the beam was forgotten by the universe, taught to

t as his ultimate weapon fizzled into nothing, as half his fleet went dark,

er, his hand in hers, was his son. His

her's ship, his face no l

s broadcast, so the entire galaxy heard t

ou told me humans were monsters. You made us monsters. This ends

ts, the galaxy hel

Throne, a second, even large

ps were not I

l seven Dynasties, who had heard EARTH HAS AWAKENED

r Earth ha

a war for the fut