Entering the inner sanctum, Rover’s Tacet Mark begins glowing in the Shaper’s Presence. The suspended man opens his eyes and descends back to the floor.
The Shaper: “The Heliogyre has awakened. It seems the Arbiter foretold in the fractured records… is you.”
Rover: “Have you been the one attempting to reach me?”
The Shaper: “Yes. With great reverance is your presence here met. Solisylum, as you see it, is not as it once was. Five of the Six have lost their minds, and the light of the Heliogyre no longer flows. This is why I summoned you.”
Rover: “Tell me everything that has happened.”
The Shaper: “You witnessed the Void Storm in Bjartr Woods, yes? The Solistree shield the woods from such storms. Yet, through malice and dark intent, corrupted were the roots. And so too, the Heliogyre. The others succumbed to the corruption. Only I was able to sever my link to the Heliogyre before the corruption could claim me. With the last of my strength, I turned the six stars to halt the Heliogyre and prevent the corruption’s spread. That, at least, ensured that when my strength failed and I fell into slumber, untouched by others the Heliogyre would remain. No one, save for one.”
Rover: “Me.”
The Shaper: “Correct. As one of the Six, I can glimpse the near future within the Heliogyre. But I am bound here, unable to act. All I could do was send a Soliskin entrusted with my message to you.”
Rover: (That Soliskin that vanished just outside the Academy.)
The Shaper: “Because of your actions, the source of the corruption was stopped. The stars are now aligned, and the Heliogyre turns once again. But the other Five are no more. they can no longer fulfill their roles within the Heliodic Six.”
He turns to face Rover once more, direct and earnest.
The Shaper: “I have one final request. But before that, allow me to tell you what the Heliodic Six truly are.”
The Shaper: “Centuries ago, a calamity awoke beneath the ice. The Void devoured all, erasing every trace, every existence.”
The Shaper: “In darkness, the Exostrider’s blade sealed the threat deep below. It drew its fiery Drive, a light that would never fade, lifting it high over Lahai-Roi’s sky. Under its glow the frost did melt, life blossoming with Exoswarm aid.
The Shaper: “Yet the calamity stirred, its remnant ravaging the living. Thus, the six wisest among us became the Heliodic Six. The Exostrider’s lens became our Heliogyre. From the Drive’s turn, the season’s laws we discerned. We shed all idle thought to link our minds to the Heliogyre.”
The Shaper: “Our shared cognition converged for mortals to touch the edge of the Divine. Since then, the Roya have walked Lahai-Roi for centuries.
The Shaper: “The Six shared their computational power, weaving a vast network to reach the Exostrider in a dimension beyond mortal understanding. The data we provided to the Spacetrek Collective was interpreted through this network. But now, the only one who can continue the calculations… is me.”
Rover: “Can you not select new members for the Six?”