BROKEN UNITY | CHAPTER 01

a short story by Danny van Eck

“It felt like the very heart of Elysium had been struck and left to break apart.”

Shauni stood at the edge of the devastation, stunned by the sheer scale of what lay before her. The wreckage of the Midway Station stretched across the Golden Expanse between Corin and Sernatum, a scar etched deep into the skin of Elysium. Twisted metal and shattered panels littered the ground, remnants of a station that once symbolized unity among kingdoms, now reduced to wreckage. The force of the crash had torn into the earth, upheaving massive chunks of rock and carving deep fissures that ran like veins through the golden desert.

For a moment, Shauni glanced back. The Silent Vale was barely visible in the distance, though thick plumes of dark smoke still curled into the sky. The destruction stretched in every direction, and its impact still echoed in her bones. Her stomach knotted at the memory, but she forced the thought aside. What was done was done. Now, she had a chance to make a difference.

Fires burned across the crash zone, and escape pods lay scattered across the terrain, some still falling down from the sky. Judging by their distant trails, many would likely land far from here, spread across the vast horizon. Several ships had already formed a perimeter around the crash site, with more arriving by the minute. They brought in aid workers and first responders from Corin, Nexun, and Eidolon. Shauni even spotted a few vessels bearing the Meridian crest, likely transporting Zenith Keepers to assist in the aftermath.

Shauni glanced down at her Throne. Still no signal. Hours had passed, and the device refused to connect to the relays. Whatever had happened with the Ardent and Cyril’s comet must have scrambled communications across Elysium. She exhaled quietly, then pushed forward toward the crash site.

With every step, the noise grew. The distant silence had given way to chaos: fires snapping through metal and sand, voices shouting out for missing loved ones, debris still groaning as it shifted and fell. Shauni had trained for war with the Valleteian Guard. She had stood her ground in the conflicts between rival houses and weathered power struggles and skirmishes. But this was different. It felt like the very heart of Elysium had been struck and left to break apart.

As she neared the epicenter, the temperature climbed. The cold night air of the desert gave way to a blistering heat, and the smoke thickened around her, black and choking, heavy with the scent of scorched earth and steel.

She heard a loud banging and turned to spot an escape pod partially buried beneath a pile of debris. The Midway escape pods were massive, cylindrical in design, built to carry hundreds at once. She sprinted toward the nearest blast door and peered through the reinforced glass.

Dozens of frightened, desperate faces stared back at her. Their mouths moved in urgent pleas, but she couldn’t make out a single word. An older man near the front caught her eye, motioning frantically and pointing to the side.

Shauni turned and saw a nearby communication panel. She activated the display, and chaos erupted from the speakers: cries for help, sobbing, panicked voices overlapping in a storm of fear.

The man raised his voice above the noise, shouting for silence. After a moment, he leaned closer and spoke clearly:

“Listen, the blast doors are jammed. We can’t open them from in here. Is there anything you can do on your end?”

Shauni turned back to the communication panel, fingers moving quickly across the interface as she searched for the blast door override. When she finally found it, an error message flashed across the screen: “Blastdoor Hydraulics Compromised.”

“Damn it,” she muttered under her breath. Swiping back to the comms, she relayed the bad news.

The man’s expression faltered for just a moment before his eyes caught on something behind her. He pointed urgently, motioning for her to look.

In the distance, a small unit of Zenith Keepers was moving through the wreckage, scanning for survivors.

Shauni raised her voice, calling out to them, but they didn’t hear her. Without hesitation, she sprinted in their direction, shouting over the chaos until her voice finally broke through the noise.

They turned. She waved them over, breathless, and led them straight back to the escape pod.

The unit of Keepers followed her closely as she pointed out the issue. “There are survivors in this pod, but the door hydraulics are failing. Manual override won’t work,” she explained.

One of the Zenith Keepers turned to her, his voice calm and modulated. “We’ve got this, ma’am,” he said, signaling to the others.

A large Keeper unlatched a supply crate he had been carrying, pulling out a compact metal case and passing it to the one in front. He looked at Shauni. “Tell them to take a few steps back from the door.”

She didn’t hesitate and immediately relayed the instruction.

The Keeper stepped forward, pressed the cube against the sealed door, and tapped its center. A brief, circular pulse of light spread across the surface before a clean ring of the blast door dropped away with a heavy thud.

He raised a hand to the people inside. “Please wait a few minutes before stepping out. The metal may still be hot.”

There was a pause, then a collective exhale from within the pod. Grateful voices began to call out, their relief unmistakable as they thanked the Keepers.

Shauni offered a reassuring smile to the group of survivors before turning to the Zenith Keeper. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

The Keeper tensed, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. “Details are still unclear. Global communications have taken a major hit. Whatever happened disrupted nearly everything. We're deploying Remote Beacons to establish short-range comms and coordinate relief efforts. But something went wrong with the Ardent, and it affected the Midway. We've seen massive debris, parts of the Midway crashing down, along with fragments of Cyril’s Comet. For now, we're tackling one crisis at a time.”

Shauni gave a firm nod. “What can I do to help?”

“It’s safest if civilians stay out of the way, ma’am,” the Keeper replied.

She shook her head. “I’m a trained Valleteian warrior. You could sideline me, but you absolutely shouldn’t.”

That caught the Keepers off guard. Understandable, given that Warriors were rarely seen beyond Valleteia’s borders.

“Understood,” the Keeper said after a brief pause. “If you can assist for the next hour, we’ll be setting up the last of the beacons. Once they’re active, your throne should reconnect. After that, we can escort you to our command center to meet with the commander.”