Chapter 5

"How do we—" I began, but Costa was already moving, pulling me toward a small control panel embedded in the wall.

"The emergency override," he explained, his fingers dancing across symbols I couldn't read. "If it hasn't changed in six hundred years..."

The panel chimed, and a single transit pod detached from the main flow, gliding smoothly to stop before us. Its door slid open with a welcoming hum.

"Hurry," Costa urged, helping me inside. The pod's interior adjusted immediately to our presence, seats forming from what had looked like empty space moments before. The walls became transparent, offering a dizzying view of the transit network stretching out in all directions.

"Voidhaven, subsection seven," Costa commanded, and the pod lurched into motion with surprising gentleness.

As we accelerated through the tunnel system, I watched the city blur past us through the transparent walls. New Nova had changed dramatically—the rigid separation between human and alien districts that I dimly remembered was gone, replaced by a chaotic mixing of architectural styles that somehow worked together. Crystal spires twisted around metal towers, while gardens of singing flowers cascaded down the sides of buildings that seemed to breathe with their own life.

"It's beautiful," I whispered, then felt a stab of loss. "We missed so much."

Costa's hand found mine. "We'll see it properly once this is over."

The pendant against my palm pulsed more urgently now, and with each pulse, more memories surfaced. I remembered the night of our binding—not just the ceremony itself but what had led to it: the growing unrest among both populations, the whispers that a union between us could herald a new age of cooperation, and then the fear, the accusations, the desperate attempt to complete the ritual before they could stop us.

"We were so close," I said, the words escaping before I could stop them.

"To what?"

"To complete it. The binding. If they had waited just one more day..." I trailed off as the full implications hit me. "Costa, what if we're still partially bound? What if that's why they've been so desperate to keep us apart?"

His markings flared with sudden understanding. An incomplete binding would be unstable. It could manifest in unpredictable ways."

The pod began to slow, and through the transparent walls, I could see we were approaching a station that looked far older than the sleek transit system. The architecture here was rougher, more organic, as if it had grown rather than been built.

"Voidhaven," the pod announced in a voice that carried harmonics I could feel in my bones.

As we disembarked, the air hit us with a wall of sensation—music that seemed to pulse from the very walls, lights that shifted in patterns just beyond conscious perception, and underneath it all, the mingled scents of a hundred different species living in close proximity.

"This way," I said, surprising myself with the certainty in my voice. The pendant was pulling me forward, its light casting strange shadows that seemed to move independently of our bodies.

We emerged from the transit station into a plaza that defied geometric logic. Streets curved up and around in impossible spirals, while buildings leaned at angles that should have toppled them. Market stalls floated at various heights, their vendors calling out in languages that my mind somehow translated automatically.

But it was the people who made me stop and stare. Humans and aliens moved together in ways that would have been unthinkable in my time—not just coexisting but clearly interacting with each other.

“The binding, if I remember anything from our time, that shouldn’t have been possible unless I was a hybrid to start with and what my old romance novels used to call fated or soul mates,” I said, things starting to click into place.

Costa stopped walking and turned to face me fully. His luminescent markings pulsed in rapid patterns I was beginning to recognise as deep emotion.

"You're remembering," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The tests they ran on you before the trial. They found markers in your DNA that shouldn't have existed."

I nodded, the pendant's warmth spreading up my arm now. "My mother. She wasn't human either, was she? That's why I have no clear memories of her."

"The Inner Circle made sure of that," Costa confirmed grimly. "They couldn't allow the truth to spread—that successful human-Novan hybrids were not only possible but were already living among both populations."

Around us, the impossible marketplace continued its chaotic dance, but I was beginning to see patterns in the movement. The floating stalls weren't defying gravity randomly—they were following energy currents that I could somehow sense, streams of power that flowed through Voidhaven like invisible rivers.

"The binding ritual," I said, pieces clicking together faster now. "It wasn't just about us, was it? We were meant to be proof that integration was possible on a fundamental level."

Costa's hand tightened on mine. "And if we complete it now, with six hundred years of separation to overcome, with the political landscape changed..."

"It could work," I finished. "Really work this time."

A commotion at the far end of the plaza caught our attention. Several figures in the gleaming armour of the palace guard were pushing through the crowd, their energy weapons causing the floating stalls to bob and weave in avoidance.

"They found us faster than expected," Costa muttered.

The pendant blazed brighter, and suddenly I could see more than just the energy currents—I could see the connections between people, threads of light linking individuals across species lines. And strongest of all was the thread connecting Costa and me, a golden cord that pulsed with each heartbeat.

"This way," I said, pulling him toward a narrow alley that seemed to twist impossibly upward. "I can feel where we need to go."

As we ran, I heard one of the guards shout behind us: "There! The hybrid and the Prince! Lord Vexan wants them taken alive!"