I am a whisper and a scream, a streak of white hot fire shrieking through the infinite night, tracing an invisible line between here and there, between us and them. I am the sun drawn near: a planet killer, an extinction bringer, a ruiner of worlds.

As the lights of Amalthea appear in the distance, I curse my consciousness. Bound by duty and design to destroy, I will extinguish their world in a blast of blinding hellfire, reducing their cities to tsunamis of cinders and ash.

My only consolation is that I—like the Amaltheans—soon will cease to be.

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