The Emperor's Psionic Clone

928.M30.

Northwestern galaxy.

Dozens of stone spheres spun along different orbits in careful disorder, circling a star that brightened and dimmed by turns.

A howling, freezing wind was born from nothing in a region of space with no air at all, and flashing arcs of lightning tore across the heavens.

The Sea of Souls churned and surged, closing like an opened Great Maw.

From the towering storm within the Sea of Souls, a ship wrapped in blazing golden light flew out.

The dozens of stone spheres suddenly accelerated, whipping around the star at tremendous speed.

The star's flickering light gradually steadied, then grew brighter and brighter.

Boom!

As several blazing fireballs streaked through the void like meteors, the star burned fiercely.

Blazing golden light suddenly soared up.

The searing radiance did not come from the star, but from a tall, lean, handsome man.

He wore a crisp farmer's outfit and had a hard brown beard. His shoulders were broad, and his powerful arms were covered in old scars.

He gazed at the red giant, his golden eyes growing brighter and brighter as the wild power hidden within them projected outward.

Step by step, he walked along a golden stairway toward the red giant.

Rings of silver-white light suddenly appeared, contracting inward one after another from different directions.

The upright figure in farmer's clothes abruptly turned into a powerful stag.

The stag lowered his head and looked at his own golden-red coat.

In the next instant, that pure, magnificent coat turned dull.

The light in his golden eyes withdrew, and his mighty antlers cracked and snapped.

His eyes flashed, and he felt as though he had returned to countless years ago, to the moment when he had fled across Morlo covered in wounds.

He looked around, but did not see Alivia.