The interior of the alien shop was dark, dingy, and littered with scraps of fabric. As the team's suit lights panned about, flecks of colour would flash up on the floor and on what looked like metal racks lined up neatly near the middle of the shop. Sorcha was in no doubt that, an incalculably long time ago, this had been a clothing emporium.

Not enough remained of the clothes to offer up any clues about the aliens' physiology, though. Sorcha thought she could see a sleeve here, a pant leg there, but she couldn't make out much more than that. She gently picked up one scrap, which felt soft and smooth in her gloved paw. It was purple, with some kind of integrated glitter making it sparkle. It came apart easily in her fingers, and so she set it back down.

"I can see this taking off," Jillian said, taking her eyes off the auto-mapper for a few seconds and examining more of the remains. "The In the Fur Collection. Dignity sold separately."

Nia chortled as she picked up a dessicated strip that glowed gold in her floods, and arched an eyebrow at Sorcha. "Bet Sylvester would luuuurrrve you in this, Sor."

Sorcha snorted. "Gold's not my colour."

The noise of a throat being cleared broke the conversation. "Team Leader, recommend that we press on," Palmer said to Jillian. "Primary objective stands."

Jillian nodded. "Awright. Shopping spree's over, ladles. Let's husssstle."

While the expedition moved on, Nia once more lagged, staring at the rag in her paw. As Sorcha glanced at her, Nia's blue eyes swivelled to meet her gaze. "Sor, do you ever think this'll be us?" she asked, looking back to the fabric. "Do... do you think that, ages from now, some other alien is gonna find what's left of a dress in a shop on Rilo Kiley, and wonder the same things we're wondering?"

Sorcha blinked. "Big question, Ni-ni. I don't think we'll ever know that for sure."

"Yeah, but do you think it could happen?" Nia asked. "I mean, here we are... I don't know. You know what, Sor, you're right. We will never know."

Sorcha couldn't help but giggle. "Come on, Ni-ni. We can ponder the mysteries of time later."

Nia snuffled. "Yeah. Let's, er, husssstle." She chortled.

***

The auto-mapper led the team through the rear of the shop and into a wide alley between two buildings – and it seemed to be leading Jillian towards a massive hole in the ground. The mutt paused at the edge of the hole, which looked as if an immense fist had punched through the teal floor. Sorcha could see Jillian frowning as she pointed the auto-mapper down, then ahead, and then down again; she repeated this several times before settling on pointing it into the hole. "Energy readings are stronger down there," Jillian announced. "Think this is our route."

"Looks like a short drop," one of the guards – Sorcha thought it was the Skunk, Travis – said. "Shouldn't need the safety lines."

Jillian strapped the auto-mapper to her suit and peered downward. "Yep." She lowered her legs over the edge and dropped. "It's safe," she called a few seconds later.

The guards followed her, with Boland going next and Sorcha and Nia bringing up the rear. Sorcha grunted as she slipped herself off of the edge and landed on the ground below. Nia squeaked as she did the same.

The drop had deposited the team in a short, somewhat confined tunnel, with a strange orange glow coming from one end. Jillian pointed the auto-mapper in that direction. "Guess we're going that way," she muttered.

Sorcha began to feel her fur warming as she walked towards the glow, and she wondered if her suit's heaters had kicked back in. A quick glance, however, confirmed that they had not. Whatever was causing that glow, it was hot.

"Whew," Palmer gasped. "And there was me saying I'd rather be sunning myself in St. Tropez than being stuck here."

"Temperature's definitely rising," Jillian said. "Fast."

The end of the tunnel opened out into a much larger room – and the cause of the furious effulgence was immediately apparent. Two enormous sloping structures occupied either end of the chamber; each one was carved with channels, and through those channels flowed what looked like searing hot lava. The channels closed and opened in a rhythm of sorts, piping the lava to different points. On each side of the available floor space were two rectangular pits, each one filled with an iridescent liquid that was producing fumes.

"Think we could've done with leaving the heat reflection option on these suits, Ni-ni," Sorcha puffed she stepped down from the pipe and onto the geometrically patterned floor. The movement of the lava was somewhat hypnotic, she thought as she observed the channels opening and closing.

"It's still working after all this time," Nia cried. "What machinery can do that?"

"Theirs can," Sorcha replied. The heat was making it hard to talk.

Nia looked about. "Do you think this has anything to do with the stone? The stone upstairs, that I said retains heat?"

"Geothermal power," Sorcha murmured, her mind beginning to put things together.

"It's incredible," Jillian said, clearly having been eavesdropping. She studied the auto-mapper. "Energy levels are very high. Think we're nearly there."

The lava chamber led through to another such area; this time, the lava was being fed through a series of hanging ducts suspended by golden chains. It was even hotter in here; Sorcha hoped that the next area was cooler, otherwise going any further would be impossible if everyone wanted to breathe.

"If I'd known it'd be like this," Nia panted, her tongue lolling and whiskers drooping, "I'd not have bothered with the heating."

"Feel like I'm gonna melt," Boland breathed heavily.

Sorcha was about to offer her opinions when something massive and golden rose in her vision, emerging from the heat haze like the bearer of a new dawn. From between two suspended lava channels, a benevolent lupine face gazed down at her with sparkling eyes, and two huge paws reached out to offer salvation. Elegant robes trailed to the floor of this fiery place, and a bushy tail curled around them.

Sorcha was unable to speak.

"Woah," Nia exclaimed. "Look at the size of that statue!"

Sorcha bared her teeth. The dream – it had all been real.

Amaterasu.

"Lawks-a-mercy!" Jillian squawked. "What do I have to do to get me a statue like that?"

Sorcha felt like sobbing. At least before, she could have discounted the dream as just that, but no. Clearly it had been a visitation with the goddess she loved.

Had loved.

"Look at the tail!" Nia said excitedly. "Think this is what the aliens looked like, Sor?"

Sorcha mumbled wordlessly, trying to reconcile everything. "Uh... I don't know." It was all real. Her life had been dominated by darkness, by darkness seeded in her. Seeded in her by the one force she had prayed to countless times. It all went round and round in her foxy little head until she couldn't stand properly. She fought not to throw up those lousy waffles.

"O'Riordan, you okay?" Jillian was asking her.

Sorcha growled. If it was all true, then that meant that the Dark Sun was rising, and whatever was causing it was nearby. "I'm fine," she said, feeling the steel entering her voice and body. She regained equilibrium. "We need to keep moving."

"Hey, I'm supposed to say that," Jillian replied, smiling toothily.

Sorcha snarled. "Now."

"Okay, O'Riordan," Jillian said wearily. "Nice to see some enthusiasm." She re-consulted the auto-mapper and strode onward. "It's close."

Past the colossus of Amaterasu, the air was indeed much cooler, to Sorcha's relief.

Or maybe that was just the chill down her spine.

***

The great lava chambers gave way to a much smaller space; the team went through a curving doorway into a still fairly large room. This one was hemispherical, with a dome-like roof and, to Sorcha's confusion, a series of massive disks, hanging from the ceiling by more of those golden chains. The chains disappeared into the ceiling, and in the centre of the room was what looked like a mad crash between an orrery and an armillary sphere. A large circular window was set into the ceiling near the strange contraption, admitting some of the dim daylight from outside.

"Whatever this is, it's not producing the energy," Jillian mused. "Nice, though."

Passing that, the team moved through another hemispherical doorway into a wide tunnel lit by shimmering panels and what little light was filtering in from shafts in the ceiling. As a result, it was rather gloomy. Sorcha had to rely on her own sense of night vision as the tunnel sloped downward.

"We're getting hot," Jillian said as she studied her screen. "Hotter. Boiling. Scalding!"

Sorcha could hear the auto-mapper bleeping wildly as the tunnel ended in a massive door etched with an intricate pattern that Sorcha couldn't decode. The chill in her spine went full ice-pop as the door suddenly began to grind open.

"It's in here," Jillian cried.

The door retracted into the ceiling, disappearing from sight, and the chamber beyond beckoned. Sorcha whimpered. This was the chamber of darkness, the chamber from which the Dark Sun would come into existence, and she felt fear claw at her. She could hear it cackling, mocking her. Tiny little Fox, it whispered to her. Come in, tiny Fox. Come in and make yourself at home. Sorcha yelped as it tugged at her mind. "No."

"No what, O'Riordan?" Jillian asked.

Sorcha braced herself and stepped over the lintel. "I'm coming," she snarled.

The air felt damp and cloying inside the chamber. Sorcha kept her eyes down as she walked inside, not daring to look up. She knew if she did, what she saw would make her scream forever.

Her head suddenly jerked upward, as if wrenched at by an unseen string. "Hey! No! Noooooo!" she wailed. "You can't make me look!"

Her panic died down as she looked straight ahead – and saw nothing but a smallish hemispherical space, with nothing in it but a small, unassuming pedestal. On that pedestal was an orb. It was dark and metallic; Sorcha remembered seeing something similar in a homewares shop back on Summerkin. This was the power source?"

"Holy baloney!" Jillian said, coming up behind Sorcha and pointing the auto-mapper at the orb. "This is it, alright." She trailed off as she obviously caught sight of the orb. "Oh, come on! That's it? We can't blow this up."

Sorcha eyes went to the large window in the ceiling. Like the armillary room, she thought. Through this window, she could see the nebula floating far above this world, still coursing with that strange energy.

The energy from this orb.

Sorcha looked back to the orb. It was humming. Humming and vibrating. The low whine began to fill the room, and the orb began to melt. Black liquid seeped from the collapsing shell, running down the sides of the pedestal, and a terrible howl brought Sorcha's eyes back to the window. Out in space, the nebula was changing. The energy was tearing into the glittering cloud, massive dark patches spreading and consuming the light inside.

"The Dark Sun," Sorcha sobbed.

"The dark what?" Nia blurted.

The darkness had swallowed the nebula now, and it was becoming a sphere. Then came the howl again, but this time it invaded Sorcha's ears with brutality. She gasped as the Dark Sun itself seemed to be screaming at her, at everyone, screaming its superiority over the Light. It pulsed and writhed, and reached for her, flooding into her eyes.

"No!" Sorcha screamed, scrunching her eyelids shut and turning away from it. "No! You can't!"

She managed to get her eyes open. Jillian and the others were panicking. "Don't look at it!" Sorcha yelled. "It'll take you! Don't look at it! Look away! Look away!"

"Sor...?"

Sorcha looked over to Nia. The little Arctic Fox was staring directly up at the Dark Sun. Her eyes were wide, and as Sorcha looked for that cobalt gleam, she found nothing of it. Nia's eyes were completely black, her expression slack.

"Ni-ni!" Sorcha shouted. "Nia! Look away! Look away from it! Nia! Nia, no!"

"Sor...?" Nia burbled. She turned her glassy black eyes on Sorcha. Her mouth stretched in an impossibly wide smile. "Little forest creature. How tiny you are."

That wasn't Nia's voice. Sorcha whined.

"Sorcha O'Riordan," the silky, deep voice said. "You should be honoured. You are the first to address me. I am the Dark Sun, and I come to bring the shadow of truth to your universe." Nia turned from the window and marched toward Sorcha. "But I offer you the chance to join me. Turn your back on the Light and embrace the darkness. Your darkness."

"No!" Sorcha barked, feeling her resolve slip away. Her anger at Amaterasu began to cloud her mind. "No, I won't."

The Dark Sun made Nia's smile even wider. Her eyes grew larger, becoming black holes that threatened to pull Sorcha in. "Let me persuade you."

Nia's eyelids scrunched shut, and then they opened to unleash a swirling fog that engulfed Sorcha, much like the Dark Sun had done with the nebula. Sorcha gasped as she began to lose consciousness, and then she was gone.