"Wake up." Her voice was deep in his sleep, whispering in his brain, calling to him in an unnatural way. He peeled his eyes open quickly, his goggles over top, shielding his eyes from the sunlight that was bathing the inside of the ship. He didn't make a noise as he turned his head and took her features in, watching as she stared out at the vast world around them. Her long hair falling over her shoulders, recently cleaned. She had a few scars and bruises on her face and arms, but he didn't mind them. Her grin was small, the curve sending a warning to his insides as he grumbled and turned away from the figment of his imagination.

Riddick pushed himself up completely, his seat sliding forward at the notion of his awake, locking into place, straps sliding over his shoulders. On his other side, watching patiently, was someone entirely different. Elnora glanced at him for a moment before returning to the controls in front of them.

"We've arrived, but it looks like your dear old friend Vaako isn't too happy to see us."

Just in front of the ship, laying open in the atmosphere of space, all facing their direction, were battleships. The armada sat just behind them, sitting in the vast emptiness. The previous Lord Marshall's souls were screaming at the universe, their goal that had been passed on had suddenly come to a stop.

"Move forward. The docking station is on the other side."

"Are you fucking seeing what I'm seeing Richard?"

"I said, move forward."

Elnora ground her teeth but did as told. She kept her eyes on all the ships around them as Riddick chanced a glance behind him to see if the ghost was still there. Just the faint smell stuck in his imagination though.

The ships laid still as they sored past the vessels, grazing through their personal space. They didn't budge. Maybe they could sense in him the key element of the initiation, the previous rise of himself through their ranks. He didn't much care. If death was the end game, he would embrace it.

They reached the station with ease, sliding into the bay that housed more warships, and a few jumpers for other means. Elnora landed the ship easily in the bay, and Riddick wasted no time rising from his seat, and heading back as the hatch opened.

There was no welcoming committee, a silence so thick. He knew something was wrong the minute he passed the surveillance desk and found no soul manning the entrance to the sacred world. Carrying down the hall, aware of the detectors that were inactivated, Riddick moved through the place he had once called home. Not a soul in the surroundings, he ran his fingers over the surface, listening to his own heartbeat and the mutters of Elnora as she followed closely behind him. They took a flight of stairs up, coming to the viewing balcony, the vast throne sitting just below.

He could see the past in front of him, amongst the empty like a bad movie that kept getting repeated. He could see the pain and sorry, hear the screams as he fought for his life and lost so many around him. He could see the shadows of Jack, of Fiona...

"Why is it so empty?"

He didn't give her an answer, as he wasn't sure. Carrying on, keeping his eyes away from the throne, away from the splicing room, he moved towards the commander's quarters. He had spent much time here as the Lord Marshall, fighting for his own security after the fact, and that had brought him surprisingly close to Vakko. He wouldn't label it as family, but through the struggle of trying to survive, and trying to rule the armada, he had learned much about the man that let slip too many things.

"Where are we going?"

"To the gate of the underverse." He kept her behind him, not wanting to see her face as she marveled in the grand experience of his once hell. He knew she would enjoy this place, he knew she would want to set up place and stay. She had spoken so highly of the necromancer way when he had found her in that bar. Her words making them sound so... pleasant. He hadn't attempted to fix it, didn't want to get into the ideals of someone else. When he offered her the chance to see the darkness herself she climbed aboard with no issue, her bank account and clearance codes stuffed in her pocket. His old self would have been proud of him for finding a crazy military woman who would go that extra mile.

He wasn't that man anymore.

At the far corners of the armada, tucked away on the ground level he finally came to the hall that mattered most. Elnora's footsteps halted behind him as she stared on at the soul forcefield that remain intact. Riddick moved forward, sliding through the green haze with no issue, the system registering him as a ruler. It had been explained to him so long ago, that the king of the castle would never have issue entering into his own domain, it was just others that had to be invited. They had never prepared for a previous Lord to be alive before another took throne though, a small flaw in their ideals.

"Can I pass through?"

"No."

Elnora grunted, her gun still in her hands ready to go, her finger pressed lightly on the trigger. She gave him the worst of glares before turning her back to him and standing guard. The doors called to him, a small humming sound coming from in the bedroom of the King. He moved forward, each step making less noise as he pushed the hard metal door aside and stepped into the area that had once been his own. He stopped, matching eyes with hers, her smile there in front of him. She was in necromancer garb, her skin still full of color and life though, eyes not vacant. She twirled, that grin never leaving her face as she looked up at him for approval.

He could never look away. He assumed that if he put his attention somewhere else she would no longer be there, but he couldn't do that. This was the only attachment he had left to his soul, the beauty of Fiona holding onto him for eternity. As his mind registered his struggle her smile slipped away. She moved forward, closing the space on him. Her fingers reached out, but he would never feel them. She'd move as close as possible, but there would be no warmth. He wanted to smell her, taste her, devour her each passing moment of each day; but he couldn't.

"I see your imagination has gotten the best of you." Vakko's voice was nothing like the strong demanding melody that it once was. Riddick's eyes moved to the fireplace, finding the man sitting upright in a chair, eyes staring at the dead pit in the stone chalice.

"You've let things go." Riddick moved forward, sinking into the chair opposite the man. He wasn't in armor, his skin pale under the strange lighting. He didn't seem phased by the arrival of his past enemy. His eyes bounced from the fireplace to Riddick's to Fiona's, the ghost just behind them, out of reach.

"She's beautiful. The armada has a way of doing that... giving us false hope."

"You can see her?"

"I can see the visions the underverse gives you yes. Mine have long since left us, but you'd be able to see them if they were here."

Riddick surveyed the space, eyes moving over the structural shapes in the walls, the faces carved into metal screaming in agony. Their beauty was always lost on him, for some reason the necromancer's enjoyed the vision of souls being ripped from their homes.

"I know why you are here." Vakko looked up, eyes steadying on Riddick's face as the later finally halted his exploration. They stared at one another for a moment, revisiting shared memories in their minds like movies playing over and over. Each working on the strengths of the other, remembering previous fights and working them into the strategy of the future. Although a fight was not on the menu, as Vakko's body was giving up, his weakness apparent in the unsteady beat of his heart and shallow breathing. "I can hear your sacrifice outside, you didn't want to invite her into the party?"

"Irrelevant."

"What does she think about it?"

"She doesn't know."

"No Riddick, not her. Fiona. What does she think about you using another soul to reach some silly goal?" Truth being he had thought about that day in and day out. When he had been on council with Aereon, watching the beautiful woman he loved sleeping painfully just one room over, the thought had slivered in and clung to him. The air bitch had explained to him in great detail on what he needed to do, on what his true goal was. She reminded him of what he had been after since the beginning and explained to him all of these hiccups in the middle. He would never label Fiona as a mistake, but Aereon had no reservation when it came to it.

She needs you to go away. She has a destiny Riddick, and you need to die for that to come to fruition.

"I am dead to her. She will not know."

Vakko only chuckled, nodding his understanding as he glanced behind Riddick for a moment.

"Well. I guess it's time to show you the way to Furya then."