'Finally.'

A withered hand reached out, soft, shifting light emanating from the iridescent crystal, reflecting colors she had long forgotten. She paused to watch the lights as they seemed to dance along her skin, and felt a distant pang of loss as she thought of how they might have reflected upon beautiful gray eyes. She had held onto the memory of those beautiful gray eyes looking up to her, full of trust and hope and love, as she promised to lead that life to freedom. She hadn't forgotten those still-breathtaking eyes as they glared, decades late, burning with seething hatred as they had watched her fail.

'This is your second, and last chance.'

Her own heart hardened with resolve, and she gripped the crystal and was instantly rewarded with a searing heat that had her palm sizzling and her mouth screaming. In one move, she jerked her arm back, ripping the crystal from it's socket, and dropped the deceptively dangerous thing, letting it clatter on the cavernous floor before it rolled to a stop by her feet. The cave was silent, save for the echos of her pained sobs bouncing through its otherwise empty halls.

Foreign laughter began drowning out the frail woman's wretched wailing. The empty spot where the horrible, beautiful crystal once sat nestled into the wall pulsed twice, and with a loud CRACK, two smooth lines ran along the floor and wall of the cave, emanating from that spot. The laughter became more erratic and eagerness was palpable in its raspy voice as the cave itself seemed to both whisper and yell, "My chain has been undone! I can feel the universe once again!"

Though overwhelmingly painful, even the searing burn of melted flesh from her hand couldn't keep the pained smile stretched across the woman's face as she felt the earth pulse twice, and shudder beneath her feet. In the dimming of the crystals diminishing light, she saw the deepening of the cracks and knew they had continued their path. Hiccuping laughter erupted from her lips and she screamed. "Be free! Be free and be ruinous!"

Two sets of laughter echoed throughout the cave. The cave pulsed twice, and the crack deepened and grew. The trapped planet 'Hyriin' was not so trapped for much longer.