Somewhere deep in the Citadel, Thirteen waited. The time was growing close. She red the readouts on her HUD, checking the eigenvalues and performing the necessary mathematics in her head. Then she charged her horn, opening the rift.

The others appeared in the blue holograms. They looked like her, if only in that they wore the same armor- -but even without it, they would have been nearly identical. Nearly, although never the same.

They communicated, but none spoke. They did not need to. The others disprove, but understood the necessity. There would be no interference.

One of them raised her hoof, and the magic coalescence into an object. Thirteen forced it to manifest, and the syringe dropped into her grasp.

The others nodded, and were gone. The time had come. Sombra would rise.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was originally a temporary interlude designed to break up two "Penumbra being sensitive" scenes before I decided to use Gxurab's ascension chapter instead. I decided to include it anyway despite its size.