A sun core, also called a solar core, is a dense orb of sunlight found inside Kaelion’s body. Thalena removed his core for study, while an identical orb remains where Xoh’Tenol’s heart would be. The two objects are distinct from Kaelion’s Malverand heart.
Form and power
The extracted core radiates yellow and orange light, with occasional pulses of bright red. A single ray illuminated parts of Chronasis at night, and opening its metal storage box flooded the surrounding void with light. It can be held in the hands and carried in the closed box.
The core gives off immense energy with little essence to sense. Thalena’s stasis held Kaelion still during surgery but could not freeze the object within him. Imperial scanners struggled to examine it, and its glow swallowed the light from one of their larger scanning devices. Its presence did not immediately damage the nearby consoles.
Kaelion can influence the direction of the detached core’s light. He also learned to draw out the power within Xoh’Tenol, making sunlight stream from her skin. When Thalena opened the box during that display, his extracted core showed no corresponding reaction. She suspected the light was affecting the two sun mages’ minds and warned them to be careful.
Discovery and removal
After Kaelion touched one of the obelisks in Novaris, he and Xoh’Tenol experienced shared visions of a strange shore beneath a dark yellow sun. The figures there had blue-gray skin and hair like tendrils. The experience ended with both sun mages waking injured and shining brightly.
Thalena and Nethira sensed something within them. In Chronasis, Jin cut into Kaelion’s chest while Thalena held him in stasis. His Malverand heart kept trying to heal the incision. Thalena pulled the glowing orb free, and the wound sealed within seconds.
An examination of Xoh’Tenol revealed an identical orb in place of a normal heart. When she had taken human form, she had tried to copy Kaelion, with Hrzai helping her shape a female body. Thalena concluded that removing this core would kill her, so they healed the incision and left it inside.
Investigation
Thalena took Kaelion’s core to Maraveth for Eamon, Amos and Isandro to examine. They reviewed Mike’s recording of the Novaris incident. Thalena identified a brief displacement before Kaelion’s own blink and suggested he had been taken elsewhere and returned with the core inside him. How much time had passed during that displacement remained uncertain.
Isandro thought the core explained Kaelion’s enormous sun spear during the defense of Proxion. Eamon suggested that the object might be both alive and technological, perhaps designed to replace an actual sun. He also considered whether absorbing matter could make it grow into a larger star. He did not know how to activate such a function, if it existed, and his explanation remained a hypothesis.
Thalena brought the core back. She and Eira agreed to keep it with Kaelion for the time being, since he could affect its light, with further imperial study planned for a later journey.
Thalena’s account
In Thalena’s Shores of Eternity, Kaelion and Xoh’Tenol draw out far more of the cores’ power while defending the other Valrindor. Xoh’Tenol shines like a miniature sun, forcing the fleet to withdraw and raise its shields.
After Kaelion’s death, Xoh’Tenol protects his detached sun core and Malverand heart. Both solar cores are later recovered: hers remains dormant within her intact body, while his brightens again after returning to Thalena’s Valrindor. Thalena revives Xoh’Tenol by feeding essence into her body.
With Nahm’s help, Xoh’Tenol unlocks her core’s greater power. Thalena removes that core and places it above the northern pole. Xoh’Tenol dissolves into essence shortly afterward. Lothar uses Kaelion’s core at the south, and their light expands into two halves of a veil that enclose the planet. The energy is finite; Thalena hopes it will last until a new sun can sustain the world.