Warning lights blinked intermittently, bathing the Astraea-7 in flashes of red, accompanied by a constant emergency siren; the groaning of twisted metal echoed in the background like a leviathan roaring through space. The systems fluctuated wildly, hurling the crew from one side to the other. They fought to stay in control, suppressing explosions across different sections of the ship, but the sparks and smoke seemed endless. Collapse was imminent, and all they could do was keep trying.
In the main cockpit, Captain Arnold coordinated emergency protocols like a conductor in a symphony of the world's end. Kael, head of the combat unit, tensed every muscle in his body to engage the manual controls—digital systems had already failed. Elara found no logic in any of it: the data, the way the planet was pulling them in, the gravity's intensity... none of it was normal. It pulsed, like it was breathing. But this mission wasn't normal. From the very beginning, it had been doomed.
As the crew struggled to regain control, Haruto remained still. The chaos raged around him, but his mind drifted elsewhere. Through the window, his gaze was locked on the vast darkness of the rogue planet. A shiver ran down his spine. Something about that lightless abyss stirred him in a way he couldn't explain. It wasn't fear or awe, but a strange sensation of recognition, as if that world without light was somehow familiar. He couldn't look away. A voice—deep, distant, like an echo inside his skull—called to him...
The full chapter will be available on June 1, 2025
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