The moment we stepped through the portal, I released a spatial ripple without breaking stride, hiding all of us from what was coming.
The other side came into focus.
We were standing above a dead planet. It wasn't shattered, nor was it under some kind of apocalypse. It was just….exhausted.
Its surface was a dull gray-brown, scarred by ancient impacts and stripped of any atmosphere long ago. No clouds. No oceans. No tectonic movement. Just a lifeless sphere drifting through the void, slowly rotating, forgotten by stars and time alike.
Except it hadn't been forgotten.
The planet's surface had been deliberately reshaped.
A vast basin had been carved directly into the crust, as if a colossal hand had pressed inward and scooped the land away.
The depression spanned hundreds of kilometers, its edges smooth and unnaturally precise, layered with concentric terraces that descended toward the center.
