Ellara secured the final magnetic clasp on her pressure suit. Her helmet visor reflected the dark silhouette of *Night Falcon*, the reconnaissance craft docked beneath *The Nameless*. Sleek and built for extreme conditions, its fuselage was coated in **photon water** harvested from Mirror Lake Planet — a compound capable of maintaining stability under Blackstone Planet's searing heat for up to twelve hours. "Pressure seal confirmed. Life support systems synchronized," came Saint Dove Core's voice through the bone-conduction earpiece. "Reminder: surface gravity is 1.8 standard units. Move carefully." The moment the bay door opened, the air was thick with sulfur, hot even through her suit's insulation. Ellara pulled back on the control stick — and *Night Falcon* shot like an arrow into the crimson sky of Blackstone Planet. Outside the viewport, rust-colored clouds churned with volcanic ash. Lightning occasionally split the sky, illuminating the rivers of magma below in brief, violent flashes. As she descended, the terrain sharpened into view. Solidified basalt towers rose like black blades thrust into the earth by some forgotten titan. Rivers of molten rock wound between them, their surfaces hardened into cracked shells — yet glowing red-orange fissures betrayed the deadly heat beneath. Thermal scans showed temperatures exceeding **1200°C**, enough to melt standard alloys within thirty seconds. "Quantum resonance signature detected," Saint Dove Core suddenly interrupted, marking a canyon three kilometers northwest. "However, multiple thermal signatures indicate active biological presence in the area." *Night Falcon* skimmed over a bubbling sulfur lake when a massive bubble erupted from its center. A hulking shape briefly surfaced beneath the lava — armored plates glinting as they scraped against molten rock, emitting an eerie metallic screech. Ellara sharply climbed altitude, catching sight of five red contacts closing in from different directions on radar. "It's a pack of fire lizards." She pulled up data from the onboard database. These pack hunters usually fed on juvenile lava worms — but under extreme conditions, they would attack anything that moved. The forward camera caught one leaping onto a nearby basalt spire — a six-limbed reptilian predator, each about the size of a ground vehicle, its scales capable of bending infrared light for optical camouflage. The first lizard lunged from a hundred-meter-high cliff. Ellara yanked the controls hard. *Night Falcon* dove in an almost vertical descent — the creature's claws grazing the wing, leaving three smoking gashes across the photon-water coating. The remaining four surged from the sides, one unleashing a high-pressure steam jet that sent external temperatures skyrocketing toward critical levels. **"Deploy cryo-grenades."** Ellara disengaged the weapon safeties. The fighter's wings released two rows of silver canisters. Compressed liquid nitrogen exploded upon impact, sending shockwaves of sub-zero frost through the superheated air. The sudden temperature shift caused two lizards' armor to crack from thermal stress. The rest retreated into the magma rivers, vanishing like ghosts. Through the lingering vapor, the canyon finally revealed itself. Its walls were riddled with honeycomb-like cavities, each cradling grape-sized blackstone cores that pulsed with eerie violet light under the searchlights. But what truly stunned her lay at the center — a spiral staircase carved from cooled magma, descending deep underground. Its steps bore unnatural geometric patterns… clearly not the work of nature. "Detection of artificial structures," Saint Dove Core reported. "Metallic composition matches Kuki Industries outer plating at 89% probability." Ellara hovered *Night Falcon* at the entrance, gloved fingers tracing the markings. A vibration traveled up her arm — and realization struck. These weren't carvings. They were **scars** — imprints left behind by a long-lost machine fused with the stone under extreme heat. When her boot touched the first step, the entire spiral stairway flickered to life — faint blue light crawling along its edges like ancient circuitry reawakening after millennia. The blackstone cores embedded in the walls began flashing in sequence, projecting a holographic star map into the air. It was hundreds of times more detailed than any known chart, revealing dozens of previously unrecorded Corridor nodes. One location stood out — marked with a pulsing red signal. Beside it, a symbol burned brightly: **The same encrypted insignia etched into Saint Dove Core's core chip.** "This is impossible…" For the first time, Saint Dove Core's voice wavered. "That coordinate corresponds to the far end of the Milky Way's third spiral arm. According to all astronomical records… there should be nothing there." Before Ellara could respond, the entire canyon trembled violently. The proximity alarm shrieked — radar had picked up a massive object rising from beneath the surface. She turned toward the depths of the spiral staircase. Through the rising waves of molten rock, something metal was emerging. Angular and unmistakable in form… It was the wreck of a **Phantom-class cruiser**, encased in magma — a ghost ship buried beneath the planet's skin.
