The ship hovered quietly above the third and final moon, its engines humming low as the team prepared for one last descent. Inside the cockpit, tension filled the air like static. No one was eager to open that door again.
The four streamers sat around the ship's central console, watching a playback Zane had queued up from earlier in their current stream—not last night, not an edit—just earlier, while he was spectating after dying.
They were still live. The Twitch chat was roaring.
[TwitchChat]
"What's he showing us?"
"Is this from earlier? During the factory run?"
"Something followed them???"
Zane leaned back in his seat, headset still on, voice calm but uneasy. "This is from about 20 minutes ago. When I died and was spectating Luna."
He hit play.
The footage showed Luna and Vexxie walking through a dark hallway, flashlights sweeping over rusty metal and broken pipes. They were talking casually, unaware of what loomed in the shadows behind them.
Zane slowed the playback.
"There. Behind Luna. Look."
The brightness adjusted, and that's when they saw it.
Two faint, glowing white eyes.
Floating in the black—just a foot behind Luna.
[TwitchChat]
"NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE."
"WHAT IS THAT??"
"It's been there the whole time?!"
"Bro… it's so CLOSE."
"WHO MADE THIS GAME??? This is next-level."
Luna's eyes widened in disbelief. "That thing was right behind me?!"
Zane nodded. "For six full minutes."
Step by step, hallway after hallway, the figure followed—never rushing, never stopping, never falling behind.
"It's like it was just waiting…" Vexxie whispered.
[TwitchChat]
"That is horrifying."
"Why didn't it attack?"
"It wanted the perfect moment."
"The patience makes it worse."
"Game of the year. This dev is evil genius."
Brogan leaned forward, silent for once, just staring.
"No noise. No footsteps. Just those glowing eyes."
Then the kill replayed: Luna stopped briefly, maybe a hiccup in her step, and the figure lunged. Neck snapped. Body dragged into darkness.
[TwitchChat]
"NOOOOO LUNA 😭"
"It waited that long??"
"This AI is terrifying."
"I'm literally downloading the game right now."
"I can't even lie, this is insane."
Zane paused the video and looked at Luna.
She looked shaken. "I thought I heard something once… but it was so faint."
Vexxie muttered, "I feel sick. That thing was just breathing down our necks."
Brogan said it straight: "That's the scariest thing I've ever seen in a game. And I've played everything."
[TwitchChat]
"I thought this was some indie meme game??"
"Nah this is art disguised as terror."
"This dev is cooking 100%."
A loud beep from the ship's panel interrupted the conversation.
MISSION: Final Moon Selected. Nightfall begins in 2 minutes.
Zane stood up. "Alright. We've got one more moon."
He stepped over to the control panel but paused before pulling the landing lever.
"Also," he said, glancing back, "when I picked this planet in the terminal, it had a little tag next to it."
Everyone looked at him.
"What kind of tag?" Luna asked.
Zane squinted at the monitor. "It said... 'Eclipsed.' Like—'Status: Eclipsed.'"
The group fell silent.
[TwitchChat]
"Eclipsed?"
"What does that mean?"
"Is that special or cursed???"
"Bro what if it's like... super dark."
"Does that mean this planet is different?" Vexxie asked, uneasily. "Like a rare spawn or something?"
Zane shrugged. "I don't know. But we're about to find out."
He pulled the lever.
The ship shuddered as the descent began. The lights inside flickered once. The hull vibrated, creaking slightly as it entered the thin atmosphere of the eclipsed moon. Outside the front viewport, a reddish-black gloom swallowed the landscape.
Dust kicked up as the landing gear deployed and the ship settled with a metallic thunk on the barren surface.
[TwitchChat]
"I have a bad feeling."
"Eclipsed moon = harder difficulty?"
"LET'S GOOOO FINAL MOON RUN!"
"This stream is GOATed fr."
The console chimed.
Status: Landed. You may now exit the ship.
A single green light above the door lit up.
Zane approached the panel next to the exit and hovered his hand over the open button.
"We stick together," he said. "Get scrap. Get back. No heroes."
Everyone nodded.
Vexxie whispered, "No glowing eyes. Please."
Zane pushed the button.
With a hiss, the ship door opened.
Outside, the air was thick and shadowed under a permanent eclipse. The final moon stood still and silent, waiting to be explored.
And possibly survived.