On a planet very, very far away…

“Commander Kato, the singularity detected by Alset’s radar should be beyond that ridge.
About one kilometer out.”

Kato nodded.
“Move.”

The four warriors ran across the blackened rocks.

Ritosh was uneasy.
If a singularity was that close, they should have already encountered the Gozhul.
But there was nothing around them.

Only wind.
And silence.

That planet was lost in galaxy Z3.
Quadrant W101.
Sector U98.

The nothingness of the universe.

A vast expanse wrapped in black gases,
with a sky boiling like a poisonous sea.

Yenke shuddered.
“I’ve never heard of a singularity this far from Castore.
This place makes my blood run cold.”

“Shouldn’t we be seeing the Gozhul already?” Nitra asked.

“Maybe,” Kato replied.
“But if the Tower marked this location, we verify it. Quickly.
Then we go home.”

Beyond the ridge, the ruins appeared.

A petrified village.
Collapsed roofs.
Crumbling walls.
Dark shrubs growing from the cracks in the stone.

“Who the hell could have lived here?” Yenke muttered.

“Wrong question,” Ritosh replied.
“The real question is: what lived here.”

Kato raised a hand.
“Position.”

Nitra checked the radar.
“The signal is here. Among these ruins.”

Kato narrowed his eyes.
“Impossible. There’s nothing.
Who logged the coordinates?”

“I did,” Yenke said.
“I checked them three times.
They’re correct.”

Kato inhaled.
“Fine. Quick sweep. If we find nothing, we report a sensor error.
Stay within voice range.”

They split up.

Nitra moved between the destroyed houses.

Then she saw it.

A block of black rock.

Cubic.

As large as a small building.

Inside it, a small chamber carved into the mineral.
Wide enough for two people.

She hesitated.
Then stepped in.

The curved walls were covered in engravings.
Unknown symbols.

A chill ran down her spine.

A slight dizziness.

She closed her eyes.

Opened them.

A greenish glow pulsed at the back of the cavity.

It hadn’t been there before…
or maybe I didn’t see it?

She squinted.

The light came from a small stone embedded in the wall.

The dizziness worsened.

A metallic sound began vibrating in her head.
Like tiny bells.
She shook her head.

Useless.

The sound grew louder.
Closer.
As if it were inside her teeth.

Then the whispers came.
The engravings lit up with a pale green glow.

The voices grew.
Became a guttural choir.

Alien.
Incomprehensible.

Nitra’s eyes widened.
Her mind gave way.
A flood of horrific images overwhelmed her.

Things no being in this universe should ever conceive.
A freezing sensation climbed her spine.

She tried to scream.

No sound.

She grabbed her throat.
Tried again.

A scream tore through the dead city.

Yenke was moving among the ruins, wondering what kind of beings could have lived there.
How could the radar detect a singularity that wasn’t there?

Then the scream.
Not human.
Pure terror.

“Nitra?”

He wasn’t sure.
But he started running.

He crossed black alleys.
Five.
Six.

Then he saw it.

The black stone cube.

Nitra was there.

Hands clenched at her throat.
Body wracked by convulsions.

Broken sounds came from her mouth.
Inhuman.

“Nitra!”

He grabbed her shoulders.

“Talk to me!”

She looked at him.
But she wasn’t seeing him.
She was staring beyond.
Into infinite darkness.

She began murmuring meaningless words.
A language that froze his blood.

Then her eyes rolled back.
Whitish foam on her lips.

Yenke laid her down, turned her onto her side.

“Squad leader!
Help!
Warrior down!”

Kato and Ritosh arrived at a run, weapons drawn.

“What the hell happened?!” Kato demanded.

“I don’t know!” Yenke gasped.
“She was in a trance.
She spoke a language that doesn’t belong to this universe!”

Kato clenched his jaw.
“Yenke, take Nitra on your shoulders.
We leave immediately.
Ritosh, prepare synchronization.”

They ran through the ruins.
They were almost at the edge of the ghost village.
The black stone archway rose before them.

“Squad leader, beginning the....”
Ritosh froze.

Kato wasn’t there.

“Commander?”
He touched his bracelet.

Silence.

“Damn it… where did he go?”

Yenke ground his teeth.

“Stay with Nitra. I’m going to find him.
If I’m not back in five minutes, synchronize.
Take her back to the Tower.”

He disappeared into the black ruins.

Ritosh was left alone.
He stared at the dark stone arch.
The sky seemed to breathe.

The silence was deafening.

Two minutes.
Three.
Four.

He checked the time.

Six.

“That’s it… I’m synchronizing and...”

Footsteps.

He turned.

Yenke and Kato emerged from two different streets.

At the same time.

They stopped.

They stared at each other.

“What are you doing here?” Kato asked.
“I told you to prepare for synchronization!”

“You disappeared!” Yenke snapped.
“I was looking for you!”

Kato clenched his jaw.
“We’re leaving.
Now.”

No one objected.

The bracelets lit up.

Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.

A flash of light.

And the world vanished.