The Vera Dawn glided silently through the mist, its battered hull creaking with every slow turn.
Kaelen kept one eye on the beacon blinking weakly on his screen and the other on the shifting shapes outside. The mist thickened around him, painting everything in a ghostly blue. It was like flying through a dream — or a nightmare.
Minutes stretched into hours. Or at least, that's how it felt.
Time itself seemed strange here, slippery and slow.
The ship's sensors picked up something ahead — a large structure, floating in the fog like an island in a storm. As Kaelen drifted closer, its outline sharpened.
It was a space station.
Or what was left of one.
Massive and broken, the station spun lazily in the mist. Gaping holes were torn into its sides, and long bridges and docking arms hung twisted like the bones of some giant creature.
Kaelen stared in awe.
He had heard legends of old stations lost beyond the known systems, but this... this looked ancient. Forgotten.
The beacon signal pulsed faster now, leading him straight toward one of the docking bays — or what remained of it.
"I must be crazy," Kaelen muttered, maneuvering the ship forward.
He latched onto the broken bay with a magnetic lock, the hull of the Vera Dawn groaning in protest. The systems flickered again, but held.
Kaelen suited up quickly, securing his helmet and locking the oxygen seals. His hands trembled slightly as he grabbed his plasma cutter and clipped a small beacon to his belt.
"Just a quick look," he told himself. "Find the source. Get back."
The airlock hissed as it opened.
A wall of blue mist poured inside, swirling around his boots.
Kaelen stepped out into the ruined station, the metal beneath his feet vibrating softly, like the heartbeat of a sleeping giant.
The interior was eerily silent. Dark corridors stretched out before him, wires dangling like vines, panels torn loose by forces he couldn't imagine.
The beacon on his belt flashed urgently.
This way.
He followed, deeper into the heart of the station.
Lights flickered in the distance — not from the station itself, but from something beyond. Something alive.
A low hum filled the air, growing stronger with each step.
Kaelen's breath caught as he turned a final corner and entered a wide, open chamber.
At its center hovered a device — a smooth, black sphere, hovering above a shattered pedestal. Blue energy pulsed from it, filling the room with soft light.
The Rift's heart.
Kaelen approached slowly, mesmerized.
As he reached out a hand, the sphere flared to life, and a voice echoed in his mind:
"You have crossed the boundary. You are chosen."
Kaelen staggered back, heart pounding.
"What... what are you?" he gasped.
The sphere pulsed once more, and the world around him shifted — walls melting, stars bending, colors he had no words for spinning around him.
The Rift wasn't just a tear.
It was a doorway.
And now, it was opening.