An Expedition Team Starting a Journey in Space.

  The projection shifted again, casting a haunting image.

  A starship hovered in orbit around a distant planet; its surface scorched yet encircled by crimson rings that shimmered like an unholy crown, ominous and unyielding.

  The crew’s voices echoed faintly within the memory, distorted yet carrying a palpable tension, as though the starship itself strained against the forces it encountered.

  "We can’t push through," one said, their frustration biting through the static.

  "The barrier... it’s alive?" another murmured; disbelief dripped from their tone, a fragile hope crumbling under uncertainty.

  "How can there even be a barrier in the middle of nowhere? And what planet is this?"

  "Calm down, Ridge. You know we’re in uncharted space," came an elderly, measured voice; its calmness a tenuous anchor amidst the rising panic of the crew.

  "But, Professor... this barrier defies logic. Even our advanced ship can’t breach it!"

  Ridge’s impatience crackled like an exposed wire; the tension grew palpable, stretching thin across their fragile connection to reason.

  "There are mysteries beyond even the grasp of synthetic intelligence," the Professor replied, his tone laced with wisdom.

  "Intelligence is but limited to the boundaries of the knowledge we possess."

  The words soothed Ridge into reluctant acceptance; his defiance subdued, though not extinguished.

  "Let’s try analyzing the barrier’s runes again," the Professor continued, his voice steadied with conviction. His gaze fell to the cryptic patterns on their scanners, etched with symbols that resisted interpretation.

  "If we fail, we’ll retreat and report this. It could be the greatest discovery of the decade."

  Ridge sighed, his voice resigned yet colored with lingering frustration. "As you wish, Professor.”

  “We’re running low on resources, Ridge. We can’t linger much longer." Another member of the crew bellowed.

  *****

  The memory blurred, skipping ahead; the ship was in retreat, engines flaring as it fled.

  Their defeat echoed within the metal walls of the vessel, silent and enduring as the crimson rings dimmed, fading into the surrounding void.

  The mysterious planet was swallowed by darkness, its secrets hidden away once more. Abruptly, the projection ended, leaving a lingering sense of unease.

  The image hung in the silence; a testament to the unknown forces that twisted the rules of exploration, daring the bold to unravel truths beyond comprehension.

  Kael’s chest constricted as if something reached into his very core; an unseen force coiled around his soul, tightening with relentless grip.

  He staggered backward, breath hitching; each inhale felt strained, as though the air itself resisted him. The patterns etched into the planet’s surface weren’t random; they shimmered with an unnatural cadence, calling to him like a muted cry for help, written in an unknown, haunting language.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Yet Kael understood it.

  Somehow, he’d seen them before; in fragments buried within the shadows of nightmares he had long ago banished.

  As he turned to leave, intending to banish the visions, a flash consumed his mind; a piercing cascade of light exploded behind his eyes, shattering his perception of reality.

  Reality dissolved.

  His vision dimmed, fading into a monochrome haze as his senses betrayed him; the world melted into ambiguity, leaving Kael stranded in a void between presence and memory.

  The planet emerged again, vivid and foreboding; its jagged contours blazed with unyielding clarity, only to vanish moments later.

  In its place stood a temple, stark against a lifeless ground; its silhouette etched with eerie familiarity, both alien and intimate, as though warped by the currents of time itself.

  Kael’s hand instinctively clutched his chest; pain blossomed within him, sharp and unrelenting, echoing the grief of something irreparably lost.

  The temple’s runic arrays blazed in radiant glory; their rhythmic shifts hummed with unspoken urgency, a language of preservation holding at bay something unimaginable.

  A lush, unending field of green surrounded the structure; its serenity betrayed the lurking chaos just beneath its surface.

  Then came the fracture.

  A single, jagged crack split the bright expanse of the sky; its descent as sudden and violent as the strike of lightning across an endless horizon.

  Kael watched as the temple reacted; its symbols ignited with desperation, blazing brighter and faster, pulsing as they sought to repair the fissure. Yet the crack deepened, spreading like veins across shattered glass; a silent, mocking reminder of inevitability.

  The runes burned brighter, siphoning energy from the surroundings in a desperate bid to mend the breach.

  The lush meadows shriveled into barren wastelands; vibrant hues replaced by desolation as life sacrificed itself in futile resistance.

  It was as if nature itself rallied as an army, mustering strength before an undefeatable foe; but even its defiance began to crumble under the growing darkness.

  The breach grew wider. The air trembled as a colossal hand emerged; its jagged talons dragged through the temple’s defenses, raking against them with a sound like a thousand screams.

  The temple fought valiantly; it unleashed a final, desperate sonic burst, reverberating across dimensions; a cry for salvation that transcended time and space, carrying the weight of its last hope.

  Kael’s vision blurred with searing pain; his thoughts fragmented under the weight of the incomprehensible, each memory slicing through him like shards of broken glass.

  The hand tore through the barrier with ease, its vastness eclipsing the remnants of the temple; its presence loomed, consuming everything within reach.

  But just as it seemed poised to destroy, it paused; the unseen presence behind it hesitated, its intentions unclear, as though deliberating the fate of what it had revealed.

  It withdrew, retreating into the void with eerie deliberation.

  Darkness poured from the breach, thick and ravenous; it churned like an endless storm, devouring the expanse with insatiable hunger.

  Kael fell to his knees, clutching his head as memories from eight years ago resurfaced with relentless force; each fragment burned into him, a flood that surged past the fragile barriers of his mind.

  It wasn’t a vision anymore; it was a reckoning, a cascade of truths he couldn’t escape.

  He gasped for air, trembling as echoes of the storm’s hunger reverberated in his ears; each sound amplified the void growing within him.

  The temple’s defenses wouldn’t hold forever; its secrets, whatever they guarded, would soon be laid bare.

  Kael couldn’t comprehend the full magnitude, nor did he want to; the weight of what he’d seen pressed against him like a tomb closing around his thoughts.

  And then, it stopped.

  Kael staggered to his feet slowly, his breaths shallow and erratic; his legs trembled beneath the weight of his disoriented thoughts, his body felt like it barely belonged to him anymore.

  He has to escape, leave the room behind; a primal instinct to flee overtook him, but each step felt heavier than the last.

  But as he turned toward the exit, a figure emerged from the shadows, blocking his path; their presence silent but commanding, a shadow laced with authority and menace.

  A voice, heavy and deliberate, shattered the silence:

  "You are not supposed to be here."

  *****