Light returned—slowly, like a sunrise in reverse. The Eventide Pod drifted through a sky that was neither black nor bright, but a shimmer of impossible colors, bending at strange angles. The laws of physics, of gravity and space and time, had twisted into something else. Something ancient.
Trần Hoàng Nam blinked. His body felt weightless, yet grounded by an invisible force. Next to him, Ái Lan stared through the pod's translucent canopy, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"What… is this place?" she whispered.
Around them stretched a vast plane of obsidian glass, reflecting countless stars—except the stars moved, rearranging into symbols, glyphs, fragments of language. The pod slowly descended until it touched the surface, and a low hum filled the air.
Suddenly, a structure emerged from the horizon. Towering, fluid, as if sculpted from thought itself. A gateway—unmistakably artificial, yet indescribably alien.
Nam and Lan stepped out, feet touching the smooth surface without a sound. Their suits adapted instantly, guided by the Eventide Core's quantum protocols. The voice returned—not heard, but felt in the bones.
"You have crossed the threshold. But memory is the price."
Lan clutched her head. "Something's… pulling at my mind."
Nam steadied her. "Stay with me. Whatever it is, we're not alone."
From the shadows of the gate, figures emerged—tall, robed in shifting matter, faces hidden behind masks of light. They moved without motion, vibrating with presence rather than form. One stepped forward and raised its hand.
Images poured into Nam's consciousness: planets consumed by darkness; stars rewritten like code; a species born not of flesh but of energy. They were the Aethryn—the first to harness Dark Matter, the first to fall because of it.
"We are remnants," the being spoke. "You followed the signal. So did others. But few pass through the Veil."
Nam's voice was hoarse. "Why send the signal at all?"
"Because your kind will awaken the Void if unprepared. You stand at the edge of a decision that will echo across galaxies."
Lan stepped forward. "What decision?"
The Aethryn pointed skyward. The stars above them shifted, revealing an armada—ships with Dominion insignias, more arriving by the second. The warning was clear.
"Power awakens hunger. Others come not to learn, but to conquer."
Suddenly, alarms from the Eventide Pod flared.
INCOMING ANOMALY — MASS DISTORTION DETECTED.
Nam's heart froze. "They followed us."
A surge of energy blasted across the sky. The veil began to fracture. The Aethryn turned, their forms trembling.
"Choose, Trần Hoàng Nam. Take what you have seen… or take what we are."
A pedestal rose between them, upon it two shards: one glowing white, one pulsing with shadows.
Lan looked at Nam. "Whatever you pick… it'll change everything."
Nam stepped forward. And the galaxy held its breath.