The warship’s gravity field begins to crush their ship. Metal bends and screams. Every system flickers red. The commander’s hologram snarls —

  > “Surrender her. Or I’ll scatter your atoms across the void.”

  But Auren doesn’t flinch. His voice is low, steady:

  > “You think you can decide who lives? You’re just a shadow hiding behind metal.”

  The commander raises a hand — the wormhole pulses, tearing space apart. Drones flood the ship. Queen’s fingers blur across the console, Nyra’s blades flash like lightning, and Zero detonates his plasma rounds down the corridors, each explosion shaking the vessel to its core.

  Lassie’s unconscious form glows brighter, her runes flaring in sync with the wormhole. The ship begins to disintegrate. Then—

  Auren stands. His eyes burn like dying suns. His voice trembles the air:

  > “Enough.”

  Energy roars out from him — the kind that doesn’t just break physics, it rewrites it. The drones freeze mid-flight, melting into dust. The wormhole itself flickers, spasms, then begins to collapse inward.

  Queen yells through static, “Auren, stop! You’ll tear yourself apart!”

  But Auren doesn’t listen. He walks toward the bridge window, his reflection fractured across the stars. He reaches out — his hand touches the glass, and in that instant, time halts.

  The crew watches as everything outside freezes: debris hanging motionless, the warship’s cannons half-fired, the collapsing wormhole suspended like a shattered mirror.

  Then, with a single motion, Auren clenches his fist.

  Space folds. The entire warship implodes in complete silence. Its light vanishes — erased, not destroyed. When time resumes, the stars are quiet again.

  The ship drifts free of the wormhole’s pull. Queen looks at the scanners — there’s nothing left. Not even dust.

  Zero whispers, “He… he just erased a fleet.”

  Auren’s knees hit the floor. Blood runs from his eyes, glowing faintly silver. He breathes hard, forcing himself upright. He looks toward Lassie’s med-bay, the runes on her skin dimming back into silence.

  > “No one touches her,” he says quietly. “No one.”

  For a long moment, the crew says nothing. Then Nyra steps forward, voice barely a whisper.

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  > “Captain… what are you?”

  Auren looks out at the endless dark, the reflection of dying stars glinting in his gaze.

  > “A mistake that the universe couldn’t erase,” he murmurs.

  The story spreads. By the next cycle, transmissions ripple through the void — “The man who stopped time and erased a fleet.”

  Auren’s legend begins

  The Echo of the First World

  Silence ruled the ship. It had been days since the wormhole battle. Lassie lay in the med-bay, her pulse faint but steady, her skin faintly marked by the glowing runes that no one could translate.

  Auren barely left her side. The rest of the crew drifted between exhaustion and disbelief, trying to piece together what had happened.

  Then Queen’s voice broke the quiet:

  > “Captain… there’s something you should see.”

  On the main deck, the holo-map flickered alive. A planet rotated slowly on the screen — barren, shrouded in golden dust, its core pulsing weakly like a dying heart.

  > “Scanners picked up an energy field similar to Lassie’s runes,” Queen explained. “Same resonance. Same origin.”

  Auren’s eyes narrowed.

  > “Set a course.”

  The ship descended through the haze, landing among ancient ruins half-buried in crimson sand. The structures were impossibly old, carved from obsidian and light itself. Strange statues lined the pathways — all depicting the same figure: a man with burning eyes and a blade that split the stars.

  Zero muttered, “No way. That’s—”

  > “—Auren,” Nyra finished softly. “They built these for you… long before you existed.”

  The air was heavy with whispers, like the planet itself was breathing memories. As they explored, Lassie stirred in her sleep — her body glowing brighter with each step Auren took deeper into the ruins.

  Finally, they reached a grand chamber. Symbols pulsed on the walls — the same runes etched on Lassie’s skin. As Auren approached, the walls came alive, forming words in light.

  > “THE FIRST WORLD… WHERE THE STARS WERE TAUGHT TO BURN.”

  Then Lassie’s eyes snapped open. The runes across her body flared, projecting beams of pure energy that carved new patterns in the air. Her voice was not her own — layered, ancient, almost divine.

  > “???? ?????… ????? ???? ?????.”

  Queen’s scanners overloaded instantly.

  > “I—I can’t translate it! The language isn’t in any database!”

  Auren stepped closer, reaching for Lassie’s trembling hand.

  > “Lassie… it’s me.”

  Her eyes met his — glowing with a cosmic sadness. Then, in a voice both hers and not hers, she whispered:

  > “You were never supposed to return here, Auren… They made you… from him.”

  The air crackled. The ruins began to collapse, dust swirling like a storm. A holographic figure emerged from the ground — a projection of an ancient being, its form flickering between light and shadow.

  > “At last, the echo walks again,” it said. “You carry what was once divine… and what was once ours.”

  Auren’s expression hardened.

  > “What are you?”

  > “I am the memory of the First World, where you were born — not as Auren, but as Auren the Erased. The architects sealed your origin, but Lassie’s awakening broke the first lock.”

  The ground quaked. The projection began to fade, but not before leaving a final message burned into the air:

  > “Find the Vault of the Fallen Suns… or the next seal will consume her.”

  The ruins collapsed around them. Auren carried Lassie as the crew rushed back to the ship. As they lifted off, the planet cracked apart — its light extinguished forever.

  Queen whispered, staring at the dying world below:

  > “That place knew his name before he was even born…”

  Auren stood at the viewport, holding Lassie’s hand gently.

  > “Then maybe,” he said softly, “we’re not running from the past… maybe we’re heading straight into it.”

  The ship vanished into the stars — toward the Vault of the Fallen Suns.

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