Astra-9's engine core hummed with an uneasy pulse, as if the ship itself was struggling to stay anchored in reality. Orion leaned heavily against the railing, sweat beading on his forehead. Lyra squeezed his arm, trying to steady her own trembling hands.
The distortion… the echo… the vortex…
It shouldn't have been able to reach them.
Not yet.
Not this soon.
Rhea stood in the center of the room, posture rigid, jaw tight—a commander holding her fear behind iron discipline.
"Status," she barked.
Rowan's voice crackled through the comm first.
"Commander, whatever hit the corridor? It didn't just warp the ship."A pause."It warped the star maps."
Everyone froze.
Lyra blinked. "The navigation maps?"
"No," Rowan said grimly."All galactic maps. Every chart in the entire databank."
Kessler cut in, voice clipped and sharp.
"Commander, you need to see this in person."
Rhea glanced at Orion and Lyra."You two stay close. Vale—keep an eye on him."
Vale gave Orion a look so unreadable it felt like judgment.
They hurried toward the nav deck, boots echoing through flickering corridors that still bore faint scars of temporal distortion.
The hum of the ship's engines seemed… off.Like a heartbeat that had lost its rhythm.
Navigation Deck
Rowan and Solven were already there—Rowan sweating, tapping frantically at a console; Solven watching the chaos unfold with eerie calm.
Without a word, Rowan gestured toward the primary stellar holomap.
The entire Milky Way shimmered in three dimensions, spinning slowly above the table.
And it was wrong.
Very wrong.
Stars had shifted positions by light-years.Planets had moved or duplicated.Some systems overlapped with others, ghost-like and insubstantial.A few sectors were blank—completely erased.
Lyra's hand flew to her mouth.
"Oh my God… it's changing itself."
Rhea approached the map cautiously.
"Rowan. Is this damage? A hack? A malfunction?"
Rowan shook his head, eyes wide with disbelief.
"No, Commander. This isn't a glitch. This is the universe… rewriting itself."
Orion stepped forward, heart pounding.
"The distortion did this? Just by being on the ship?"
"No," Solven murmured.His voice was soft, almost reverent."This is a side effect of the countdown."
Rhea's eyes snapped toward him.
"Meaning what exactly?"
Solven pointed at the shifting map.
"The timer isn't just counting down to the collapse."A beat."It's syncing us with other collapsing timelines."
Orion froze.
"You mean we're bleeding into alternate universes?"
Solven nodded.
"Yes. Worlds where Archive Zero happened earlier… or later… or failed differently. Every universe touched by the Unmaking leaves behind a pattern. The maps aren't malfunctioning. They are blending."
Lyra stared at a ghostly planet flickering in and out of existence.
"Is that… Earth?"
But no—its continents were wrong.Shattered.Twisted.
Vale spoke from behind them.
"Not our Earth."
Kessler folded her arms.
"This blending means one thing: reality boundaries are weakening. And the Refracted Star is losing integrity faster than expected."
Orion rubbed his temples.
"We're running out of time…"
The map flickered—
Then violently glitched.
Systems blurred.Coordinates scrambled.Entire sectors twisted.
Suddenly the map exploded into chaos—an avalanche of overlapping galaxies, collapsing probabilities, shifting timelines.
Alarms blared.
SPACETIME OVERLAY DETECTEDMULTIPLE REALITY MAPS CONFLICTINGTEMPORAL COLLAPSE IN PROGRESS
Orion staggered.
"I can't—there's too many—"
Lyra grabbed his hand, voice shaking.
"Orion, look!"
One star remained stable.
Just one.
Everything else warped, dissolved, or flickered.
But this star—a lone, bright, golden point—held steady in the maelstrom.
Kessler stared, eyes widening.
"The Refracted Star."
Rowan whispered:
"It's calling to us."
Vale stepped closer, shadows clinging to his presence.
"No," he said softly."It's warning us."
The map snapped back into place—everything except the Refracted Star flickering like a dying signal.
The singular star pulsed once.
Twice.
Then a message appeared above it:
ORIGIN POINT ANCHORREQUIRED: ORION HALE
Orion went pale.
Lyra grabbed him. "No. Absolutely not. Why you again?"
Solven answered.
"Because the Signal marked him. The Refracted Star resonates with that mark. And Archive Zero requires the same signature."
Kessler added:
"He is the only one who can survive the approach."
Rhea's expression softened—for just one moment.
"Orion… this isn't an order."Her voice lowered."This is impossible. Deadly. If you don't want to do this—"
Orion inhaled slowly.
The maps around him flickered with collapsing realities.
His future self screaming warnings.
The dragon's message.
Seraxis' dying memories.
The echo of his own past self whispering:
We're already dead.
He lifted his head, eyes steady.
"I'm doing it."
Lyra turned away, tears threatening.
Vale nodded once.
"Then we prepare the ship."
The countdown ticked—
09:22:55:01
Far, far away,the Refracted Star pulsed again.
Brighter.Closer.
Waiting for him