The Dark Zone wasn't on any official star map.
No trade routes crossed it.
No ships returned from it.
It was the kind of place you only entered if you were running from something worse.
Kael had been in it once before.
Barely survived.
And now he was leading Lira straight into it.
The lights dimmed as the ship crossed the threshold.
The screens flickered.
The sound in the air changed — no more hum, no more steady vibrations.
Just silence.
A swallowing kind of silence.
Lira tightened her harness in the co-pilot seat.
"What exactly is the Dark Zone?" she asked.
Kael didn't look away from the controls.
"A remnant of the old war. Space torn open. Physics damaged. Gravity unstable. Light can't travel properly through it."
"So… a dead region?"
"No."
His eyes narrowed.
"Worse. A living one."
Lira shivered.
Kael could hear her heartbeat in the quiet.
He leaned forward, adjusting the navigation manually.
The ship's systems were all but useless here.
He had to rely on instinct and memory things he trusted more than machinery.
A sudden distortion rippled across the viewport.
Like watching reality bend inward.
Lira swallowed.
"What was that?"
"Space fold."
Kael kept his voice even.
"Don't stare at it too long."
"Why?"
"It stares back."
She froze.
Kael didn't elaborate.
He didn't want her knowing too much about this place.
Not yet.
Not until he was sure they had a chance of getting out alive.
The silence stretched again.
It wasn't normal silence.
It had weight.
Pressure.
Almost like standing in a deep ocean trench with miles of water crushing down on your skull.
Kael felt it pushing against his mind testing him, probing him.
The Dark Zone always tried to see what you were made of.
Lira shifted uneasily.
"It feels like something is… listening," she whispered.
"It is."
Her breath hitched.
"Kael, this was your plan?"
"No."
He flipped a switch manually.
"It was the only option."
The sensors crackled, showing static instead of readings.
Then a faint, low sound rolled through the ship not from outside, but through the metal itself.
A long, slow groan.
Like something enormous brushing against the hull.
Lira stiffened.
"What was that?"
Kael's jaw tightened.
"Stay calm."
"That doesn't answer the question."
"If I answer it, you won't stay calm."
She fell quiet.
The pressure in the air grew heavier, almost suffocating.
Memories bubbled at the edges of Kael's mind memories he didn't want.
The last time he was here.
The team he had been assigned with.
The screams when the dark clouds moved.
The silence afterward.
The way he had been the only one who walked out.
Lira glanced at him.
"You've been here before, haven't you?"
Kael kept his eyes forward.
"Yes."
"Did you trust the person you were with then?"
"No."
"Do you trust me?"
His fingers tightened around the steering grip.
He didn't answer.
A sharp alarm beeped once then died.
Even the alarms were afraid to make noise here.
Lira looked at him again, softer this time.
"Kael… I know you're trying to keep me safe. But I'm here with you. Whether you trust me or not."
He exhaled slowly.
"I trust you," he said quietly.
She blinked, surprised.
"You do?"
"I trust your instincts. Your intelligence. Your resolve."
He paused.
"But I don't trust myself around you."
Lira's breath caught.
"What does that mean?"
"That I make mistakes when I care."
Before she could speak, the ship jolted violently not forward or sideways, but down. Like gravity itself had flipped.
Lira screamed as she was thrown upward in her harness, her body suspended and shaking.
Kael snapped forward, gripping the controls with both hands.
Veins tensed along his forearms as he forced the ship level.
The lights flickered red.
A deep rumble vibrated through the floor closer this time. Heavy. Slow.
Lira grabbed the dashboard.
"Something is under us."
Kael didn't deny it.
He switched the external cameras to manual override. The screen flickered, static clearing just enough to show—
Shadows.
Massive, slow-moving shadows drifting beneath the ship like creatures deep in water.
Their shapes were wrong.
Impossible.
Like something half-formed.
Lira's voice shook.
"Those… those things are alive?"
"Not in the way you think."
"Then what are they?"
Kael's tone hardened.
"Don't look at them."
"Kael"
"Don't."
She stopped.
He didn't raise his voice often.
But when he did, there was a reason.
One of the shadows drifted higher, brushing the underside of the hull.
The entire ship vibrated not from impact, but resonance, like the creature was listening to the metal.
Kael tightened every muscle in his body.
"They can sense thought," he said.
"Emotion. Fear. If you panic, they come closer."
Lira held her breath.
Kael continued piloting with precision only someone engineered could manage.
The shadows followed for a while, circling the ship with slow, predatory movements.
Then, one by one, they drifted back into the dark.
Only when the last one disappeared did Lira finally speak.
"Are we safe?"
"No."
Kael adjusted a dial manually.
"But we're past the worst part."
She let out a shaky breath.
"Kael… thank you."
He didn't respond, but she noticed the tension easing from his shoulders.
The Dark Zone faded behind them, the stars slowly returning to view.
Weak at first.
Then brighter.
Lira watched Kael quietly.
His face was calm.
Cold.
Focused.
But she could see something else beneath it.
Something he couldn't hide anymore.
Fear.
Not of the monsters.
Not of Nexus.
Not of the Dark Zone.
Fear of losing her.