Aris could not find the crystal.
He stood in the shuttle cabin, breathing heavily, his eyes scanning the metal floor once… twice… three times.
Nothing.
Just moments ago it had been in his hands.
A body pulsing with purple light… like the heart of a star.
It was gone.
Not fallen.
Not rolled away.
Gone… as if it had never existed.
He froze.
Then slowly… raised his hand.
There.
The color.
Purple.
Not a reflection of light.
Not a trick of the eye.
His own skin was glowing with a strange, deep color… one that did not belong to any spectrum known to humans.
He stepped back.
His voice came out low but sharp:
"System… scan my body immediately."
The response came without delay, in the usual cold tone of a machine:
"All vital signs within normal range."
He furrowed his brow.
"Check the color."
"Skin color normal."
His eyes widened.
He raised his hand in front of his face… the purple light was slipping through his fingers like slow smoke.
"Send a live image."
His image appeared in the air.
A normal human.
Thin silver hair.
Pale skin from age.
Sharp eyes worn down by war.
No trace of purple.
He whispered:
"This… is impossible."
For the first time in decades… he felt that reality itself was no longer trustworthy.
Had his body changed?
Or his perception?
Or…
Was something now inside his mind?
Before the question could complete—
The shuttle shook.
A light tremor at first…
Then a violent blow as if a giant had struck the planet with its fist.
Warnings lit up.
"Catastrophic geological activity detected."
"Accelerated continental fissure."
"Instability in the planetary core."
Aris approached the window.
And what he saw…
Was not a planetary collapse.
It was the end of a world.
The mountains that seemed eternal hours ago… split like shards of glass.
Molten rivers exploded toward the sky.
The ground itself tore apart, as if an invisible force was pulling it from within.
And on the horizon…
Black lightning.
Not normal lightning.
Lines of darkness tearing through the light itself.
Each flash left a void for a moment… a void without color.
The system murmured:
"Immediate planetary collapse probability: 87%… 92%… 96%…"
Suddenly the screens moved.
Hundreds of points appeared.
Objects… flying.
Spatial rifts opened in the sky like wounds.
And from them came…
Those humans.
But this time… they were not calm.
They were moving at terrifying speed.
Some dragging trails of light behind them.
Others cutting through the air like meteors.
Even from this distance… Areas felt something like anger.
No…
This was the anger of beings accustomed to control.
The system spoke suddenly:
"Capturing audio signals… attempting decryption using all previous recordings."
One second.
Two seconds.
Then—
"A portion of the language has been translated."
The phrase exploded inside the cabin:
"The essence of the celestial world has been taken!"
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
Essence… of the world?
His eyes slowly dropped to his purple hand.
"The crystal…"
He barely whispered it.
Had he stolen the heart of this world?
Was that light… the thing that had kept this planet alive for millions of years?
The system shouted suddenly:
"Immediate danger. Emergency launch will be activated."
"Execute."
He did not argue.
He did not ask questions.
The shuttle surged toward the sky while the planetary crust collapsed behind it.
But as it rose…
He saw something he would never forget, even if given a thousand lives.
One of those beings stopped in midair.
Then…
Looked directly at him.
Despite the impossible distance…
Areas felt that gaze.
A look not of surprise.
But a promise.
A promise of pursuit.
Just seconds after leaving the planetary atmosphere—
The world collapsed.
Not an explosion.
But a folding.
As if a cosmic hand had squeezed the planet between its fingers.
The spherical shape twisted into a mass…
Then a point.
Then—
Darkness.
The system announced, its voice for the first time carrying something like disturbance:
"A black hole formation has been detected."
But the following data was impossible.
"The mass is illogical."
"The event horizon is unstable."
"The hole… is collapsing."
"Collapsing?"
"As if the laws of physics themselves refuse its existence."
Then he felt it.
Gravity.
Not pulling.
But judgment.
The shuttle shook violently.
The engines screamed at full power.
"Activate spatial warp!"
The light exploded.
The place disappeared.
They appeared one light-year away.
Any distance like this would normally mean survival.
By all calculations.
By all laws.
But not today.
The indicators turned completely red.
"Gravitational force exceeding theoretical models."
"Range of effect: ten light-years."
"Escape… impossible."
For the first time…
Areas said nothing.
He sat down.
And gave a small, tired smile.
"So… this is my end."
There was no fear in his voice.
Only the acceptance of a warrior finally reaching his last battle.
Darkness approached.
The stars began to bend.
The light itself stretched like elastic threads.
Then—
They entered.
Inside the black hole…
There was not just darkness.
There was a collapse of meaning.
Colors tore apart.
Sounds became compressed silence.
Time… slowed.
He saw the shuttle stretch.
The metal designed to withstand the death of stars… split like cloth.
The system screamed—
Then its voice was gone forever.
But Areas' body
did not tear.
He looked at his hand.
The purple was growing brighter.
A faint aura formed around his body… resisting distortion.
He saw debris pulled toward a point of infinity.
He saw the light die.
He saw the space fold in on itself.
And yet…
He could see.
How can an eye see inside the grave of light?
He whispered, a voice barely born:
"What… am I?"
Then his body began to change.
Not crushing.
But organized disassembly.
His skin turned into threads of light.
His bones became geometric patterns.
His thoughts… began to fade.
And in the last moment…
At the center of nothingness…
He understood.
He was not being crushed.
He was being reshaped.
Then…
Aris died.