The tremors had intensified. Kiera’s ears rang from the explosions echoing throughout the facility, and her body was battered from the sudden fall. She and Jace scrambled to their feet, hearts pounding as the ground beneath them quaked like a living beast in agony. The control center was rapidly crumbling around them, each second that passed driving them closer to annihilation.Kiera’s mind raced. The weapon, the core, the unseen enemy—it was all connected. But every step forward felt like they were being dragged deeper into an endless abyss. The true enemy wasn’t just some shadow lurking in the background. It was much more than that. Kiera could feel it, a presence so ancient and powerful that it seeped into her very soul.“We have to move!” Jace yelled, grabbing Kiera’s arm and pulling her toward the corridor. But she couldn’t focus on escaping. She had to understand what was happening.“The enemy… it’s not just the weapon,” Kiera said breathlessly, her eyes scanning the disintegrat

The explosion sent shockwaves through the heart of Mars. Kiera’s body was ripped from the ground, flung across the room like a ragdoll. Her vision blurred as the deafening roar of collapsing metal and shattering rock filled the air. Everything around her crumbled—the once sturdy walls of the control center disintegrated into dust and rubble. Her breath came in sharp, gasping bursts, the overwhelming force of the blast still vibrating through her body.Kiera tried to move, but pain shot through her limbs. She forced herself to her feet, her legs unsteady, her heart pounding. The core—the lifeblood of Mars itself—was destabilizing, and with it, the planet’s energy was dissipating. But the battle wasn’t over yet. The figure was still alive, and Mars itself was resisting them.She looked to Jace, his body lying motionless against the broken debris. Panic gripped her chest as she scrambled over to him, her hands trembling as she checked for a pulse. A faint breath. He was alive, but barely

The silence of space was absolute. The stars stretched endlessly, cold and indifferent, as Kiera and Jace drifted away from Mars at faster-than-light speed. Their ship, The Horizon’s Edge, hummed steadily around them, the only sound breaking the quiet. The Red Planet was gone, reduced to a distant ember in the void, its fate sealed.Kiera leaned back in her seat, her body sore from the battle, but her mind refused to rest. The weapon was destroyed. The core was gone. Mars was free.So why did it feel like something was still watching them?Jace sat at the controls, his fingers tapping against the dashboard, adjusting the ship’s navigation. He glanced at Kiera, his brow furrowed. “You’re thinking too much again.”Kiera smirked, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Can’t help it. Doesn’t feel real yet. After everything, after the war, the Guardians, the core… we just fly away? Like it never happened?”Jace sighed, leaning back. “We won, Kiera. We saved Mars from itself.”She nodded but couldn

The descent was rough.Titan’s gravity pulled the ship down in a slow, steady drag, and the thick, orange clouds swallowed them whole. The ship’s external lights barely cut through the haze, the swirling methane storms making it feel like they were flying through living smoke.Kiera gripped her seat as turbulence rocked the cabin. Jace wrestled with the controls, cursing under his breath as he tried to stabilize their descent.The whole ship felt… wrong.The moment they entered Titan’s atmosphere, the tension in the air became unbearable. The hum of the ship’s systems sounded distorted, warped, as if something was interfering with them.And then, there was the silence.No radio signals. No planetary pings. No distant beacons from old Titan stations.Nothing.Titan was supposed to be dead. It had been abandoned decades ago after the entire colony mysteriously vanished. No signs of struggle. No distress calls. The settlers had simply… disappeared.And yet, someone—or something—had calle

Titan’s Core ChamberKiera’s breath came shallow and fast. The weight in her chest had doubled, pressing against her ribs like something was trying to crawl out from inside her.The vision. The Core’s voice.The warning.She wasn’t just changing.She was becoming something else.Jace pulled her to her feet. His grip was firm, but his eyes were sharp with concern. “We’re leaving. Now.”Kiera tried to focus, but her mind was spinning. The whispers hadn’t stopped. They had only grown louder.“Not yet.”Jace frowned. “What?”Kiera blinked. Had she said that?The words had come from her mouth, but she hadn’t meant to say them.Jace’s grip tightened. “Kiera, snap out of it.”She forced herself to nod. Move. Just move.They turned toward the exit.Then—The ship’s emergency alert blared in their earpieces.Jace froze. “What the hell?”Kiera’s HUD flickered to life with a warning.INCOMING VESSELS DETECTED.UNIDENTIFIED HOSTILES APPROACHING.Her stomach twisted.They weren’t alone.They sprin