Silence hummed inside the Epoch Serpent like a wound that refused to heal.
Kael sat in the command cradle, boots braced against the vibrating floor panels, eyes locked on the holoscreen. His fingers drummed the edge of the console, not in impatience, but anticipation.
> "Anchor One is sealed," Ziri said quietly. "The Spiral has stabilized by point-zero-zero-seven percent."
"Not enough," Kael muttered. "We need more Anchors… and answers."
He leaned back, eyes closed, mind swirling with images he couldn't forget — the Nullborn, the fractured timelines, the faceless version of himself who warned of what's coming, and the hooded watcher who vanished before he could ask a single question.
Then it came.
A whisper through the ship's long-range channel.
> "Kael Drayven… do you remember New Arisia?"
His eyes shot open. "Ziri. Playback that static."
"It's not a recording," Ziri replied. "It's… live."
Kael's blood ran cold.
> "Patch it through."
---
The static cleared.
A woman's voice emerged — raspy, but familiar. Like a song he once knew but forgot the words to.
> "You left us there. On Arisia. We waited… and we burned."
Kael stood up slowly, pulse pounding. "Who is this?"
The voice didn't answer directly.
> "You shouldn't have made the jump. They're hunting you now… just like they hunted me."
"Ziri," Kael said sharply, "trace the signal."
"Already trying. It's bouncing across four timelines. It's not supposed to exist."
The voice crackled again, louder this time.
> "Find Anchor Two before they do. If you fail… the Spiral dies."
Then, silence.
Dead silence.
---
Kael exhaled. "You hear that?"
"Affirmative," Ziri said. "Her voice signature partially matches one person."
Kael turned toward the core console.
"Who?"
Ziri hesitated.
> "Commander Elara Voss."
Kael staggered backward.
> "That's not possible… Elara's dead."
"Confirmed. Elara Voss perished in the Arisian Collapse. Seven years ago."
---
Kael slumped into the pilot's chair. Elara. She was his commanding officer, his friend… maybe more, once. She died when the Spiral warped and crushed New Arisia into a timeless implosion. Kael had barely escaped.
He thought she was gone.
But that voice…
No recording could mimic her sarcasm, her tone, the subtle weight behind her words.
"Ghosts in the static," Kael whispered. "Or something worse."
---
⏳ Fifteen Minutes Later
The Epoch Serpent locked onto a new energy spike.
> Anchor Two: Confirmed
Location: Colony Shard Delta-V, Sector 19 — The Iron Graveyard
Condition: Hostile.
Kael squinted. "Iron Graveyard?"
Ziri zoomed in.
It was a broken starship colony. Thousands of derelict hulls floating in a graveyard belt. A scrapyard of ancient empires. But there was movement—metal shifting unnaturally, like magnetized puppets pulled by invisible strings.
And something was watching from within.
Kael's stomach tightened.
> "Anchor Two is inside that mess?"
"Affirmative. And... Kael, there's more."
A second hologram flickered beside the map.
Chrono-signature detected: NULLBORN. And... UNKNOWN ENTITY.
Kael stared at the blurred silhouette in the image. It wasn't Nullborn — it was humanoid. But blurred like the timeline didn't know when to place it.
And behind it, a beacon pulsing.
Anchor Two.
---
"Prep for descent," Kael said. "And keep that channel open. If Elara's voice comes back, I want to hear it."
"As you wish, Commander."
Kael gripped the controls.
The past wasn't done with him.
And in the wreckage of forgotten ships, something waited — not to be found, but to be remembered.