Lyra Kade’s hands flew over the control panel, her fingers dancing with the precision of a concert pianist. Red warning lights flashed in her peripheral vision, their insistent pulses echoing the thundering of her own heart. The ship *Aurora* groaned under the strain, shuddering violently as it was pulled into the gravity well of the uncharted planet below.

“We’re losing stabilizers!” Commander Jaxon Hale’s voice barked through the comms, a thin thread of panic creeping into his usual calm demeanor.

“No kidding,” Lyra muttered, eyes narrowing as she worked to reroute power from non-essential systems. The hull creaked ominously, as if the ship itself was crying out in pain. She spared a glance at the readings. The gravitational anomaly they’d detected had grown exponentially in strength, dragging them down with no hope of escape.

“Power is diverted to shields, but we’re still descending too fast!” Lyra called into her headset, wiping sweat from her brow. Her sleek fingers flew over the touchscreen, bypassing systems and making split-second decisions that could make or break their survival. Every calculation she made was a gamble, and she could feel the weight of every soul on board pressing down on her.

The *Aurora*’s descent quickened, and through the viewport, Lyra could see the planet’s surface looming larger by the second. A jagged, rocky terrain stretched out below, with strange, glowing blue flora that bathed the surface in an eerie light. There were no oceans, no forests—only an endless, alien wasteland, its surface cracked and scarred like the skin of some ancient beast.

“We need to brace for impact!” Jaxon’s voice was hoarse now, frayed at the edges. “All hands to emergency stations!”

Lyra’s grip tightened on the console as she sent a desperate prayer to the stars. She had survived countless dangerous missions in deep space, but this felt different—like something was waiting for her on this planet. As if fate had intervened to pull her into the unknown.

The ship jolted as the landing thrusters fired in a futile attempt to slow their descent. The force of the planet’s gravity was too much. Lyra held her breath, waiting for the inevitable.

And then it came.

The impact was brutal. The ground rose to meet the *Aurora* with a bone-rattling crash. Lyra was thrown forward in her seat, the restraints digging into her chest as the ship skidded across the alien terrain. Sparks erupted from consoles, the lights flickering madly. Metal screeched as the ship ground to a halt, its massive frame half-buried in the rocky ground.

Silence followed. A stillness that felt wrong, like the calm before a storm. Lyra blinked, her vision swimming as she tried to orient herself. Pain flared in her ribs, but nothing felt broken.

The ship had stopped, but the damage was done.

She unhooked her restraints with trembling fingers and staggered to her feet. Around her, the control room was a mess of twisted metal and shattered glass. The smell of burnt circuits filled the air. Lyra's mind immediately shifted into problem-solving mode, forcing down the rising panic.

“Jaxon,” she called into the emergency comms, her voice hoarse. Static answered her. “Jaxon, do you copy?” Silence.

Lyra swore under her breath and yanked open a storage compartment. She grabbed a portable medkit and clipped it to her belt before pulling out a small plasma torch. Her hands shook only slightly as she adjusted the settings, the familiar weight of the tool bringing her a sense of control.

With a few sharp, calculated movements, she cut her way out of the collapsed bulkhead and into the corridor beyond. The ship was eerily silent, the hum of the engines gone. Emergency lights blinked sporadically, casting long shadows that flickered ominously in the narrow hallway.

Lyra’s breath quickened as she made her way toward the crew quarters. The ship felt too still. Too quiet.

And then she heard it—a low, throbbing hum. Faint, but unmistakable. It wasn’t the usual background noise of the ship’s systems. This was different, otherworldly, like the pulse of something alive. She froze, her instincts screaming at her to turn back.

Instead, she pressed forward.

The corridor opened into what was left of the crew bay. The crash had torn through this section of the ship, and the wreckage was strewn with twisted metal and debris. Her heart clenched at the sight. There were no bodies—no signs of life.

“Damn it,” she whispered, pushing down the lump in her throat. They had to be here somewhere. There was no way the entire crew had vanished.

The sound came again, louder now. Lyra turned toward the source, her pulse quickening as she approached the airlock. The outer door was partially open, a gap just wide enough for her to slip through. Beyond it, the alien planet loomed, bathed in that strange blue glow.

She hesitated for only a moment before pushing her way outside.

The landscape that greeted her was vast and desolate, a barren expanse of jagged rock and glowing vegetation. The sky above was a deep violet, with swirling clouds that seemed to pulse with energy. A low hum echoed through the air, vibrating through her bones.

But it wasn’t just the planet that sent a shiver down her spine.

Something moved in the distance—just beyond the ridge. A figure, humanoid but unmistakably alien. Tall and impossibly graceful, the figure moved toward her with an ethereal fluidity. Its eyes glowed with an intense, otherworldly light.

Lyra’s breath caught in her throat, her instincts screaming at her to run. But her feet stayed planted, her heart pounding as the figure drew closer. It wasn’t until it was mere feet away that she realized she wasn’t afraid.

She was drawn to it.

The alien—no, the being—stopped just short of her, its glowing eyes fixed on hers. For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath.

“You should not be here,” the being said, its voice low and resonant, like the echo of a storm.

Lyra blinked, her voice catching in her throat. “I didn’t exactly have a choice.”

The being tilted its head, studying her. “You were brought here. By fate, or by something far greater.”

Lyra’s pulse quickened. “Who are you?”

The being’s gaze darkened, the glow in its eyes intensifying. “I am Thalor. And you, human, have just stepped into a world you cannot begin to comprehend.”

The air between them seemed to crackle with energy, a strange, magnetic pull that made Lyra’s skin tingle. She had a feeling this planet was far more dangerous than she had ever imagined.

And yet, something deep inside her whispered that this meeting—this encounter—was no accident.

It was only the beginning.