2025-02-18 20:00:26The ship’s engines hummed, a low, steady vibration that filled the silence between them. Kiera sat motionless in the cockpit, staring out into the void.
Titan.
The name lingered in her mind like a whisper she couldn’t shake. The dead should stay dead. Commander Xara should not have been able to contact them. And yet… she had.
Jace was quiet, his hands steady on the controls, but Kiera could tell he was just as unsettled. The tension between them was thick, neither willing to voice the one thought they were both thinking.
What if this wasn’t Xara?
What if something else was using her voice?
Kiera exhaled slowly, gripping the armrest of her seat. “ETA?”
Jace glanced at the nav-screen. “Four hours.”
Four hours until they reached a dead world. Four hours until they found out if Mars was really behind them… or if the nightmare was just beginning.
The air in the cabin felt heavy. The ship had enough oxygen, the systems were functioning, and yet Kiera felt as if the walls were closing in on her. The pressure in her skull, the faint buzzing at the back of her mind—it had been there ever since the transmission.
Ever since Xara had spoken from beyond the grave.
Kiera rubbed her temples. The headache was getting worse. It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t exhaustion.
And deep down, she knew exactly what it was.
The Core.
She had destroyed it. She had felt it die. But somehow, some part of it had survived.
Inside her.
She shivered.
“Kiera?” Jace’s voice was cautious, like he already knew something was wrong.
She glanced at him. “Yeah?”
“You okay?”
She hesitated. Lie. Tell him you’re fine.
But something about the way he was looking at her—worried, suspicious—made her pause.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Ever since we left Mars, something’s been… off.”
Jace’s grip tightened on the controls. “What do you mean?”
Kiera hesitated. Then, carefully, she pulled back the sleeve of her flight suit.
Jace’s breath caught. “What the hell—”
Her arm—her skin—was changing.
It had started as a faint discoloration near her wrist, something she had ignored. But now, the veins beneath her skin pulsed with a faint, blue-white glow—the same color as the Core’s energy. The light moved in slow waves, tracing the paths of her veins, as if something inside her was still alive.
Jace swore under his breath. “When did this start?”
“After Mars.” Kiera’s voice was steady, but inside, she was unraveling. “It doesn’t hurt, but it’s getting worse. It wasn’t this bad yesterday.”
Jace shook his head. “This isn’t—this shouldn’t be possible. We destroyed the Core, Kiera.”
“I know.”
“Then how—?”
“I don’t know.”
Jace ran a hand through his hair, his breathing unsteady. “Damn it.”
Kiera pulled her sleeve back down, as if hiding it would change what was happening. “We focus on Titan first. Then we figure this out.”
Jace didn’t argue, but his jaw was tight. He was scared. She could see it in his eyes.
And for the first time, so was she.
Three Hours Later
The headache had worsened.
Kiera sat in the med bay, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Something was wrong with her.
Her eyes.
The irises, once a deep brown, now had faint flecks of glowing silver. Barely noticeable. But there.
She clenched her fists. “What the hell is happening to me?”
Her reflection didn’t answer.
A sudden movement behind her—
She spun, heart hammering.
Nothing.
The med bay was empty.
Kiera exhaled, pressing a hand against her chest. Calm down. Lack of sleep. Stress. That’s all this was.
But the sense of unease was growing.
Then the ship’s lights flickered.
For exactly three seconds, the entire vessel went dark.
Then—static.
The comm system crackled to life, but it wasn’t the usual ship updates.
It was breathing.
Shallow. Labored.
Kiera’s blood ran cold.
Then a voice—Xara’s voice—whispered through the speakers.
“…It’s inside you, Kiera.”
The lights snapped back on.
Kiera bolted for the cockpit.
One Hour Until Titan
Jace looked up as Kiera stormed in. “What’s wrong?”
She ignored him. “Check the comm logs. Now.”
Jace frowned but didn’t argue. His fingers flew across the console.
Seconds passed.
Then he shook his head. “There’s nothing here.”
Kiera’s stomach dropped.
“No—there was—”
Jace turned to her, eyes dark with concern. “Kiera, what did you hear?”
She opened her mouth. Closed it.
If she told him, if she said it out loud… it would make it real.
She swallowed. “Forget it.”
Jace didn’t look convinced, but he let it go.
Outside the window, Titan was coming into view.
The orange haze of its thick atmosphere loomed ahead, swirling with storms. A frozen wasteland.
And somewhere down there, something waited for them.
Kiera exhaled. One way or another, they were about to get answers.
And she wasn’t sure she wanted them.
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 17: THE GHOST PLANET
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
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 18: THE RISING STORM
The screen went black.For a second, there was nothing.No sound. No movement. Just the dull hum of emergency power flickering through the ruined lab.Then—The lights cut out.Kiera’s heart slammed against her ribs as complete darkness swallowed the room.“Jace?!”“I’m here!” Jace’s voice was close, but she couldn’t see him.Then the whispers started.Not over the comms. Not from a speaker.Inside her helmet.“Kiera… let me in.”Her breath hitched.Then—Metal scraped against metal.From the hallway. Something was coming.Jace’s flashlight flicked on, the beam cutting through the swirling methane mist. He pointed it toward the doorway—Nothing.Just an empty corridor.Kiera clenched her fists. “We’re leaving. Now.”Jace didn’t argue.They moved fast, retracing their steps through the darkened facility. Every footstep echoed too loudly, as if the walls themselves were listening.Then—The shadows shifted.Kiera froze.At the very edge of her vision, something moved.Something wrong.J
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 19: THE HUNTERS ARRIVE
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
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 20: THE TRUTH BENEATH THE ICE
The Storm OutsideThe walls of the ship shuddered as something slammed against the exterior.Kiera and Jace barely had a second to react before the ship’s emergency alarms screamed to life.“HULL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.”“EXTERNAL BREACH DETECTED.”Jace spun to the console, his face pale. “They’re trying to break in.”Kiera’s heart pounded.Outside, the creatures were waiting.Not attacking. Not clawing at the hull like mindless animals.Waiting.Kiera felt it.A cold, gnawing sensation in the back of her skull.They were waiting for her.Jace grabbed a rifle, his voice tight. “We can’t stay here.”Kiera barely heard him. Her skin was burning again. The veins in her arms pulsed with silver light.Something inside her was waking up.She clutched the edge of the console, breathing fast.Then—A whisper.Not in her ears.Inside her mind.“Come home.”Her vision blurred—She wasn’t in the ship anymore.For a split second, she saw something else—a massive chamber beneath Titan’s surface, fi
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 21: THE FORGOTTEN WAR
The Throne RoomThe air felt heavy, thick with a pressure Kiera had never known before.She was still on her knees, struggling to breathe, her mind fractured by the truth.The woman—her reflection—stood above her, silent, waiting. The creatures around them didn’t move. Rows of them stood in the shadows, their silver eyes locked on her.Waiting.For her.Not as a prisoner.Not as an enemy.As their leader.Jace’s grip on his weapon tightened. “Kiera, get up.”She forced herself to move, her entire body shaking.She looked at Jace, and in his eyes, she saw something she had never seen before.Fear.Not fear of the creatures.Fear of her.Kiera swallowed hard. “Jace, I—”He took a step back.“Tell me it’s not true,” he whispered.She couldn’t.Because it was.She wasn’t human.She never had been.And Jace knew it now.---The ChoiceKiera turned back to her reflection—the woman who had once been her.“What… what am I?” Kiera’s voice was raw.The woman smiled. “You already know the answer
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 22: THE FALL OF TITIAN
The Sky BurnsTitan erupted into war.Above the frozen wasteland, Guardian warships rained fire from the heavens, their cannons tearing through the icy terrain. Below, the Forsaken screamed in unison—a haunting, inhuman battle cry.Jace ran.He sprinted through the ruins, the battlefield collapsing around him. Shattered ice and molten debris rained from the sky, the very ground beneath his feet cracking from the impact of orbital strikes.But none of it mattered.Not the Guardians. Not the Forsaken.Only Kiera.He had lost her.The moment she rose into the air, silver light crackling around her body, he knew. She wasn’t Kiera anymore.She was something else.And now?She was leading the Forsaken against the Guardians.The war had returned.Jace’s comms crackled. “Jace, do you copy?”It was Commander Vale. A Guardian officer. The one who had given him the signal to call for reinforcements.Jace didn’t answer.Vale’s voice turned sharp. “Do you have a visual on the target?”Jace stopped
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 23: THE VOICE FROM THE VOID
The Sky Cracks OpenThe war should have been over.The Guardians were gone. The Forsaken stood victorious on the ruins of Titan.And Kiera?She was finally where she belonged.But then the sky tore itself apart.A soundless rupture split the atmosphere, like the universe itself was screaming without a voice.And something descended.Not a ship.Not an army.Something else.Kiera felt it before she saw it.A pressure.A weight that crushed against her very existence.She had thought she was powerful. She had thought the Forsaken were the dominant force now.But this?This was beyond power.The Forsaken army—her army—staggered back, their silver eyes flickering. Some of them collapsed where they stood, clawing at their heads. Their bodies convulsed.Even the most monstrous among them—creatures that had survived planetary annihilation—were afraid.Kiera’s breath caught in her throat.She didn’t understand.What could possibly make the Forsaken afraid?Then it arrived.And for the first t
Echoes of the Red Planet CHAPTER 24: THE UNMAKING
The Moment the Universe StoppedThe battlefield was silent.Titan, a planet that had just been torn apart by war, stood frozen in time. The Forsaken no longer moved, their bodies locked in place like statues of living darkness.Jace lay on the ground, barely breathing, his veins turning black, his body twisting into something unnatural.And in the center of it all, Kiera stood alone.Before her, the entity loomed, its form shifting like a black hole given shape. It was beyond words, beyond description—a thing that was never meant to be seen.It had broken the Forsaken.It had rewritten Jace.And now?It had turned its attention to her.Kiera’s hands shook as she knelt beside Jace. His pulse was weak, his breath ragged. The black veins creeping up his skin pulsed, as if something inside him was trying to consume him.“Jace?” Her voice was barely a whisper.His eyes flickered open—but they weren’t his eyes anymore.They were silver.Just like hers.Kiera’s chest tightened.No.No, no, n
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 25: THE RISING STORM
The battlefield was still.For the first time since Titan had turned into a warzone, there was no gunfire. No screams. No destruction.Only silence.The Forsaken stood in perfect formation, their silver eyes locked on Kiera. They had once knelt in fear before the entity. But now? They were waiting for her command.Kiera barely felt them. Her focus was elsewhere.She turned to Jace.He was still kneeling in the frost-covered ruins, staring at his hands. His fingers curled, his veins glowing with a new light.Not silver.Not gold.Something else.Something undiscovered.Kiera swallowed hard. “Jace?”He looked up at her.For a moment, she thought she saw fear in his expression.Not fear of her.Fear of himself.---Jace’s AwakeningJace exhaled sharply. His breath came out in a visible mist, even though his body temperature should have prevented that.His senses were too sharp. He could hear the ice cracking beneath Titan’s surface, feel the tremors before they even happened. His vision
CHAPTER 24: THE UNMAKING
The Moment the Universe StoppedThe battlefield was silent.Titan, a planet that had just been torn apart by war, stood frozen in time. The Forsaken no longer moved, their bodies locked in place like statues of living darkness.Jace lay on the ground, barely breathing, his veins turning black, his body twisting into something unnatural.And in the center of it all, Kiera stood alone.Before her, the entity loomed, its form shifting like a black hole given shape. It was beyond words, beyond description—a thing that was never meant to be seen.It had broken the Forsaken.It had rewritten Jace.And now?It had turned its attention to her.Kiera’s hands shook as she knelt beside Jace. His pulse was weak, his breath ragged. The black veins creeping up his skin pulsed, as if something inside him was trying to consume him.“Jace?” Her voice was barely a whisper.His eyes flickered open—but they weren’t his eyes anymore.They were silver.Just like hers.Kiera’s chest tightened.No.No, no, n
CHAPTER 23: THE VOICE FROM THE VOID
The Sky Cracks OpenThe war should have been over.The Guardians were gone. The Forsaken stood victorious on the ruins of Titan.And Kiera?She was finally where she belonged.But then the sky tore itself apart.A soundless rupture split the atmosphere, like the universe itself was screaming without a voice.And something descended.Not a ship.Not an army.Something else.Kiera felt it before she saw it.A pressure.A weight that crushed against her very existence.She had thought she was powerful. She had thought the Forsaken were the dominant force now.But this?This was beyond power.The Forsaken army—her army—staggered back, their silver eyes flickering. Some of them collapsed where they stood, clawing at their heads. Their bodies convulsed.Even the most monstrous among them—creatures that had survived planetary annihilation—were afraid.Kiera’s breath caught in her throat.She didn’t understand.What could possibly make the Forsaken afraid?Then it arrived.And for the first t
CHAPTER 22: THE FALL OF TITIAN
The Sky BurnsTitan erupted into war.Above the frozen wasteland, Guardian warships rained fire from the heavens, their cannons tearing through the icy terrain. Below, the Forsaken screamed in unison—a haunting, inhuman battle cry.Jace ran.He sprinted through the ruins, the battlefield collapsing around him. Shattered ice and molten debris rained from the sky, the very ground beneath his feet cracking from the impact of orbital strikes.But none of it mattered.Not the Guardians. Not the Forsaken.Only Kiera.He had lost her.The moment she rose into the air, silver light crackling around her body, he knew. She wasn’t Kiera anymore.She was something else.And now?She was leading the Forsaken against the Guardians.The war had returned.Jace’s comms crackled. “Jace, do you copy?”It was Commander Vale. A Guardian officer. The one who had given him the signal to call for reinforcements.Jace didn’t answer.Vale’s voice turned sharp. “Do you have a visual on the target?”Jace stopped
CHAPTER 21: THE FORGOTTEN WAR
The Throne RoomThe air felt heavy, thick with a pressure Kiera had never known before.She was still on her knees, struggling to breathe, her mind fractured by the truth.The woman—her reflection—stood above her, silent, waiting. The creatures around them didn’t move. Rows of them stood in the shadows, their silver eyes locked on her.Waiting.For her.Not as a prisoner.Not as an enemy.As their leader.Jace’s grip on his weapon tightened. “Kiera, get up.”She forced herself to move, her entire body shaking.She looked at Jace, and in his eyes, she saw something she had never seen before.Fear.Not fear of the creatures.Fear of her.Kiera swallowed hard. “Jace, I—”He took a step back.“Tell me it’s not true,” he whispered.She couldn’t.Because it was.She wasn’t human.She never had been.And Jace knew it now.---The ChoiceKiera turned back to her reflection—the woman who had once been her.“What… what am I?” Kiera’s voice was raw.The woman smiled. “You already know the answer
CHAPTER 20: THE TRUTH BENEATH THE ICE
The Storm OutsideThe walls of the ship shuddered as something slammed against the exterior.Kiera and Jace barely had a second to react before the ship’s emergency alarms screamed to life.“HULL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.”“EXTERNAL BREACH DETECTED.”Jace spun to the console, his face pale. “They’re trying to break in.”Kiera’s heart pounded.Outside, the creatures were waiting.Not attacking. Not clawing at the hull like mindless animals.Waiting.Kiera felt it.A cold, gnawing sensation in the back of her skull.They were waiting for her.Jace grabbed a rifle, his voice tight. “We can’t stay here.”Kiera barely heard him. Her skin was burning again. The veins in her arms pulsed with silver light.Something inside her was waking up.She clutched the edge of the console, breathing fast.Then—A whisper.Not in her ears.Inside her mind.“Come home.”Her vision blurred—She wasn’t in the ship anymore.For a split second, she saw something else—a massive chamber beneath Titan’s surface, fi
CHAPTER 19: THE HUNTERS ARRIVE
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
CHAPTER 18: THE RISING STORM
The screen went black.For a second, there was nothing.No sound. No movement. Just the dull hum of emergency power flickering through the ruined lab.Then—The lights cut out.Kiera’s heart slammed against her ribs as complete darkness swallowed the room.“Jace?!”“I’m here!” Jace’s voice was close, but she couldn’t see him.Then the whispers started.Not over the comms. Not from a speaker.Inside her helmet.“Kiera… let me in.”Her breath hitched.Then—Metal scraped against metal.From the hallway. Something was coming.Jace’s flashlight flicked on, the beam cutting through the swirling methane mist. He pointed it toward the doorway—Nothing.Just an empty corridor.Kiera clenched her fists. “We’re leaving. Now.”Jace didn’t argue.They moved fast, retracing their steps through the darkened facility. Every footstep echoed too loudly, as if the walls themselves were listening.Then—The shadows shifted.Kiera froze.At the very edge of her vision, something moved.Something wrong.J
CHAPTER 17: THE GHOST PLANET
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
