Episode 17: The Rift Awakens
208 Words
Darkness.
For a moment, there was nothing—no sound, no movement, just an endless, suffocating void. Then—a pulse.
The Aurora jolted violently as systems flickered back on. Red emergency lights bathed the bridge in an eerie glow.
Voss gasped for breath. His body felt heavy, like gravity itself was pulling him down.
Luma’s voice crackled through the speakers. “Captain… we are no longer in normal space.”
Ng gripped the console. “What does that mean?”
Dr. Rao’s fingers trembled over her scanner. Her voice was barely a whisper. “We’re inside the Rift.”
A cold silence fell over the crew.
Outside the windows, the stars were gone. The universe they knew had been replaced by a swirling abyss of shifting, colorless void. It wasn’t empty. It was… watching them.
Then—a horrific screech echoed through the ship.
Not metal, not machinery—something alive.
The Hollow Reflection—the thing that had stolen their forms—convulsed. Its body glitched, then snapped toward them.
It spoke, but this time, its voice wasn’t just Voss’s. It was everyone’s voice at once.
“You belong to the Rift now.”
Then—the ship plunged downward into the abyss.
To be continued...
- Writer
