Blossoms of the Void

The ship's engines flared to life, casting an eerie glow across the docking bay as Orion and Lyra left the ruins of the exploration vessel behind. The cold vastness of space enveloped them, but something felt off.

Lyra tapped at the controls, navigating their path toward the closest safe zone. "We're clear. No anomalies in our trajectory."

Orion barely heard her. His gaze remained fixed on the viewport, where the stars continued to shift—subtly, but undeniably.

He could still hear it.

A whisper. A presence. The call.

Orion clenched his jaw, shoving the sensation deep down. Not now.

"Hey." Lyra's voice was softer now, bringing him back. "I need you with me."

Orion blinked and forced himself to focus. "I'm here."

Lyra studied him for a moment before nodding. "Good. Because we've got another problem."

She gestured to the display.

A disturbance. A massive energy reading—unlike anything their sensors had registered before.

Orion leaned in. The coordinates placed it just beyond their current path.

His pulse quickened. "What the hell is that?"

Lyra's fingers danced across the controls, enhancing the visual feed.

What they saw made them both freeze.

A field of flowers.

Suspended in space.

But these weren't ordinary flowers.

They pulsed with an otherworldly glow, their petals shifting through impossible hues. The blossoms seemed to breathe—as if alive, feeding off the void itself.

And at the center of it all, a figure.

A woman.

She floated among the flowers, her form wrapped in tendrils of light and shadow. Her eyes—when they opened—locked onto Orion.

Something ancient stirred within him. A memory not his own. A name hovering on the edge of his thoughts.

Lyra exhaled sharply. "Orion…"

She didn't need to say it.

He could feel it.

This wasn't natural.

This was something else.

Something waiting for him.

And deep inside, a terrifying realization crept into his mind.

He had seen her before.