Her Voice

The ship trembled as they drifted closer to the field of impossible flowers. Orion's grip tightened on the console. Every instinct screamed at him to turn away, but he couldn't.

The woman in the void was watching him.

Lyra ran a diagnostic scan, but the readings made no sense. "These energy signatures… they don't belong in this universe."

Orion swallowed hard. "Then where the hell do they come from?"

No answer.

The blossoms pulsed, each petal shifting between translucent and solid, as though existing in multiple dimensions at once. The woman among them remained motionless, her flowing form bathed in eerie luminescence.

And then—

She moved.

A slow tilt of the head. A step forward, though there was no ground beneath her feet.

Orion's breath caught in his throat. The ship's sensors blared in warning, detecting a gravitational anomaly—but before he or Lyra could react, the void warped.

The next moment, the woman was inside the ship.

---

Silence.

The air grew thick, charged with something ancient, something watching. The woman stood at the center of the bridge, her presence warping the light around her.

Her voice was a whisper of shifting stars. "You have come far, Orion Veyra."

Lyra stiffened, reaching for her weapon. Orion stopped her with a glance. "You know my name."

The woman's lips curved—something between a smile and a secret. "It has been written in the void long before you were born."

A chill ran down his spine. "Who are you?"

She took a step closer, her presence bending space itself. "I am called many things. A dream. A warning. A memory that lingers." Her gaze darkened. "But what matters is what you are."

Orion didn't like the way she said it. Like he was something unfinished.

Lyra's fingers hovered near the emergency protocols. "You didn't answer his question. Why are you here?"

The woman turned her gaze to Lyra, eyes gleaming like twin galaxies. "Because he is beginning to awaken."

The ship groaned. Orion's vision blurred for a split second—flashes of stars collapsing, cities burning, a hand reaching for his own.

And in the echo of it all—

The sound of her voice.

You must choose, Orion.

The woman's fingers brushed the edge of his sleeve, her touch feather-light, yet the weight of infinity pressed against his bones. "You stand on the precipice of something greater. But what you become will shape far more than yourself."

Orion exhaled, steadying himself. "Then tell me what I'm supposed to become."

The woman's expression softened. "Not yet."

Lyra had enough. "If you're not here to help, then leave."

The woman chuckled. "Oh, I have no intention of staying. But he will see me again."

She turned to Orion. "And when you do… the choice will no longer be yours to make."

Then, in a ripple of space, she was gone.

---

The ship's systems rebooted instantly, as if time had resumed from a brief pause. Lyra released a sharp breath. "I hate when that happens."

Orion wasn't listening. His gaze remained fixed on the void where the woman had stood.

Because even though she was gone…

Her presence lingered, wrapped around his very soul.

And deep inside, he knew—

The universe would never be the same again.