The stars were beautiful when nobody was watching them.

Mira Solen had always believed that.

From the window of her little spacecraft, the universe looked almost peaceful.

A million distant stars floated across the darkness.

Some were blue.

Some were white.

Some were so far away that their light had already died before reaching her.

Mira sat alone inside Luna Blue, her small silver spacecraft, with her feet resting against the control panel.

She was twenty years old.

Her job was simple.

Find forgotten signals.

Record them.

Send them back to Earth.

Nothing more.

She had spent three years traveling between abandoned satellites, dead colonies, and planets that no longer appeared on modern maps.

Most days, she heard nothing.

Sometimes she found old emergency signals.

Sometimes broken music.

Sometimes the final messages of people who had disappeared decades earlier.

She had become used to loneliness.

In space, loneliness was easier.

Nobody asked questions.

Nobody expected her to smile.

Nobody asked why she preferred the stars to people.

Tonight, however, the universe had something to say.

---

Mira was drinking coffee when the alarm sounded.

BEEP.

She looked at the control panel.

“Seriously?”

The alarm sounded again.

BEEP. BEEP.

Mira placed her cup down.

“What now?”

The central screen displayed:

UNKNOWN TRANSMISSION DETECTED

Mira’s tired expression disappeared.

She leaned forward.

“Source?”

The computer searched.

Nothing.

“That’s impossible.”

The signal was too strong to be natural.

Mira entered several commands.

The computer displayed coordinates.

She stared at them.

Her heart began beating faster.

The coordinates pointed toward a region beyond the outer colonies.

A place known as the Silent Sea.

No spacecraft traveled there.

No communication satellites existed there.

And most importantly—

There was supposed to be nothing there.

Mira whispered:

“Let’s see what you are.”

She opened the transmission.

Static filled the cabin.

Then a voice appeared.

A young man’s voice.

Soft.

Calm.

Almost sad.

“If you’re hearing this…”

Mira stopped breathing.

The voice continued.

“…please don’t turn the signal off.”

She stared at the speaker.

Something about that voice felt familiar.

Not because she had heard it before.

Because it felt like remembering a dream.

Mira whispered:

“Who are you?”

The transmission continued.

“My name is Eren Vale.”

Mira froze.

The computer automatically searched the name.

A file appeared.

She opened it.

Her eyes widened.

EREN VALE

STATUS: MISSING

DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 2230

Mira looked at the date.

Seventeen years ago.

She checked the current year.

2247.

Her hands became cold.

The voice continued.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Mira leaned closer.

“Waiting for who?”

Silence.

Then—

“You.”

The transmission ended.

Mira sat completely still.

For several seconds, she couldn’t move.

Then she laughed nervously.

“Okay.”

She looked around the empty spacecraft.

“That’s creepy.”

The computer suddenly beeped.

Another message appeared.

INCOMING TRANSMISSION

Mira stared.

She accepted it.

The same voice returned.

“Mira Solen.”

Her blood ran cold.

The voice knew her name.

“How do you know me?”

No answer.

Mira waited.

Then Eren spoke again.

“Because I’ve already met you.”

Mira’s heart skipped.

“When?”

Static.

Then:

“Not yet.”

The transmission disappeared.

---

Mira spent the next six hours searching every database.

Eren Vale had been an astronaut.

Twenty-three years old when he disappeared.

He had been part of the Aurora Expedition, a mission sent to explore a planet called Nerith.

Nerith had vanished from every star map shortly afterward.

The official report said the expedition ship had been destroyed.

No survivors.

No wreckage.

No explanation.

Mira opened an old photograph.

Five astronauts stood beside the Aurora.

At the center was Eren.

He had dark hair.

A gentle smile.

And a small silver necklace around his neck.

Mira stared at the photograph.

Something strange happened.

She recognized the necklace.

She had seen it before.

Not in a photograph.

In a dream.

She had dreamed about that necklace since childhood.

Mira closed the file.

“No.”

She opened another report.

The final transmission from the Aurora Expedition had been recorded seventeen years ago.

Mira played it.

Static.

Then Eren’s voice.

“We’ve reached Nerith.”

A pause.

“There is an ocean.”

Another pause.

His voice became frightened.

“But the ocean is above us.”

The recording ended.

Mira stared at the screen.

“The ocean is above them?”

She replayed it.

Same message.

She searched for Nerith.

Nothing.

The planet didn’t exist.

Or at least, it shouldn’t.

Then her navigation system beeped.

Mira turned.

A new location had appeared.

Coordinates.

The same coordinates as the transmission.

But now there was a name.

NERITH

Mira stared.

The impossible planet had appeared on her map.

She whispered:

“You’re inviting me.”

The computer replied:

“Destination available.”

Mira looked at the stars.

She knew she should report the signal.

She knew she should return to Earth.

She knew every rule of space exploration told her not to investigate an unknown planet alone.

Instead, she smiled.

“Set course for Nerith.”

The engines came alive.

Luna Blue turned toward the darkness.

---

The journey took three days.

During those three days, Eren’s signal appeared every night.

Always at exactly midnight.

Always for exactly one minute.

The first night:

“Don’t trust the blue flowers.”

The second:

“When you see the ocean, don’t touch it.”

The third:

“If you find me, don’t ask me how long I’ve been waiting.”

Mira wrote everything down.

On the fourth night, the signal didn’t come.

Instead, something else happened.

The stars disappeared.

Mira looked through the cockpit window.

Nothing.

No stars.

No planets.

No moon.

Only darkness.

The computer displayed:

NAVIGATION ERROR.

Mira tried to restart the system.

Nothing.

Then something appeared ahead.

A blue light.

At first, it looked like a star.

Then it became larger.

Mira slowly realized what she was seeing.

A planet.

Blue.

Beautiful.

Covered almost entirely by water.

Nerith.

Mira stared.

“It exists.”

The planet was surrounded by enormous rings of glowing clouds.

And above its surface floated thousands of tiny islands.

They looked like pieces of land suspended in the sky.

Mira guided Luna Blue downward.

The atmosphere was strangely calm.

No turbulence.

No storms.

The planet welcomed her.

As she descended, Mira saw something impossible.

An ocean floated above the planet.

Not clouds.

Not water vapor.

A real ocean.

A massive blue sea hung upside down in the sky.

Mira’s mouth opened.

“This is what Eren saw.”

She landed near a quiet silver beach.

The moment the spacecraft touched the ground—

The lights inside Luna Blue turned off.

Mira sighed.

“Of course.”

She grabbed a flashlight and stepped outside.

The planet was silent.

Too silent.

There were blue flowers everywhere.

They glowed softly beneath the moonlight.

Mira remembered the first warning.

Don’t trust the blue flowers.

She stepped around them.

Then she saw footprints.

Human footprints.

They continued along the beach.

Mira followed them.

One step.

Two.

Three.

They led toward a small wooden house overlooking the ocean.

Smoke came from the chimney.

Someone was inside.

Mira’s heart began racing.

She walked toward the door.

A voice came from behind her.

“Don’t.”

Mira froze.

She turned.

A young man stood beneath the blue moon.

Dark hair.

Black jacket.

Silver necklace.

Mira couldn’t breathe.

She knew him immediately.

Eren.

He looked exactly like the photograph.

Exactly twenty-three years old.

Exactly as he had looked seventeen years ago.

He stared at her.

His expression was full of disbelief.

Then he whispered:

“Mira?”

She couldn’t speak.

Eren stepped closer.

“You actually came.”

Mira finally found her voice.

“You’re Eren Vale.”

He nodded.

“You’re supposed to be dead.”

Eren smiled sadly.

“I know.”

Mira stared at him.

“How long have you been here?”

Eren looked toward the floating ocean above them.

His eyes filled with something that looked like fear.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

He shook his head.

“Time doesn’t work here.”

Mira stepped closer.

“You sent the signal.”

“Yes.”

“Why me?”

Eren looked at her for a long moment.

Then he reached into his jacket.

He pulled out a small silver necklace.

The same necklace from the photograph.

He held it toward her.

Mira stared.

“I’ve seen that before.”

“I know.”

“When?”

Eren’s voice became barely audible.

“Tomorrow.”

Mira frowned.

“What does that mean?”

Eren looked toward the sky.

The floating ocean began glowing.

Thousands of stars appeared beneath its surface.

Then the entire ocean moved.

Slowly.

Like a gigantic wave suspended above the planet.

Eren grabbed Mira’s hand.

“Inside.”

“What?”

“Now.”

“Why?”

He looked terrified.

“Because Nerith has noticed you.”

The blue flowers around them suddenly opened.

Every flower turned toward Mira.

And from beneath the ground came thousands of whispers.

“She’s here.”

Mira stared at Eren.

“What is this place?”

Eren pulled her toward the house.

“The beginning.”

He looked back at the glowing ocean.

“And the end.”

The floating sea suddenly crashed downward.

But instead of falling onto the planet—

It stopped above them.

The entire sky became an ocean.

And something enormous moved inside it.

Mira looked up.

A giant shadow passed through the water.

Eren whispered:

“Whatever you do…”

He tightened his grip on her hand.

“…don’t let it see your face.”

Mira looked at him.

“Why?”

Eren slowly turned toward her.

Because his eyes were suddenly filled with tears.

“Because it already knows who you are.”

The creature beneath the sky opened one enormous eye.

And it looked directly at Mira.

TO BE CONTINUED…