A stranger from the stars

The ship arrived without fanfare. No ceremony, no planetary broadcast, no diplomatic escort. Just a silent descent through Earth’s upper orbit and a brief flash across the tracking satellites that the Federation quietly ignored.

But someone noticed.

Zera Valen stood at the top of the Academy’s observation deck, her hands gripping the railing as she watched the black vessel settle just beyond the city’s outer shield. It didn’t bear a Federation emblem. Instead, a swirling sigil of stars marked its hull, faint and ancient-looking, like something out of a pre-Federation archive.

She hadn’t seen that symbol in any of her political briefings. And that scared her more than anything.

Kael, meanwhile, was running laps.

It was a habit left over from his early years in the Academy—when he was still trying to prove he could fit in by doing everything twice as hard. Now, he just needed to think. With each step, the strange pulse inside his chest beat stronger. It didn’t hurt. But it didn’t feel passive, either.

It was watching.

Measuring.

Waiting.

He came to a stop beneath the shadow of the eastern wing, breathing heavily. The Academy’s spiritual array shimmered faintly above him, filtering the early morning light and keeping the air unnaturally cool.

Then something flickered.

Kael turned.

A woman stood ten meters away, on the edge of the training field. She hadn’t been there a moment ago. Tall, cloaked, and calm. Her skin shimmered faintly, like starlight reflected in a still pool. Her eyes were deep violet, almost black, and there was no mistaking it—she was not from Earth.

“Kael Saran,” she said softly. “You found it.”

He froze. “Who are you?”

“I am called Elyria. I came for the seed.”

She didn’t move. She didn’t raise her voice. And yet every part of Kael’s body was suddenly screaming at him to run.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said carefully.

“That would make you a liar,” Elyria replied, a faint smile touching her lips. “And the seed does not lie.”

Kael took a slow step back.

In the corner of his eye, a faint shimmer—lines of golden text—flickered just beneath his vision.

\[Host Threat Level: Moderate.]

\[Recommendation: Retreat or Engage with Caution.]

\[Secondary Function: Conceptual Lock Unstable.]

He clenched his fists.

“I didn’t ask for this.”

“You were chosen long before you had the right to ask.”

Elyria took a step forward. It wasn’t threatening. It was gentle, graceful. But the air changed with it. He felt pressure all around him. Not weight. Not Qi. Something heavier. Like the laws of nature themselves had taken a breath.

“You should not exist,” she said, voice almost tender. “And yet you do. That means something has begun.”

Kael’s body trembled.

He took another step back, nearly stumbling. His vision blurred—and for the briefest instant, the world seemed to split. One version of the field was calm. The other was burning. Ash rained from the sky. The academy lay in ruins. Elyria stood in both versions, her eyes unchanged.

Then it was gone.

Kael staggered. The hallucination—or whatever it was—left his head pounding.

“What… was that?”

“An echo,” Elyria answered. “Your mind is touching futures it cannot yet hold.”

She reached into her cloak and withdrew a single silver disc. She placed it gently on the stone floor between them.

“When the visions come again, use this. It will not protect you, but it will let you choose which part of the truth to see first.”

Kael stared at the object. Then back at her.

“Why are you helping me?”

Elyria turned away, her cloak rustling softly.

“Because I remember what it felt like to be chosen by something I didn’t understand. And because others are coming who will not offer warnings.”

With that, she vanished.

No light. No sound. Just gone.

Kael dropped to a knee, breathing hard. He looked at the disc. It shimmered faintly, like it wasn’t entirely real. When he touched it, it hummed—resonating with something inside him.

Far above, from the academy tower, Zera Valen watched him.

She didn’t know what he’d just seen. But her instincts screamed that the stranger who had just appeared—and disappeared—was not a one-time visitor.

Kael had always been invisible. Now he was something else.

Something dangerous.

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