The MiG-31 Foxhound fighter's thrusters flared, and the system turned on as Sylas took off and accelerated toward the Void-Tide Storm.
Sera sat in her usual spot on his shoulder, her current form—a half-butterfly, half-spider shape, her glistening wings twitching ever so slightly, while she observed their surroundings.
"Sylas muttered, gripping the controls tighter. "We'll be back soon."
Sera simply nodded, unbothered by the madness they were flying into.
The Void-Tide Storm loomed ahead, a colossal vortex of swirling cosmic chaos it was as larger than a thousand star system combined, it was surrounded by an asteroid field so thick it looked like a barrier designed to keep intruders out.
'Well that what it was supposed to do.' Sylas thought.
Most would slow down or even hesitate before going in given the reputation this storm had gotten.
In fact the storm was given a nickname 'The land of no return'.
Instead of hesitating, Sylas pushed the fighter to its limits.
The ship shot forward, a blur of speed as it plunged directly into the asteroid field.
Instantly, a hundred asteroids closed in—massive hunks of rock and metal, aether crystals.
Sylas exhaled and closed his eyes.
He stretched out his Aether sense, letting his mind expand beyond the confines of the cockpit.
The world around him shifted— the movements of the asteroids clear in his perception.
Now that he wasn't relying on his eyes the number of asteroid around him doubled, some were moving erratically that they were hidden by by other asteroids while others were simply cloaked in illusion.
Normally this wouldn't be a problem except this wasn't the main obstacle it was just supposed to drain the aether cell from so many asteroids smashing unto the shields.
Controlling the ship, Sylas weaved through gaps so tight that a single miscalculation would've turned them into debris especially since the fighter they were in wasn't designed to take too many hits.
A small inconsequential asteroid appeared ahead but once Sylas' aether sense reached it he soon realized that it was in fact a massive one. Sylas flicked the controls at the last second, dodging left and going around it.
Another cloaked asteroid shifted into his path, but he had already adjusted before it even revealed itself.
Minutes stretched into hours. The deeper they went, the more distorted reality became, yet Sylas remained unfazed.
And then... they broke through.
The asteroids ended, and an eerie silence settled around them.
"Is that going to be all?" Sera asked, "That feels so..."
Sera didn't finish her words when it came.
A sound echoed through the vacuum.
A roar.
Not the kind that travelled through air—this one reverberated through space, a deep, guttural tremor that pulsed through the fighter's hull.
Sylas chuckled, "Well that answers your question. They're here."
Almost on clue, they emerged.
Void creatures.
This particular ones were slender, elongated creatures, their bodies stretching across distances, extremely similar with serpent.
Their scales shimmered in the darkness, reflecting nothing yet everything at once, making them nearly invisible unless one knew was right in front of them.
They coiled and slithered, moving as if gravity had no claim over them—because it didn't.
One of their ability include creating and bending gravity, twisting and phasing through space in ways that no ship could match.
One of them suddenly flickered... and vanished.
Sylas tensed. "Teleportation…"
"Where did it go?" Sera asked.
The serpent reappeared just in front of them, its gaping maw inches from the ship's hull.
Sylas immediately spun the ship around, narrowly dodging the serpent's mouth.
Sera finally spoke, her voice calm despite the chaos. "Not Leviathans, then."
"No," Sylas confirmed. "Their cousins, Void Serpents."
Void Leviathans were monsters of sheer brute force—towering behemoths with bioluminescent scales and Aetheric energy powerful enough to shatter fleets.
Their fangs could channel raw Aether into devastating blasts, and their thick, impenetrable hide made them nightmares to kill.
Legend has it that a single Void Leviathan bringing entire fleets to ruin, reducing even the strongest warships to dust.
But Void Serpents?
They were something else entirely. Elusive, unpredictable, ghosts of the abyss.
Unlike their more famous kin, they didn't rely on raw power. They used stealth, and the terrifying ability to warp space itself.
And right now, Sylas and Sera were in their hunting grounds.
"Hold on," Sylas muttered.
Another pulse. Another flicker.
A serpent vanished—
And then reappeared directly in front of them again.
Its jaws opened.
Sylas reacted instantly dodging once again.
Sylas smirked. "Let's see how long they last."
And with that, he dove deeper into the storm.
Sylas tightened his grip on the controls, maintaining a steady course through the void.
The trick to surviving the Void Serpents wasn't combat—it was restraint.
These creatures weren't malicious. They hunted by instinct.
Their method was simple: they would phase into existence in front of their prey, maw wide open, waiting for something to be pulled into it.
But if the target dodged a few times and showed no aggression, the Serpents would lose interest and drift away.
Shooting them, though?
That was a death sentence.
If someone attacked, the Void Serpents wouldn't stop until their prey was completely obliterated or lost to the abyss.
And Judging from the number of scattered remains of ships and debris surrounding him, a lot of unfortunate souls had tried to fight their way through.
He glanced at the darkness beyond, watching as the Serpents, realizing they would get no reaction from him, lost interest.
One by one, they flickered out of existence—teleporting away, vanishing back into the storm.
Silence returned.
Sylas exhaled and pushed the fighter forward.
The storm soon faded behind them, and what lay ahead stole his breath.
A planet made of metal.
Massive. Artificial. Suspended in the centre of the storm like it was the core of the storm... Well it was.
A world-sized construct, it looked like a perfectly shaped sphere with no blemish.
And around it?
A graveyard of ships.
Thousands.
All of them looked like they were frozen in time with barely any damage, some were ancient, some modern.
Battlecruisers, dreadnoughts, interceptors—all floating silently in a vast ring around the metallic world.
Sera's voice came curiosity evident. "This... isn't normal."
Before Sylas could respond, it happened.
A deep, mechanical hum reverberated through space.
The metal planet pulsed—a wave of energy radiating outward.
And in an instant—
Everything shut down.
The ship's engines, the shield, the lights, the console—dead.
Even Sera.
A stillness settled over him.
Then—
A faint glow.
From his hand.
His ring.
And then he felt it. Something was watching him.