1

  The air on Taran was slowly killing them.

  Not because it was poisonous, or scarce.

  No… it was dead. Empty.

  It lacked the subtle pulse that Kayan had felt in his body since birth—the invisible thread connecting every living being to the force that gave life: Vox.

  Here, on this lifeless planet, Vox wasn’t weak… it was absent.

  As if Taran itself were a corpse drifting through space.

  Kayan stood at the entrance of the Phoenix-9, staring at the gray horizon beneath a lead-colored sky.

  “Your first mission… and it’s on a dead planet. Smart choice.”

  Sena’s voice carried a hint of amusement.

  “I didn’t choose it,” Kayan replied quietly.

  Behind them, Zidan’s deep voice cut through the silence.

  “Three minutes. Standard formation. Move.”

  The team numbered ten: humans, Sulvans, Gorrans, and two Drax. Their mission: protect a group of archaeologists exploring a buried pyramid beneath volcanic layers.

  From a distance, the pyramid appeared like a black wound in the desert’s body.

  2

  Inside, darkness was unnaturally thick.

  Their lights barely pierced it, swallowed almost instantly.

  After an hour of winding through narrow corridors, they reached a vast chamber.

  Skeletons were piled in the center—not entirely human, but close enough to unsettle the heart.

  One corpse remained seated against the wall.

  In its hand… a sheet of paper.

  Professor Harun held it with trembling hands:

  “Null has come to erase us. As he erased those before us. His arrival means we are close to—”

  The text ended abruptly.

  A heavy silence fell.

  “Null?” Sena whispered.

  Maya didn’t speak.

  Her eyes flickered for a moment.

  Then… a roar.

  Not an animal’s.

  A vibration deep in the bones.

  The Drax moved to scout the next passage.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  They returned faster than ever.

  “Three… but their energy is unstable,” one whispered.

  Then it appeared.

  3 – Combat

  The creatures were massive, wolf-like, their semi-transparent bodies revealing glowing blue bones.

  But this glow… it wasn’t normal Vox.

  Heavier. Older.

  One lunged at impossible speed, striking a human teammate, sending a bone-shattering impact through the chamber. Painful screams echoed.

  “Form a defense!” Zidan barked.

  Sena surged forward, his Vox igniting into a blade of blue energy. He struck, but the force rebounded as if hitting an invisible wall.

  The beast roared, a shockwave tossing two others to the ground.

  Kayan fired three precision shots at the creature’s joints. They hit, but the wounds began closing almost immediately.

  “Regeneration?!” Riel whispered.

  Maya stepped forward.

  Vox erupted from her in a massive surge. Blue, threaded with deep violet—rare, ancient, beyond ordinary.

  With a single fluid motion, she sliced the second beast diagonally. It didn’t split immediately… but froze for a heartbeat before collapsing.

  The third… did nothing.

  It stared past them.

  Then, suddenly—the other beasts froze.

  Silence returned.

  One step.

  Just a single step echoed through the chamber, and it felt like the world had stopped.

  From the shadows, a man emerged.

  Clad in simple black, no armor, no weapons.

  No visible Vox around him.

  Yet the air itself thickened.

  Zidan immediately lowered his blade.

  “Dark…”

  The name alone resonated with awe.

  One of the Drax swallowed hard.

  “One of the strongest…”

  Dark didn’t look at them.

  He simply raised his hand.

  No Vox appeared.

  Yet the space around the third beast compressed.

  Silently… it shattered from within.

  The remaining creatures collapsed immediately.

  Everything ended.

  Dark spoke not a word.

  He turned and returned to the shadows from which he had come.

  “Why was he here?” Sena whispered.

  Zidan’s tone was cold:

  “Don’t ask why Dark appears. Just be grateful you were on his side.”

  Kayan looked at Maya.

  She stared into the dark passage.

  Her face calm.

  But her fingers trembled.

  4 – On the Phoenix-9

  The analysis confirmed the horror.

  The corpse’s DNA… human.

  Yet over a million years old.

  “This defies everything we know.” Harun muttered.

  Kayan wasn’t listening.

  He watched Maya.

  Later, he approached.

  “You know something about Null, don’t you?”

  She stared for a long moment.

  “No.”

  But she was lying.

  5 – Maya’s Memory

  Maya stood before the observation window.

  The stars slipping past them.

  Her mind returned to the past.

  She was small, training under her teacher.

  The one who taught her to sense and control Vox.

  The one whose name she never knew.

  They stood at the edge of a high cliff, facing a turbulent sky.

  He said, quietly:

  “There are secrets in this universe, Maya.”

  She smiled faintly.

  “Secrets? That makes sense.”

  He shook his head slowly.

  “And not just secrets… there are names.”

  “Names? Like what?” she asked.

  He looked at her, and she didn’t understand until years later.

  “Like the name Null.”

  She froze.

  It wasn’t the name itself that frightened her,

  but the weight with which it was spoken.

  “And what about a name?” she asked softly.

  Some names aren’t labels… they’re announcements.

  “If you see this name anywhere… run. Immediately.

  Do not hesitate.

  Do not look back.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “Just because of a name?”

  Seeing her teacher’s eyes, she understood the gravity.

  “Seeing this name means you’ve come dangerously close to something no one should touch.”

  And then, in a voice low enough to chill the universe itself:

  “And if it comes… nothing will remain.”

  6 – End

  She returned to the present.

  She had seen the name.

  She didn’t run.

  Far behind the ship…

  deep in the darkness of space…

  Something was waking.

  And it knew that its name had been spoken again.