The stasis pods opened.
The Xerzes, Opoove, and Folqi gasped for air as they awoke. Their bodies, though well-preserved, were weak, disoriented. They stumbled out of the pods, their eyes adjusting to the impossible sight before them.
They were no longer in a ship.
They were standing on land.
Green fields stretched endlessly. The air was crisp, the sky vast and clear. Rivers flowed, and creatures—animals they remembered from their home—wandered freely. It was as if the planet they had lost had been reborn.
But something was different.
In the sky above them, stars twisted and bent unnaturally. Moons drifted too close, and massive celestial bodies loomed in the distance.
They were no longer in their home galaxy.
This was an uncharted universe.
And somewhere, beyond the edges of this new world, something was coming.
The enemy had not forgotten.
And neither had their god.