3156, somewhere in space.

Hyerim had been navigating through the galaxy for quite some time now. It had been days already, and to be honest, she felt quite lonely. She had left EXO planet quite hurriedly, as it was destroyed and started to disappear. She didn’t really understand what had happened; she only knew that it regarded the Guardians and some kind of fight that had been going on for years now. It was a sight to behold, truly. As she watched the planet getting destroyed, Hyerim’s heart felt heavy in her chest. EXO planet was her home; and now, she had no place to call home anymore. She didn’t even know what happened to her family, her friends; had they died in the catastrophe? Had they escaped successfully? Were they roaming the galaxy just like she was? So many questions, yet so few answers.

With a sigh, she pushed a button and the spaceship went into automatic mode. Hyerim was quite far from the Cygnus constellation now, where EXO planet had been situated. She didn’t know where she was going; she wanted to find the Guardians and maybe get some answers, but they could be anywhere in the galaxy. Were they even together, or did they get separated after what had happened? And even then, she wouldn’t even be able to recognize them if she eventually found them. As the Guardians of EXO planet, their identities had to remain a secret so they could still live normal lives – as normal as the life of a Guardian could be. The only times they would appear to the population of EXO planet, they would wear robes and masks to conceal their identities. Hence, Hyerim had little to no hints regarding where to search for the Guardians, or even who to look for. She groaned and ran a hand through her hair. She hated this situation.

For a while, the only thing that could be heard in the cockpit of the spaceship was the constant and calming buzzing of the motor as Hyerim was enjoying the infinite view of the galaxy. It was quite the view; being able to see stars, planets and all the like from so close was really enjoyable. The occasional stop at a space station to get some gas for the ship was enjoyable as well; mingling with humans and other species of the galaxy was refreshing and Hyerim didn’t feel as lonely, after that. The universe became so much more lively after humans started traveling to outer space. As much as the population from EXO planet was similar to humans, there were still some differences; but it was always nice to meet them and discover more about planet Earth.

Hyerim was brought out of her reverie when the radar suddenly emitted a noise. She straightened up right away, frowning. The radar had detected a planet not far from her position. It was weird… She was in a somehow recluse part of the galaxy, where you barely came upon any sign of life. Maybe it was just some dwarf planet where wildlife was predominant. Yet, Hyerim felt drawn to that planet. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she had to go there and explore. Maybe it was one of the Guardians that recognized her as a being of EXO planet, hence the pull? She pushed some buttons and took over the controls again, determined. She would get to that planet and explore it. At that point, she had nothing to lose anymore.

A good two hours later, the planet finally came into view. It wasn’t a dwarf, but it didn’t really look inhabited either, which wasn’t a surprise. The planet looked dangerous and hostile, heavy fog covering it and obscuring its sky; there was no saying that something was waiting for her under this fog. On top of that, the planet was orbiting extremely closely around a red main sequence star that made the planet look that much more ominous; it must be its sun. Hyerim hesitated. Her instinct was telling her to just turn around and never come back, but the pull was getting stronger the closer she got to the planet. She couldn’t just give up now that she had come all the way here, right…

Slowly, she started maneuvering the spaceship to make her way down and land on the planet, carefully. It was hard, as she couldn’t see much because of the thick fog and clouds. Everywhere she looked, Hyerim could only see clouds after clouds of dark fog. It also looked like it was windy on the planet, as the ship swayed from time to time on the way down. She scared herself as she swerved to the left to escape a gust of scalding gas. She steadily made her way down until she could finally see the surface of the planet, landing a few seconds later.

The atmosphere was chilling. There was just fog everywhere, making it hard to see anything. The only source of light came from the red sun, but it wasn’t comforting either, as the sky was pitch black and the stars couldn’t even be seen. The surface of the planet was black, with rivers of boiling magma here and there. Hyerim felt like she just came upon the gates of Hell. She took a deep breath and turned off the engine before unbuckling her belt, and standing up. She felt anxious, not knowing what to expect. She got out of the cockpit, walking through the spaceship to reach her bedroom. There, she packed her backpack with necessary items like food, water, and clothes; as she didn’t know what was waiting for her, she preferred to be cautious. She also picked up her flashlight, which would probably be more than useful on such a planet. At last, she took her dagger and strapped it to her thigh – better safe than sorry.

After one last look at her spaceship, she pulled the mask that would protect her over and nose. She then made her way out of the ship into the ruthless weather. Lighting up her flashlight, she slowly walked forward on the unknown land. The atmosphere was heavy with smoke and the strong wind wasn’t helping. She could feel the heat from the blazing magma from afar and kept herself away from it. Hyerim didn’t know where she was going, but she hoped she was going the right way; getting lost on this planet was the last thing she wanted. This place was enough of a nightmare as it was, she didn’t need anything bad happening to her as well. The flashlight wasn’t really helping either as it couldn’t cut through the thick fog, but its presence was reassuring.

For what felt like hours in this atmosphere, but was in reality just a few minutes, Hyerim walked and walked until she came upon a facility. It was a chance that she had landed close to it. It didn’t look like someone lived there, but she decided to try her luck and enter. It would always be better than staying out there, anyway. She pushed the heavy door and once she was in, the door closed behind her, and it became silent. The sound of the crackling wind had disappeared and instead left place to a deafening silence, which made her feel uncomfortable. It was too silent for Hyerim’s liking, but at least she would be safe here. 

“Is someone there?”

As she got no answer, she hesitantly made her way through the hall, the soles of her combat boots resonating in the silence. Soon, she found herself in a room with red walls, a lone table adorned with a chessboard and its pieces in the middle. In front of it, on the wall, were TVs showing what she assumed to be different rooms of the facility. Hyerim approached to get a closer look, noting that all the rooms seemed to be empty. Maybe there really was no one living here after all… But the pull resonated through her body, as strong as ever. There must be at least someone here, she couldn’t have come here for no reason.

Lost in her thoughts in front of the TVs, the young woman suddenly got the creepy feeling that someone was observing her. She stiffened, the crawling feeling running straight up from her tailbone to the top of her skull. What if someone was really here and tried to kill her? What should she do? Hyerim knew she couldn’t rule out the possibility, as there were a lot of species throughout the galaxy that killed for no reason, even more on such hostile planets. The problem was that she wasn’t a space ranger, so she didn’t know how to fight properly. She started to think that maybe, all of this was a really bad idea. Maybe she should have just continued roaming through space instead of following some dumb feeling she had. She closed her eyes and exhaled, counting down from three to one mentally. I can do it.

3… Her hand went down to her thigh.

2… She let it hover over the dagger, nervous.

1…

Quickly turning around, her dagger in hand, Hyerim scanned her surroundings, listening for any type of noise that would betray the presence of someone in the room. But after two minutes of just standing there, it was clear that there was no one other than her. She still didn’t let her guard down, keeping the dagger in her hand as she made her way out of the room, through a new hall. Once again, the silence was deafening and it kept her on her toes. She felt like she was in one of those horror movies humans liked to watch – she had never understood the appeal, even less now that it felt like she was living through one.

As she was walking down the hall, looking for a door to a new room, the lights on the ceiling briefly became a lot brighter, and they suddenly went out. Before the young woman was able to reach for her flashlight, a voice resounded from the dark, behind her.

“I wouldn’t try and do anything stupid if I was you.”

Ever so slowly, Hyerim turned around to face the voice, still invisible in the darkness. From out of nowhere, speckles of light gathered around them, leaving her speechless. How was this even possible?

“Chën.”

Too late, Hyerim realized someone was behind her as well. She didn’t have time to react as two fingers touched her on the neck, sending waves of electric shocks that were powerful enough to make her lose consciousness. Icy blue eyes were the last thing she saw before her body shut down.

Hyerim awoke to a pounding headache. She was laying on the floor of what looked like a cell. It wasn’t that big, leaving just enough space for her to stretch her legs. The walls were opaque, not letting her see anything outside the cell. She slowly got up on her feet, feeling the walls; maybe one side would give in and she’d be able to come out. But after a few minutes, she had to face the obvious; she wouldn’t be able to come out unless someone opened the door, wherever it was. She sighed, letting herself fall back down on the floor, in a sitting position. She brought her legs to her chest, closing her eyes. How did she even find herself in this situation? She should have been more careful. But how could she have known that there was not one, but two persons ambushing her? And on top of that, there was no explanation as to how those speckles of light had appeared. And also, that second person had touched her and she had felt the electric shocks running through her body. How was it possible? He didn’t have any device for that and only touched her with his fingers. What was going on?

“Don’t pull such a face, it doesn’t suit you.”

Hyerim opened her eyes at once, glancing around. It was that voice… The voice from the man with the icy eyes. And the pull seemed to be coming from him, as she could feel it stronger than ever before. But what was that pull, exactly? Could he feel it too, or was it just her?

“Who are you? And where am I?”

“Such a curious being, aren’t you? I think it’s only fair if you answer my questions first.”

The young woman frowned. She didn’t really like this situation, but did she have another choice? Maybe he