Xander's grunt was noncommittal, but his eyes didn't leave the pulsing geometric shapes on the horizon.
The landscape around them was desolate; cracked, gray earth stretched out under the oppressive bruised-purple sky.
There were no trees, no plants, just jagged rock formations that looked unnaturally sharp, and the faint, unsettling hum that seemed to emanate from the distant shapes. The air was thin and carried a metallic tang, like ozone or burnt circuits. There was no wind, lending an eerie stillness to the alien environment.
"Okay, reassurances aside," Rain said, her voice sharp and pulling Jasper from his momentary relief, "where are we?" She slowly turned in a circle, her storm-gray eyes scanning everything.
"Energy readings are... scrambled. Distorted. There's background radiation, but it's not like anything I've encountered. And temporal flux... it's high."
Jasper pulled out a small, battered device – part metal, part crystal – and started fiddling with it. "Trying to get a lock... anything. Chronometer is spinning uselessly. No ambient mana signatures I recognize either. It's like this place is... outside the usual spectrum."
He tapped the device harder. "Come on, you piece of junk."
"Less hitting, more observing," Xander stated flatly.
He had already checked his knives and was now examining the ground, crouching low. "No tracks. No signs of life, recent or old. Whatever lives here, if anything, doesn't move like we do."
He picked up a shard of rock, examining its unnaturally smooth, almost cut edge. "This place wasn't formed naturally."
"So, artificially constructed alien hellscape it is," Jasper muttered, finally giving up on his device. "Lovely. Any suggestions, fearless leaders?"
Rain ignored his sarcasm. "Priority one is shelter. That radiation, whatever it is, feels corrosive over time. Priority two is assessing those shapes."
She pointed towards the pulsing structures on the horizon. "They're the only major feature. Could be a source of the distortion, could be a settlement, could be a trap."
"I vote trap," Jasper offered immediately.
Xander stood up, wiping dust from his gloves. "We move towards the nearest rock formation," he decided, pointing towards a cluster of jagged peaks about half a mile away. "Scout from elevation. Avoid the open ground." His gaze flickered towards the distant pulsing shapes again. "And stay alert. Stillness doesn't mean safety."
Rain nodded in agreement. "Let's move. Jasper, keep trying with that device. Any reading, no matter how garbled, might give us a clue."
Jasper sighed but pocketed the device with a nod. "Right. Shelter, scout, avoid the ominous pulsing geometry. Got it." He glanced nervously at the sky. "Just... try not to get us separated again, okay?"
With Xander taking point, and Rain guarding the rear, her senses scanning for magical threats, the trio began their cautious trek across the alien wasteland.
They moved in silence for what felt like an eternity, the only sound the crunch of their boots on the brittle, gray earth and Jasper's occasional frustrated sigh as he fiddled with his unresponsive scanner.
The jagged rock formations loomed closer, offering the vague promise of cover, but the oppressive stillness of the place felt increasingly sinister. The pulsing geometric shapes on the horizon remained a constant, unnerving presence.
Suddenly, Xander held up a hand, halting their progress. He crouched low, his golden eyes narrowed, scanning the ground ahead.
Rain immediately dropped into a defensive stance, her senses flaring out, searching for magical signatures. Jasper froze, clutching his scanner like a weapon he didn't know how to use.
"What is it?" Rain whispered, her voice barely audible in the thin air.
Xander didn't answer immediately. He pointed towards a spot about twenty yards ahead, near the base of one of the smaller, isolated rock spires. "There," he murmured.
Following his gesture, Rain and Jasper saw it too. Lying partially embedded in the cracked earth was something that didn't belong. It wasn't rock; it was smooth, dark, and seemed to absorb the dim purple light rather than reflect it.
It looked almost like a discarded piece of technology, vaguely disc-shaped, about the size of a large dinner plate, with faint, intricate lines etched across its surface. No hum, no pulse, just... stillness.
"Is that... part of something?" Jasper asked, squinting. "Or is it something?"
"Could be wreckage," Rain mused cautiously. "Or it could be dormant."
Xander slowly drew one of his knives, his movements fluid and silent. "Only one way to find out. Stay back. Cover me."
He began to move forward, keeping low, using the sparse, jagged terrain for minimal cover. Rain readied herself, energy gathering faintly around her hands, prepared to throw up a shield or ward. Jasper fumbled for a heavy wrench he kept tucked in his belt – not much, but better than nothing.
Xander reached the edge of the clearing around the object. He circled it slowly, knife held ready, eyes scanning for any sign of a trap or hidden mechanism.
The object remained inert, silent, seemingly dead. After a full circle, he gave a curt nod back to the others, signaling it seemed safe to approach.
Rain and Jasper moved up cautiously, flanking Xander as they got closer. The object was smooth, cool to the touch (as Xander tested briefly with the tip of his boot), and utterly featureless except for the swirling, almost fractal-like lines etched into its surface. It gave off no energy Rain could detect, no heat, no vibration.
"Weird," Jasper breathed, leaning closer, adjusting his glasses. "It's like... solidified shadow? What is this made of?"
He reached out a hesitant finger, ignoring Rain's sharp intake of breath signaling a warning.
The instant Jasper's fingertip brushed the surface, the etched lines flared with blinding white light. A high-pitched keening sound erupted, piercing the silence and making all three flinch back, hands flying to their ears.
Before they could react further, the ground beneath the object fractured. Not crumbling, but unfolding.
Geometric panels of the same dark material rose silently from the earth, clicking into place around them with impossible speed and precision, forming walls, then a ceiling, trapping them inside a perfectly smooth, dark chamber before the light from the disc abruptly cut out, plunging them into absolute, disorienting blackness.
A click echoed in the dark. Then, a voice in a calm, synthesized, and utterly alien, spoke directly into their minds.
"Analysis Subject Designation: Anomaly Three. Welcome. Please remain still. The integration process will now begin."