Ethan's legs gave out beneath him. His breath came ragged, lungs burning as if the very air of this planet was rejecting him. The towering warriors closed in, their weapons glowing with eerie energy. He clenched his fists, though he knew resistance was useless.
General Kael Veyra's voice thundered again.
"Search every wreck. Leave no seed of Earth alive."
Ethan swallowed hard. This was it. His father's warning echoed in his head, but there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. One of the soldiers leveled a blade of shimmering crystal at his chest.
Then she stepped forward.
The girl with the silver eyes.
Lyra.
"Wait," her voice was firm, but soft compared to the general's booming authority. "He is… different."
Kael turned, towering over her. "Different? He is a son of Earth. He bleeds like the rest."
Lyra held her ground, though her hands trembled. "Then let me prove it. A dead enemy teaches us nothing. Alive, he could tell us why they came."
The general's eyes narrowed, glowing red like embers. For a moment, Ethan thought he would strike her down where she stood. But then Kael let out a low growl.
"Fine. Bind him. If he lies, he dies."
The soldiers moved quickly, seizing Ethan by the arms. Their strength was inhuman—fingers like iron shackles. A rough cord, woven from some kind of living vine, wrapped tight around his wrists. It pulsed faintly, like it had its own heartbeat.
Ethan was dragged through the alien forest, glowing plants bending toward him as if they were watching. The ground beneath his boots seemed alive, soft and shifting. The forest whispered in a language he couldn't understand.
When he dared glance sideways, he saw Lyra walking beside him. She didn't look at him, but he could feel her presence—calm, steady, and strangely protective.
Finally, the soldiers brought him to a towering fortress carved into the roots of a mountain-sized tree. Its walls shimmered with strange markings that pulsed like veins. Inside, the air was colder, damp, carrying the scent of something ancient.
Ethan was thrown into a cell of woven branches that sealed shut like the mouth of a predator. He stumbled to his knees, chest heaving.
Through the gaps in the cell wall, he saw Lyra watching him. For the first time, her eyes met his fully.
"You should not be alive," she said softly, her voice almost a whisper.
Ethan gritted his teeth. "Then why did you let me live?"
Her glowing spots flickered faintly, like stars in a cloudy sky. "Because," she said, "something in you feels… different. The others can't see it, but I can."
Ethan stared at her, heart pounding. He didn't know if she was his captor, his savior, or both. All he knew was that his father was dead, his world was at war, and this girl—the enemy's daughter—was the only reason he still breathed.
And for reasons he couldn't explain, that terrified him more than the general's blade.