The tear in space—what the sensors now labeled a Fractal Gate—widened with a slow, terrifying grace.What began as a slit had become a spiraling corridor stretching into an infinite tunnel of geometry.
Shapes formed and re-formed:cubes turning into spirals, spirals becoming polyhedra, polyhedra melting into light.It wasn't just a portal.It was mathematical architecture, a bridge made from the laws of physics themselves.
Orion stood frozen at the observation deck, watching in awe as more ships spilled out of the gate.Some were elegant and crystalline, bending light into rainbows.Others resembled floating asteroids fused with metallic veins.A few were so alien they defied shape entirely, flickering like holograms trapped between states of matter.
Refugees.
The realization hit him like a cold splash of vacuum.
"Commander Rhea," Lyra's voice crackled through the comms, "I'm detecting life signs from those vessels. Thousands—maybe millions."
Rhea appeared on the holo-feed, face pale but composed."Are they hostile?"
Orion shook his head."No… they're damaged. Look."He highlighted several ships on the screen."Hull fractures. Ripped energy cores. Stabilizing fields at near-failure. These ships weren't built for long-distance escape. They were running."
Running from something bigger than their universe.
The fractal dragon drifted closer to the refugees, spreading its vast wings.With each pulse of its shimmering body, the nearby ships steadied, their chaotic rotations aligning.
It was herding them—protecting them.
"Orion," Lyra whispered, "do you see that thing's patterns?"
He did.And they were… familiar.
Fractals.Mathematical sequences.Repeating symmetries that had appeared in the Infinity Signal.
"Commander," Orion said slowly, "the dragon isn't biological. It's a… hyper-advanced construct. A sentient algorithm with mass."
Rhea exhaled sharply."And it opened the gate?"
"No." Orion zoomed out the sensor feed."The gate is tearing, not building. Something on the other side forced it open. The dragon is trying to keep it stable."
The deck trembled again.
A deep bass vibration rolled through every rib of the ship.The kind of sound you felt in your bones, not your ears.
GRAVITY WAVE DETECTEDflashed across Orion's console in bright red text.
Lyra's voice came through, tight with fear."A massive gravitational disturbance is crossing the gate. Bigger than anything we've recorded."
Suddenly—The fractal dragon roared.
It wasn't a beast's roar.It was a distortion wave— a pulse of pure physics—rippling outward like a cosmic shock.
The nearest refugee ships steadied instantly.
But the gate…The gate shook.
Orion's heart stopped.
"What is that?" he whispered.
Behind the refugees, far inside the spiraling corridor, a shadow moved.
Not a shape.Not a ship.Not even a creature.
A void—a place where space simply did not exist.
Lyra nearly choked on her breath."It's erasing geometry…"
The shadow advanced, unraveling the corridor behind it like thread pulled from a tapestry.
"Commander…" Orion said softly.
Rhea responded quietly, as if afraid the thing could hear her.
"Yes?"
"That's what destroyed their universe."
The ship's alarms screamed.
SPACETIME STABILITY AT CRITICAL LEVELSRECOMMENDED COURSE: RETREAT IMMEDIATELY
But Astra-9 had no time to move.
The Fractal Gate surged violently—exploding in light—as hundreds more ships were expelled through it.
The dragon spun, wings wrapping around the refugees like a shield.
And then—
The gate snapped shut.
The corridor vanished.The void behind it disappeared.Silence fell in a single, bone-chilling instant.
Orion breathed out slowly, hands trembling.
The universe felt fragile now.
As if something terrible was one step behind them.