The ship burst through the vortex like a soda can launched from a wormhole slingshot.
Rania screamed.
Kai screamed louder.
Melvin screamed in binary.
And then—everything stopped.
Silence. Stillness. No stars. No gravity. Just... floating.
They were suspended in a void filled with glowing geometric shapes: triangles that pulsed like heartbeats, cubes that whispered in languages neither of them knew, and massive orbs rotating around nothing.
"Where… are we?" Kai asked, blinking at a floating upside-down tree with lightning for roots.
Melvin stuttered, "Calculating… calculating… Congratulations! You've entered a **Null-Existence Dimension™**. Home of lost data, broken dreams, and occasionally, soul fragments."
"Awesome," Rania muttered. "We're in space purgatory."
Then something shifted.
The geometry around them realigned—like a giant puzzle solving itself. A shimmering road formed beneath the ship, leading toward a massive door suspended in nothing.
The door was carved with the same sigil as the moon: **Awakening.**
Rania's fingers trembled as she approached the control panel. "This… this place isn't just another world. It's memory. Pure memory."
Kai looked at her. "Yours?"
"Maybe. Or… all of ours."
The door opened with a hiss.
Beyond it was a vast temple built from light itself—floating stairs, glowing rivers, and corridors lined with flickering visions.
Each wall showed scenes from lives neither of them recognized: battles on shattered planets, strange creatures evolving, and a familiar face—
The woman with violet eyes.
"She's everywhere," Rania whispered.
Suddenly, a corridor lit up in red.
One vision zoomed in: a small baby being cradled by Moonlings. The camera shifted. It showed the baby's DNA.
It was labeled:
**PROJECT STARDUST: RANIA – FAILSAFE PROTOCOL**
Kai blinked. "Wait… are you… a backup copy of someone?!"
Rania's knees went weak.
"I wasn't just sent to Earth," she said slowly. "I was *made* for Earth. In case the original me… didn't survive."
Melvin gasped. "Plot twist!"
Rania turned to Kai. "So… I'm a living plan B?"
Kai stepped closer. "No. You're not plan B. You're *the one who made it*. That makes you the real deal."
Before Rania could respond, the temple trembled.
From above, a voice echoed, deep and ancient:
> "The original awakens. The fail-safe approaches. Integration imminent."
"What does that mean?" Kai asked.
But Rania already knew.
She wasn't alone in this dimension.
And she was about to meet… **herself.**