Chapter 1: The Cavern’s Secret

I should have died that night.

The storm had rolled in fast, faster than I’d expected. Dark clouds swallowed the moonlight, leaving only the flickering flashes of lightning to illuminate the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. I was miles from the nearest road, deep in the wilderness, where the only sounds were the howling wind and the distant rumble of thunder.

I had always liked the solitude of the mountains. Up here, far from the noise of cities and people, I could clear my head. No deadlines, no responsibilities—just me, the wild, and the endless sky.

But nature has no patience for human arrogance.

The rain started without warning, turning the dirt trail beneath my boots into slick mud. I cursed under my breath, adjusting my backpack and gripping the rock face beside me for balance. The trail wound along the edge of a steep ravine, and the last thing I needed was to—

The ground crumbled beneath me.

I didn’t even have time to shout.

One moment, I was walking. The next, I was falling, tumbling down a sheer drop, my hands grasping for anything—rocks, roots, anything to stop my descent.

Pain exploded in my leg as I hit something hard, and my body slammed against the cavern floor with a sickening thud.

Then, darkness.

When I came to, my world was a blur of pain and cold.

For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I was dead or just dreaming. The air smelled of damp earth and something metallic, something unnatural. My right leg throbbed viciously, and when I tried to move, a fresh wave of agony nearly made me black out again.

I was trapped.

Gritting my teeth, I reached for my flashlight, fumbling to turn it on. The beam flickered, casting long, shifting shadows against the cavern walls. I forced myself to breathe, steadying my shaking hands. I needed to find a way out.

And then I saw it.

At first, I thought my head was playing tricks on me. The cavern wasn’t just rock, there was something buried here.

The flashlight’s beam glinted off dark metal, smooth and curved, half-covered by centuries of sediment and stone. I struggled to sit up, dragging myself closer. As I wiped away layers of dirt with my trembling fingers, alien symbols came into view, etched into the hull like forgotten scars.

My breath caught in my throat.

This wasn’t natural. This wasn’t human.

I had stumbled upon a ship, something old, something not of this Earth.

And as I stared, the metal beneath my hand hummed to life.

A sudden hiss of decompression echoed through the cavern, and a narrow seam split open along the hull. Dim red lights flickered inside, revealing a corridor beyond.

I should have run.

But I didn’t.

Because some part of me—some deep, unexplainable instinct told me that my fate had already changed the moment I fell into this place.

I took a deep breath, ignoring the pain in my leg.

And then, I crawled inside.