"Not all those who wander are lost." — J.R.R. Tolkien

Tilana had always dreamed of the stars.

She had grown up with maps of unknown galaxies pinned to her walls, stories of lost civilizations whispered to her before bed, and holograms of ancient ruins lighting up her room. While other children imagined themselves as warriors, politicians, or engineers, she had wanted only one thing—to step beyond the known, to walk where no one else had.

A space explorer.

That was what she would become.

But first, she was here—on Vatra.

That was what they called this world now, though records suggested it was once something else, a name swallowed by time. A world abandoned, displaced from its star, yet impossibly alive.

Not by obligation, but by choice.

Tilana had begged her father to bring her along when his team was assigned to this expedition. She had spent months studying the files, reading about The Echo, the strange, shifting energies that defied science. Vatra was unlike any other lost world—no ancient ruins, no forgotten cities, just an entire planet shrouded in mystery.

And now, she was standing on its surface.

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The air was richer here, heavier. The gravity pulled slightly differently than the planets she had visited before, almost as if the world itself breathed beneath her feet. Every step she took left no permanent mark—the grass swayed back into place, the dust settled as though undisturbed.

It was like the planet refused to acknowledge an outsider’s presence.

Her father, Dr. Varrin Til’Vorei, was an Exo-Archeothaumaturgist, a specialist in lost worlds and anomalous energies. His team had set up camp near Echoli, a region of Vatra that had never been fully explored. Unlike the more stable zones repurposed as training grounds, Echoli was wild. Unpredictable. Its energy readings fluctuated beyond known limits, shifting constantly as though the land itself was dreaming.

And that was precisely why Tilana was here.

She wanted to see it for herself.

She had slipped away from the research site, venturing deeper into the unknown. Her boots pressed against damp soil, her fingers brushed against strange, iridescent leaves that shimmered in the light. Everything here felt untouched, like stepping into a world that had never known life before.

Then, she saw

A single flower, standing alone by a narrow creek.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen—its petals a deep, shifting violet, the veins within them pulsing faintly as though carrying light instead of sap. It almost seemed alive.

Tilana knelt beside it, reaching out, her fingers brushing against the soft petals. A faint warmth spread through her fingertips, and then—

A second flower.

Just beyond the first.

And then another.

A trail.

Her pulse quickened.

She followed.

The flowers led her deeper into the Echoli, their presence guiding her through twisting trees and uneven ground. The air grew heavier, humming with something she could not name. The deeper she went, the more the flowers multiplied, until they carpeted the ground entirely.

Then, she saw it.

A bed of flowers.

Nestled in the heart of this untouched land, where no one had ever stepped before, the flowers had grown into a perfect resting place. And upon it—

A girl.

Tilana froze.

She looked no older than Tilana herself, yet something about her felt… wrong. Or perhaps too right, like she belonged to this place more than the ground beneath her.

Her hair spilled like liquid dusk, pooling into the flowers, her breathing soft, steady, as though she had been sleeping for an eternity. Her skin was untouched by time, but her presence—her very existence—felt ancient.

Tilana took a step closer.

The girl did not move.

For a moment, the world itself seemed to hold its breath.

And then—

Her eyes