????? Solar System
Year 2499
Unknown Place
Lautaro and his friends had finally found a moment to rest after the grueling battle. The exhaustion had taken hold quickly, his body sinking into the worn cot as sleep claimed him. But peace was short-lived.
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"Who are you?" The voice was faint at first, like a whisper carried on a distant breeze. Lautaro’s senses felt dulled, as if the world around him was thick with fog. He could hear the voice, but it was as though it came from underwater, muffled and far away.
"Why are you spying on us? Where did you come from?" The voice grew sharper, more insistent. Lautaro knew they were speaking to him, but he couldn’t respond. His mouth wouldn’t move. No matter how hard he tried to speak, to call out, his lips remained sealed, as if some invisible force had locked them shut.
Troubled by the questions swirling in his head with no clear context, Lautaro’s mind raced. Where am I? he asked himself, panic seeping in. He could feel the weight of the unknown pressing down on him, thick and suffocating. I was supposed to be home… with my friends… right? I’m sleeping. I just need to wake up.
But it didn’t work.
He willed himself to wake, tried to shake himself from whatever this was, but nothing happened. He remained trapped, his body unresponsive. His mind started to spin with fear.
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"Answer to your king, peasant! This sin will not be forgiven." The voice grew louder, more aggressive, almost thunderous. Lautaro’s senses sharpened just enough for him to see his surroundings. His vision cleared, revealing a landscape that sent chills down his spine.
He was no longer in the comfort of his colony, no longer surrounded by his friends. The place he found himself in was disturbingly familiar—it was the home of the extradimensional beings. The alien city from his visions loomed around him, twisted and pulsating with dark energy. Everything here felt alive, but in a way that was wrong, as though the buildings themselves were conscious, watching him.
A cold sweat broke out across Lautaro’s skin. His heart raced as his mind faltered, grasping for any explanation. How did I get here? he thought frantically. The weight of the situation bore down on him, his fear intensifying with each passing second. His only instinct was to escape, to run. But he couldn’t move. His body wouldn’t obey him.
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Suddenly, a sharp, agonizing pain exploded in Lautaro’s mind. It was as if someone had driven a spike directly into his brain and twisted it. His thoughts scattered, his vision blurred as the pain intensified, becoming unbearable.
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"As you know, every citizen on this land carries a piece of my soul inside of them. I can make you suffer as much as I wish," the voice hissed, dripping with cruel satisfaction.
It dawned on Lautaro with sickening clarity—he was standing before the king of the creatures. The king’s presence was overwhelming, a massive shadow that loomed over everything, radiating pure malice and power. The king’s essence seemed to press in on Lautaro from all sides, suffocating him with its weight. He could feel it in his bones, in his mind. It was inescapable.
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The pain surged again, sharper and more violent than before. Lautaro’s vision dimmed, and the world around him collapsed into darkness. The agony swallowed him whole until there was nothing left but blackness.
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Suddenly, he was ripped from the void.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! SHIT, MY HEAD!" Lautaro screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the room. He bolted upright, clutching his head, the pain still searing through his skull like a hot iron. His vision was blurry, the world spinning around him.
The sound of his scream had pierced the silence, sending a wave of panic through the camp. Mateo, Elena, and several other nearby colonists rushed toward him, their expressions a mix of shock and concern.
Elena was the first to reach him, kneeling beside him, her hands hovering over his trembling form. "Lautaro, what happened?" she asked, her voice steady despite the alarm in her eyes. "Are the invaders here?"
Mateo arrived a second later, his mind already racing to piece together the situation. "Lautaro, talk to us. What’s going on?" His voice was calm, but his sharp gaze scanned Lautaro’s face, trying to read what had happened.
Lautaro could barely hear them, his mind still reeling from the pain and the encounter with the invader king. His body trembled as he struggled to catch his breath, his hands still gripping the sides of his head, trying to fend off the lingering ache.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out at first. He swallowed hard, forcing the memories of the dream—or whatever it had been—back into focus. His heart pounded in his chest as he tried to push past the fear that gripped him.
Finally, he spoke, his voice low and hoarse. "The king... he found me. He spoke to me."
Stolen story; please report.
Elena and Mateo exchanged a quick glance, both of them recognizing the gravity of what Lautaro was saying. "What do you mean, he found you?" Mateo asked, his voice edged with urgency.
Lautaro shook his head, trying to make sense of it himself. "I don’t know how, but I was… there. In their world. The king said every one of them has a piece of his soul inside of them. He can control them… and he can make them suffer."
Elena’s face darkened, her eyes narrowing. "And he can reach you? Through that connection?"
Lautaro’s stomach turned at the realization. "Yes," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "He can reach me. He knows who I am now."
The weight of his words settled heavily in the air, a chilling reminder that the invader king’s influence went deeper than they had feared.
The air in the makeshift camp grew thick with tension as Lautaro's words sank in. The realization that the invader king could reach him, could manipulate him, struck fear into everyone present. It wasn’t just that Lautaro had been touched by the enemy’s power—it was that he was now a potential gateway between their world and the invaders' terrifying realm.
Elena stood up, pacing a few steps as she processed the gravity of what he had just said. Her usually calm, fierce demeanor cracked with concern, her eyes scanning the perimeter of their camp as if she expected the invaders to appear at any moment.
Mateo, always the practical one, crouched next to Lautaro, his mind racing through the possibilities. "If the king can reach you like that... it means you’re linked to them more deeply than we thought. This connection isn’t just residual—it’s active."
Lautaro’s head still throbbed from the pain, but he managed to sit up fully, wiping the cold sweat from his brow. "I don’t know how long he’s been watching me, or if this is the first time he’s found me. But the pain… it was like he was inside my mind, controlling it. I could feel his presence, his power. He knows everything about me now."
Elena stopped pacing and turned toward Lautaro, her jaw set with determination. "Then we sever that connection. There has to be a way to break this link between you and him. I’m not going to let him turn you into a puppet."
Lautaro appreciated her resolve, but deep down, a fear gnawed at him—what if there was no way to break the bond? What if the king could always reach him, always manipulate him? His hand instinctively brushed the spot on his chest where the tendril had struck during the earlier battle, the source of this unwanted link.
Mateo stood, his analytical gaze fixed on Lautaro. "We need to figure out the nature of this connection. You said every one of them has a piece of the king’s soul inside them. That’s how he controls them, how he can make them suffer. But you… you’re different."
Lautaro nodded slowly, the memory of the dream still vivid in his mind. "It wasn’t just that I was in pain. It was like he was testing me, seeing how much control he could exert over me. I could feel him, deep inside, like a shadow." He paused, his voice lowering. "But I fought back. I pushed him out. That’s why I woke up."
Elena crossed her arms, her brow furrowed in thought. "If you can resist him, that means there’s hope. He might be powerful, but you’ve already proven you’re not completely under his control."
Mateo nodded in agreement, but his eyes remained troubled. "True, but the more we learn about these invaders, the more dangerous this link becomes. If he can access Lautaro’s mind whenever he wants, there’s a real risk the king could use him to spy on us—or worse, influence him when we need Lautaro the most."
The words hung in the air, the unspoken fear now out in the open. Lautaro had always been their anchor, but now he could become a liability. The invader king’s reach extended farther than they had ever imagined, and if Lautaro was compromised, it could spell the end for all of them.
Lautaro clenched his fists, frustration boiling up inside him. "I won’t let that happen. I’m not going to let him use me. There has to be a way to block him out for good."
Elena met his gaze, her voice steady and firm. "We’ll find a way. We’ve made it this far—we’re not giving up now. Whatever the king throws at us, we’ll figure it out."
Mateo, always the pragmatist, glanced at the surrounding camp. "We’ll need time to understand what we’re dealing with. For now, we keep moving, but we stay cautious. Any more of these dreams or visions, and you let us know immediately, Lautaro. We can’t afford to be blindsided."
Lautaro nodded. "I will. But there’s something else I need to tell you."
Both Elena and Mateo tensed, waiting for what he would say next.
"When I was in that place, when I saw the king... I could feel his mind. Not just his power, but his intentions. He’s not just trying to consume our colony—he’s planning something much bigger. He’s targeting something beyond our world."
Elena’s eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? What’s bigger than destroying us?"
Lautaro took a deep breath. "I don’t know for sure, but from what I felt… it’s like he’s gathering energy. Every invasion, every colony they take over, it’s feeding him. And once he has enough, he’s going to tear open the fabric between our realities completely. He wants to merge our worlds, to remake both of them in his image."
Mateo paled slightly, his mind racing through the possibilities. "If that’s true, then this isn’t just about survival anymore. If the king succeeds, he could unleash the invaders on every world in our dimension. The entire universe could be at risk."
The gravity of Lautaro’s words hit hard. They weren’t just fighting for their colony anymore—they were fighting for the survival of everything.
Elena’s voice cut through the tension, sharp and determined. "Then we take the fight to him. If this link between you and the king works both ways, we might be able to use it to our advantage. Find out where he’s hiding, how to stop him before he reaches his full strength."
Lautaro’s head throbbed again, the lingering effects of the king’s presence still tugging at his mind, but he nodded. "I’ll do whatever it takes. If this connection is our only way to get to him, then I’ll use it. But we need a plan. And fast."
Mateo crossed his arms, nodding slowly. "We’ll work on it. First, we need to make sure the colony is secure. Then we figure out how to sever that connection—or use it to strike at the king before he can strike at us."
The three of them stood in silence for a moment, each of them coming to terms with the weight of what lay ahead. The battle wasn’t over. In fact, it was just beginning.
And now, the fate of their world—and perhaps countless others—rested on whether they could stop the invader king before it was too late.