Beyond the solar winds of Sector Aelion-7, where only legends dared speak and even comets flew in silence, the name "Dave" echoed like a myth. But those who knew better didn't call him that.
They called him the Space Lord.
He was undefeated in battle. Immortal in the eyes of most. A walking paradox-young and wild, yet older than most stars if you measured his power. His wealth was unmatched. Whole planets paid tribute to him, and his ship-The Celestial Arc-was said to carry tech even the most advanced empires couldn't understand.
He didn't seek thrones. They were offered. He didn't conquer worlds. He saved them-then disappeared into the stars without a word, or worse, a smirk.
*The Day He Met Adele*
Dave first met Adele during a galactic negotiation war between two ancient mind empires. Both sides feared her. She could read the thoughts of anyone-even gods. But not Dave.
He stood before her, unreadable, untouchable. She called him "the uncrackable cipher." He called her "nosy."
They fought side by side once, just once, and that was all it took. Adele became his guide, his strategist, and in her more motherly moments-his conscience. Her mind now powered his ship's core, but she could also appear in full human form: elegant, ageless, dressed in flowing white with celestial patterns that shimmered across her robe. A radiant presence, even when she was scolding him.
*The Twins of Caeldris*
The moment Dave stepped onto Caeldris-9, the silence hit him like a memory.
No wind. No sky. Just an endless stretch of lifeless land under a blood-colored atmosphere.
Beside him, Adele floated gently in her human form, barefoot, eyes glowing. Her long robe drifted behind her like it had a mind of its
own.
"Charming place," Dave muttered, crouching to touch the ash-coated ground. "You sure this isn't just a burnt rock?"
"I sensed life," Adele replied calmly, then tilted her head. "No... I sensed intention."
A soft hum pulsed through the air. Then a flash.
From a hill ahead, two blue lights emerged, walking in perfect sync. They were tall, lean, glowing faintly. The boy's hair looked like it was made of flowing plasma, the girl's eyes shimmered like two mini novas. They walked barefoot, crackling with cosmic heat that didn't burn.
They stopped a few feet away.
"You're not from here," the boy said, his voice like wind brushing metal.
"No one is from here anymore," added the girl, crossing her arms. "Except us."
Dave stood upright, brushing his hands.
"Didn't mean to intrude. Just thought l'd drop by and say hi before the planet finished crumbling."
"You're late," the boy said bluntly.
Adele raised an eyebrow. "Late?"
The girl stepped forward. "We've been trying to fix this world for three hundred years. We were born from the last breath of a god who died trying to save it. This planet is our purpose."
Dave's eyes wandered. "And yet it's still dead."
"Not for lack of trying," the boy snapped.
"We've burned ourselves out. Restarted tectonic shifts. Reignited the core. Everything.
But it always reverts. This place is cursed."
"No," Adele said, narrowing her eyes. "It's simply waiting."
"For what?" the girl asked.
Dave exhaled, then looked around slowly. His eyes scanned the ruined sky, the lifeless trees, the fractured terrain.
Five seconds.
That's all.
Then, quietly, he said, "Come back."
And the planet did.
Light surged across the land. Cracks sealed.
Trees erupted from the soil. The sky turned from red to violet, then blue. Rivers roared.
The very air pulsed with rebirth. The dead world became a garden in under a minute.
The twins stumbled back, stunned.
The girl whispered, "That's... impossible."
Dave turned to them with a shrug. "You just needed the right touch."
The boy stared at him, speechless. Then: "So what... our purpose is fulfilled because you blinked at the ground?"
"Pretty much," Dave said, offering a smirk.
The girl looked at her twin, then at Adele.
"Can we come with you?"
Adele blinked. "Excuse me?"
"We've been alive for centuries," the boy said.
"If this is over... then what are we supposed to do? Sleep for another thousand years?"
"Or worse," the girl added. "Talk to each other forever."
Adele sighed. "You're a mess."
Dave grinned. "They'll fit right in."