Kael Draven died in silence.
The cockpit alarms had already stopped screaming when the anomaly ripped open before his ship. The stars folded like glass under heat, space spiraled inward, and then — nothing.
Seven minutes of nothing.
And then Kael inhaled.
The universe flooded into him like breath.
A burning mark carved itself into his chest: a circular glyph of spirals, lines, and a single pulsing eye at the center. A whisper curled inside his mind:
"Revenant detected."
Kael woke floating among the debris of his ship, the impossible light of the anomaly swirling behind him.
And the universe, once silent, whispered math, memories, futures.
Kael Draven didn't know it yet, but he had returned wrong.
Or maybe… he had returned exactly as intended.