Shadows Unleashed

The Dayvon-9 space mining station floated silently in the void, its metallic surface reflecting the distant starlight. Once a bustling hub of activity, the station had been abandoned for years, its halls now cold and empty, with only the faint hum of dying power systems breaking the silence. For most, it was a relic of a forgotten time—a rusting, decaying monument to human ambition.

But for the three security guards tasked with patrolling it, it was something far worse.

"Hate these kinds of gigs," Carl muttered, shining his flashlight down a narrow, dimly lit corridor. His breath fogged up the inside of his helmet, making it hard to see through the scratched visor. "I mean, who the hell needs three guys to guard a damn empty station? It's already falling apart."

"Yeah, well, Dayvon Corp’s paying us to watch it until the scrappers come in," Marta replied, her voice crackling through the comms. "Just do the job, Carl. We’re almost done for the night."

Lenny, the youngest of the trio, glanced nervously at the shadows pooling around the edges of the corridor. The station’s lights flickered occasionally, casting long, distorted shapes across the walls. "You think there’s anything in here? I mean, people talk about these old mining stations having… stuff left behind. You know, from the old days."

Carl scoffed. "Ghost stories. Every station’s got ‘em. Usually just rats or faulty power systems messing with people's heads."

"Yeah, but this place…" Lenny hesitated, his flashlight trembling slightly as he scanned the room ahead of them. "This place feels… different. Like it’s watching us."

Marta rolled her eyes behind her helmet. "The only thing watching us is the Dayvon Corp security drones making sure we don’t slack off."

The team moved deeper into the station, their footsteps echoing down the narrow metal halls. Rust flaked from the walls, and the bulkheads groaned under the weight of years in disrepair. Once, this station had been a center for mining operations, pulling precious metals from a nearby asteroid field. Now, it was a shell—empty, lifeless, waiting for scavengers to strip it down for parts.

Or so they thought.

As they turned a corner, the lights overhead flickered again, more violently this time. A low, rumbling sound echoed from somewhere deep within the station, vibrating the floor beneath their feet.

"Did you hear that?" Lenny asked, stopping in his tracks.

Carl sighed. "Yeah, it’s probably just the station settling. This thing’s old. Built before we were even born."

Marta, however, didn’t seem so convinced. She tightened her grip on her rifle and checked the scanner on her wrist. The screen was blank—no signs of life, no heat signatures—but something felt off. The air was thick, oppressive, as if the station itself was holding its breath.

"Let’s just finish the sweep and get out of here," she said, leading them forward.

They reached the central mining bay—a vast, cavernous space lined with rusting machinery and broken catwalks. The equipment, long dormant, loomed over them like forgotten giants. Their flashlights barely cut through the darkness, revealing only glimpses of twisted metal and debris.

Carl made a noise of disgust. "Looks like a junkyard."

Lenny, however, was staring at something else. "Guys… over there."

He pointed toward the far side of the bay, where a faint, bluish light flickered intermittently. It wasn’t part of the station’s system. It was something else, something unfamiliar.

"What the hell is that?" Carl asked, his bravado fading.

"Not part of the equipment," Marta replied, already moving toward it, her gun raised. "Stay sharp."

As they approached the source of the light, the temperature seemed to drop, a biting cold seeping through their suits. The light pulsed softly, casting eerie shadows across the walls. It was coming from a partially collapsed section of the station, where the walls had buckled and crumbled inward.

Marta crouched down, inspecting the debris. Embedded in the rubble was a strange, crystalline structure—alien in design, with sharp, jagged edges that seemed to hum with an unnatural energy. It pulsed rhythmically, as if alive.

"What… is that?" Lenny whispered, staring at the object with wide eyes.

"Looks like some kind of artifact," Marta said, her voice tense. "But it’s not human. We didn’t build this."

Carl shifted uneasily, his hand twitching on the grip of his gun. "If it ain’t ours, then whose is it?"

Before Marta could respond, the low rumbling sound returned—louder this time, more insistent. The floor beneath them shook violently, sending loose debris tumbling down from the ceiling.

"Shit, what’s happening?" Carl shouted, backing away from the artifact.

Suddenly, the crystalline structure cracked open, and a thick, dark mist began to seep out, swirling around them like smoke. It moved with purpose, coiling through the air as if searching for something. The air grew colder, and the lights in the bay flickered wildly.

"Back up, now!" Marta ordered, but it was too late.

The mist lunged at them, tendrils of darkness wrapping around their legs, their arms, pulling them toward the artifact. Carl screamed, his voice muffled as the black fog enveloped him, dragging him down into the rubble. His flashlight flickered once and then went dark.

Lenny stumbled back, firing his rifle blindly into the mist, but the bullets seemed to pass through it without effect. "Marta, what the hell is this?!" he shouted, his voice breaking.

Marta pulled him back, her eyes wide with terror. "We need to get out of here! Now!"

They turned and ran, the mist swirling behind them, filling the bay with its cold, suffocating presence. The station groaned under the weight of the entity’s awakening, the walls creaking and buckling as if trying to contain the force that had been trapped for so long.

As they reached the door, Marta slammed her fist against the control panel, praying that the old mechanisms would still work. The door hissed open, and they sprinted through, sealing it behind them.

Lenny was shaking, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "What the hell was that? What the hell did we just see?"

Marta didn’t answer. She was staring at the scanner on her wrist, her heart sinking as the screen flickered to life. It was no longer blank. Now, there were dozens of heat signatures moving toward them from the depths of the station—creatures, entities, whatever had been sleeping here for millennia was now awake.

"We need to warn Dayvon Corp," she said, her voice tight. "This station isn’t abandoned. Something was here long before us. And it’s hungry."

Before Lenny could respond, the lights in the corridor flickered out completely. The station was plunged into darkness, and in the silence, they could hear it—the sound of something moving, slithering through the walls, through the vents, coming for them.

Marta raised her rifle, her hands trembling. "Stay close. We’re not getting out of this easily."

The last remnants of the old mining station groaned around them, the dark corridors filling with the sound of something ancient, something malevolent, waking from its long slumber. And as the footsteps of the unseen things closed in, Marta knew they were already too late.

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THE END