Chapter 1. The Call
T
Amira was a young astrophysicist with an insatiable passion for the mystery of the stars. As a child, she had always wondered why some constellations seemed less bright than the accounts of ancient astronomers. As she grew up, she discovered that it was not just an impression: over the past fifty years, some stars in Ursa Minor had literally disappeared.
One day, he received a mysterious message from his former colleague, Elias, an explorer and scientist. "Amira, I found something on Lyrium-7. A secret that could explain everything-and change the fate of the stars. Come right away."
Lyrium-7 was a distant planet located at the edge of the known galaxy. It was shrouded in legends: some said it was the beating heart of the universe, others called it the "Dark Pit," from which nothing could escape. Amira knew that this was her chance to discover the truth.
The night before her departure for Lyrion-7, Amira sat on the roof of her home in Nova Spire, gazing at the stars. The city was surrounded by a vast desert, a barren and desolate landscape that stretched beyond the horizon. It was a place that, despite its silence, carried a strange energy, as if it held secrets that had never been revealed.
Suddenly, the ground beneath her began to shake. A mild tremor turned into a violent earthquake that knocked over objects in her home and forced the townspeople into the streets in panic. Amira hurried down the street, her heart pounding in her chest.
A few kilometers from Nova Spire, in the heart of the desert, the ground opened with a roar, revealing a deep chasm. The tremor quickly subsided, but a strange pulsing blue light rose from the newly formed crater.
Amira, intrigued, decided to approach. Once she reached the site, among the debris and sand, she found an extraordinary object: a robotic dog, covered in dust and sand, seemingly inert. Its shape was tapered and stylized, with metal parts covered in glowing engravings that looked like alien hieroglyphics.
As Amira bent down to observe him more closely, the dog suddenly lit up, making a faint yelp-like sound. Its eyes, two circular lenses, glowed with a warm orange light.
"This can't be true..." murmured Amira, as the robotic unit slowly stood up on its mechanical legs and stared at her, emitting a faint trill.
The dog seemed to be waiting for something, as if it had been awakened especially for her. Amira noticed a small engraving on its face plate, which read a single word: "Onto."
From that moment, Onto became his inseparable companion. The robot seemed to possess extraordinary intelligence and the ability to interact with technology, but its secrets were still shrouded in mystery. Amira decided to take him with her on the mission to Lyrium-7, convinced that their discovery was not a coincidence, but part of something much bigger.
