Memory of the Crystal

The flames seeped into the crystal, rapidly spreading and flowing through the hair-thin, dazzlingly intricate three-dimensional structures within. As the flames entered, Duncan's consciousness gradually began to sink.

He felt himself entering a vast, silent, soundless, freezing place.

It was like a corner forgotten for countless ages. An inexplicable sense of isolation and loneliness was transmitted through the flames almost instantly, and then he saw light appear before him—intense, cold light whose scale he could scarcely comprehend.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing on an enormous black stone floating in the void. Before him, an almost terrifying golden sun burned silently. Flames churned across its surface, while astonishing sun flare structures rose into the void before slowly descending again, utterly soundless.

Yet the blazing sun gave off no heat. Even from such close range, Duncan felt none of the dreadful temperature that sunlight should have brought. It simply burned silently and coldly, as though it were merely a recorded... image.

The Black Sun? Had he encountered It again?

Duncan frowned slightly, the thought arising instinctively. But then he realized that this heatless golden sun differed from the "Black Sun" he had seen before—there were no strange, terrifying tentacle structures beneath its shell, no dying pale eyeball, and more importantly... this "sun" was not trying to call for help.

It was a recorded image left behind by a real star!

Duncan quickly grasped this, and only then did he shift his gaze from the cold blazing sun and begin examining the "black boulder" beneath his feet.

This was an enormous artificial construct!

Its surface was smooth, marked with clearly artificial grooves and etched lines. The stone-like material faintly gleamed with metallic luster, while certain "nodes" along those grooves bore protruding structures of unknown purpose, as though they had been