At the edge of the endless sea of stars lay a chaotic region known to voyagers as the "Fog-Locked Forbidden Zone."
The dark purple mist here was as dense as congealed ink. Even the most advanced starship detectors could not penetrate it; only the occasional meteor streaking past proved that this stretch of space truly existed.
Those celestial bodies, wrapped in ice crystals and rock, tore through the darkness at hundreds of kilometers per second. Yet the instant before they touched the mist barrier, it was as if an invisible giant hand seized them. Frost rapidly covered their surfaces, and they silently shattered into micron-sized dust, failing to stir even the slightest ripple in the fog.
Deep within the mist floated a palace large enough to hold half an asteroid.
The palace was built from Dark Star Rock that gleamed with a cold light. Its pillars were carved with patterns depicting the birth and destruction of countless galaxies, and pale golden energy flowed through every line, as though it had infused this ancient structure with eternal vitality.
The dome atop the palace was not solid, but a flowing star map. Orion's Belt, Andromeda's spiral arms, and the Milky Way's Galactic Center slowly revolved within it, as if a miniature universe had been imprisoned there.
Within the Star Gazing Hall at the deepest part of the palace, an energy screen that covered an entire wall emitted a gentle blue radiance.
The screen was divided into thirty-six thousand identical squares, each containing a planet.
Some planets were covered in lush green vegetation, with rivers winding across their continental plates like silver ribbons.
Some had surfaces filled with dark red volcanoes, lava flowing along mountain ridges and sketching blazing trails beneath the night sky.
Others were wrapped in blue oceans, enormous floating cities