The cold wind howled through the remains of frozen trees, whose branches extended into the eternal dusky atmosphere of Planet AZ16 – a land where sunlight was but a myth, and the difference between life and death was a delicate balance between resourcefulness and endurance.

Humanity had endured there, confined within a bio-bubble.

However, the bio-bubble was like a fragile oasis, facing the tests of time and the merciless elements of AZ16. For generations, the protective dome had helped the settlers survive and thrive on fungi and ice-rooted crops, along with protecting them from the shadow-hounds – creatures with fur as dark as space but eyes shimmering like embers. They were the children of AZ16 now, no longer just Earth’s offspring.

But then, Earth returned… in great metal ships, cutting through the sky like celestial predators.

The banners they carried had “Terran Expansion Initiative” written on them, signalling towards conquests. And although the people of the bio-bubble, the descendants of the original settlers, had an idea that the Earth might remember them, they had never expected the arrival of Earth-inhabitants as that of invaders.

The Landing

When the first ship landed beyond the great frost dunes, the settlers gathered at the bio-bubble’s edge. The Earth-dwellers were clad in thick thermal exo-suits with visors shielding their faces. They really seemed otherworldly: tall, clean, untouched by the struggles of AZ16. And their voices crackled through translation devices, hollow and distant.

“We come in peace.”

None uttered a word, for everybody knew “peace” was a word as fragile as silence – easily shattered.

Within days, the Earthborn set up their command outposts, paying no heed to the warnings of the settlers. They dismissed the knowledge the AZ16-born had gathered over generations, brushing aside the delicate balance of survival that had taken centuries to master, and instead, they began drilling into the ice-crust, mining the deep, hidden never before reached veins of thermic ore—an element crucial for energy production back on Earth.

The settlers pleaded with them to halt the operation.

“The ice breathes!” warned Valencia, the eldest of the settlement. “You don’t understand this land. You have absolutely no idea what you are getting yourself into!”

Unfortunately, her words were met with condescending smiles. The Earthborn simply disregarded her words, considering her an old woman clinging to her beliefs and baseless superstition.

Nothing to worry about.

The Beginning

It started with minor happenings, everybody kept ignoring. First, the expedition team that initially ventured beyond the known icy fields never returned, but their suits were found – frozen solid, yet hollow.

Had the bodies just vanished? Who knew?

The settlers exchanged uneasy glances. They had only one question in their minds, was the legend of the Nameless Ones more than a mere myth or were the shadows moving beneath the icy surface a reality closer than expected?

Nevertheless, the Earthborn were undeterred. They intensified their mining efforts and brought great machines to claw at the ice, piercing deeper and deeper into the planet they knew nothing about.

Then came the tremors – in the beginning, just feeling like shudders beneath one’s feet. But soon, the land rebelled.

And soon after them came glacial rifts split opening without the faintest of warning signals, swallowing entire mining rigs. Apparently, the planet had given enough warning. This time, the bio-bubble’s thermostat system was affected, causing the internal atmosphere to become dangerously unstable. Eventually, as the land kept splitting apart, the feared creatures started appearing, slithering up from the abyss with glowing eyes. They spoke, rather whispered, in an unknown language, yet the meaning was clear to the human beings, just one very clear message,

Leave.

Still, the Earthborn refused to listen.

And the Final Reckoning

It was only when the sky itself cracked open that they understood.

The horizon shimmered and glared with a terrible, ghostly light. And from the depths of AZ16’s icy crust, something stirred – an ancient mighty force, compelling the settlers, bound by generations of respect for the land, to fall to their knees in silent understanding. On the other hand, the Earthborn, armed with science but blinded by arrogance, raised their weapons.

The efforts to resist were futile – especially against an opponent like they had.

The ice rose like living shoots and coiled around the invaders, crushing them even before their cries could leave their throats; the machines were torn apart as if they were pieces of cardboard; and then, in a final act of judgment, the great bio-bubble, once a sanctuary, cracked.

Valencia stood amidst the chaos, watching as the Earthborn ships flickered out one by one, their systems failing under an unseen force. The few survivors who were left, fled in their vessels launching into the dark void.

They had come seeking to conquer, but AZ16 had no interest in being conquered. All it had ever wanted was to be left alone.

The Lesson

When the dust settled and the storm passed, the settlers gathered once more, not in fear, but in reverence.

“They never listened,” whispered a young girl, clutching her mother’s hand.

“No,” Valencia agreed, staring at the ruins of the Earthborn’s machines. “They thought this world was also theirs to take, but not all land is meant to be owned. Some places, like this planet, demand respect, not conquest.”

And as the eternal dusk of AZ16 stretched on, those who remained understood the lesson well.

Earth had come to take, but in the end, it had been taught a truth as old as time:

A land that does not belong to you will never be yours.

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