*Centuries ago, there was a ruler who reigned over countless planets across the universe. Through charisma, power, and ruthless intelligence, he bound all peoples to his will.

  When the resources of his own world were exhausted, he set his sights on other planets. He plundered, burned, and destroyed.

  But eventually, even those resources — and people — were no longer enough.

  That’s when a dark idea came to him.

  He fused his best commanders, governors, scientists, and most loyal servants with an alien race that felt no emotions.

  He turned them into soulless slaves, stripped of love, regret, and fear.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Yet he wanted these slaves to remain under his absolute control.

  He needed to hide them somewhere, somewhere only he could reach, until the day he chose to awaken them.

  Thus, the "Sleeping Nests" were built.

  Beneath the steppes, invisible and alive: a structure that swallowed beings whole — not to digest, but to preserve them.

  A vast cocoon that fed on the consciousness of those trapped inside.

  It appeared to be born of science, yet some kind of organism, some kind of will, pulsed within it.

  Time flowed differently there.

  The Sleepers could not even dream.

  They could only wait.

  The ruler sent 57 individuals into the Sleeping Nests.

  Each one a weapon.

  Each one a ghost.

  And he waited for the day he would call them back.

  But the people rebelled.

  The ruler, consumed by greed, bloodlust, and betrayal, was captured.

  He wasn’t even given a trial.

  He was exiled to a rotting planet.

  He never revealed the secret of the Sleeping Nests.

  He still believed he could return.

  But on that planet, before he could eve

  n speak a word, he was executed.**