world building – Dan Verkys

October 1, 2026

Arrival at the Black Rock

The black soil,
Ice cold to the touch.

With hands plunged within,
The earth pulsates
To a rhythmic heartbeat
That surges through
The senses.

Thump.
Thump.
Thump.

Closed eyes
Begin to weep
As something ancient
Stirs beneath the surface.

Below,
A cosmic entity
Slumbers.
Above,
The sky is
An inky black starfield.
All sound is muted.

The cold air
Bites at the skin
As the ground continues
Its rhythmic heartbeat.

Thump.
Thump.
Thump.

The rock lives.
The stone breathes.
And this asteroid
Continues its journey
Through endless time,
Across the expanse
Of space.

A relic.
A prison.
A living tomb.

September 26, 2026September 26, 2026

Come on a journey with me

I’m very pleased to announce the release of my new ambient electronic album, Nova Centauri, now available on Bandcamp and soon to appear on all major music platforms.

Listen to Nova Centauri on Bandcamp

Created as a sonic companion to my short story Nova Centauri, the album is a journey into the deep expanses of space, a place of vast distances, strange silence and unimaginable darkness.

Built around electronic drones, echoes, slowly evolving textures and interstellar atmospheres, the music is deliberately meditative and immersive. Rather than a collection of conventional songs, Nova Centauri is intended to unfold as one continuous experience.

Put on your headphones, sit back, close your eyes and leave the world behind for 36 minutes.

Drift beyond the familiar.

Into the darkness.

Into the silence.

Into Nova Centauri.

Now available on Bandcamp.
Listen / Purchase / Explore the album

#NovaCentauri #AmbientElectronic #AmbientMusic #ElectronicMusic #SpaceMusic #DarkAmbient #DroneMusic #ExperimentalMusic #Soundscape #Bandcamp

September 24, 2026

Return to the Garden of Imagination

Where have gone
my witty days,
Those days of whimsical imagination,
Full of warm creative thoughts,
Seeds of wonder,
Impossible things
Waiting to grow.

Why do I
find myself here,
Right now,
So tired
and bereft of joy?

What is the reason
That my imagined worlds
Aren’t bursting
with impossible ideas?

When can I return
to a time
When I feel
I am worth a little more
Than the way
I am treated?

Surprisingly,
I do know the answer.
And it’s okay.

It’s
because right now
My mind is healing,
Processing,
Restocking its shelves,
Making sure
things are okay.

After some time passes,
The other me
will return.

And he will share
his dreams,
His humour,
And his discoveries.

Writing and dreaming
About all the impossible things
We love.

Things that the current me
Cannot provide.
Not yet.

He will unlock
That gate again.
He will open it,
And I will walk through,
Into that garden.

Where the impossible grows,
Where strange ideas bloom,
Where dreams wander freely,
And imagination
Has no boundaries.

The garden is still there.
I just need
to find the key.

September 23, 2026

Nova Centauri – Part IV: The Last Warden

The great doors were closed.
John knew it now.
Sealed.
Not forever.
But until another warden came.

He drifted toward the place where the entrance lay beyond the stone.
There was no seam.
No mechanism.
No handle.
No ancient control hidden within the walls.
The doors were never meant to open from this side.

They had opened once.
For him.
And that was all.
John turned back toward the chamber.

The creature moved somewhere below.
He could hear it.
Not breathing.
Not quite.
A deep vibration passed through the stone,
as though the asteroid itself had become its body.

Read the full story here

September 13, 2026September 14, 2026

Nova Centauri: Beyond the Doors of Space

The doors closed behind him.

Not with a slam,
But with a sound so deep
It seemed to pass through the stone
And into his bones.

John Vilkas turned.

The great doors
Had disappeared into darkness,
Their enormous surfaces
Meeting with ancient precision.

And then,
Nothing.
No stars.
No distant asteroid field.

No pale reflection
Of his own visor.
Only darkness.
Complete and absolute.

The kind of darkness
That seemed older
Than space itself.

John waited.

His breathing
Echoed inside his helmet.

Slow.
Measured.
Human.

He raised his hand
And watched the faint instruments
Upon his glove.

The tether line
Stretched behind him,
Trapped within the closing doors.

He pulled.
Nothing.
Again.
Still nothing.

He released it.
There was no going back.

His eyes slowly adjusted.
Or perhaps
The darkness was simply
Allowing him to see.

Ahead of him lay
A narrow cavern.
A path,
A wound,
Descending into the asteroid.

Read the full story here

September 9, 2026September 9, 2026

Nova Centauri: Part Two – An Impossible Truth

He hovered in the shadow
Of that nameless stone,
The stars burning silently
Beyond the canopy.

The PIT trembled softly,
Its engines barely breathing,
While the massive asteroid turned,
Slow, immense,
And utterly indifferent.

John stared at the surface.
Black rock.
Ancient scars.

A wilderness of stone
Without atmosphere,
Without sound,
Without any reason
To be there.

He reached for the controls.
Three mechanical sleds
Unfolded from beneath the hull.

One
Then two
Then three.

They extended like metal claws
And bit into the asteroid surface.

CLAMP.
The PIT settled.

For the first time
Since leaving Earth,
John felt still.

He released his harness
And sat beneath the great canopy,
Alone with the stars.

Read the full story here

September 9, 2026

Nova Centauri: Part One Exit Earth

The time had come.

Sleep had abandoned John Vilkas
Long before the journey began,
Hovering at the edge of consciousness
Like a distant planet
He could no longer reach.

But now,
Strapped within the capsule,
Beneath the cold glow of instruments,
He felt the old life loosening its grip.

A lifetime of illness.
A lifetime of worry.
A lifetime beneath the weight
Of a world that had forgotten
How to be kind and decent.

All of it would soon remain below.

Read the full story here

September 4, 2026

Bone Shaker

Like the hiss of an old television
coming to life,
the dream begins.

The dreamer lies curled
in the foetal position
within a dark, damp structure.

A single crack of light
shines through a small opening
in the floor below.

They begin to kick.
The walls.
The floor.

They beat their fists
against the darkness,
searching for weakness.

Suddenly,
the floor gives way.

Read the full story here

September 2, 2026September 2, 2026

The Stairs Behind the Mirror

Following a large crashing sound
From a back room at Nocturna,
Marcel Carreau and Daniel Hargaves
Rush to the office doorway
To check on the builder working inside.

“Monsieur is everything okay?”

Marcel enquired as he peered
Through the dust filled room.

Raphael de Koont had been
Working throughout the day
Moving the large mirror
That was mounted to the oak wall panels
Adorning Marcel’s office.

“I’m fine Mr Carreau,
I fell through,
There is another room
Hidden back here.”

“Oh really?
That is most inconvenient,
But it does happen
From time to time.”

“Do you require assistance”
Asked Daniel Hargraves

“I’m fine,
But this will take a while to fix.”

With that Hargraves returned to door duty.
Marcel stepped into his office

“My goodness what a mess,
Monsieur De Koont
It looks like a large room.”

“Yes, it is rather,
There are stairs leading downwards”

“Downwards?”

Marcel repeated.

“Yes,” replied Raphael de Koont.

He stood ankle-deep in plaster dust,
his jacket powdered white,
his hair containing
a surprisingly large amount of ceiling.

“There are stairs leading downwards.”