Thorne turned the camera toward the station’s main array. In the distance, a massive, silent rift had torn through the sky. It wasn't black like the night; it was a shimmering, oily purple that seemed to drink the light of the stars around it.
The person didn't look like Thorne. Their skin was translucent, glowing with the same oily light as the rift. They turned the camera toward their own face, but where features should have been, there was only a swirling, recursive void. The video ended at 04:09 minutes exactly. g409.mp4
High above the rift, something began to descend. It didn't fly or fall; it unfolded. It looked like a fractal made of obsidian and glass, expanding with a mechanical, sickening grace. As it lowered, the snow on the ground didn't melt—it began to float upward in perfect, crystalline spheres. Thorne turned the camera toward the station’s main array