The first minutes on the grass were filled with stunned silence. Each of them knelt, touched the soil, and stared at the sky as if they didn't dare believe it. After endless dust and void, Earth felt unreal.
Daniel lay on his back, staring up at clouds drifting lazily above him. For the first time since the fall into the cavern, he laughed—a small, nervous sound that cracked through his helmet speakers. "We did it. We're home."
But the laughter faded when he noticed something strange. The clouds weren't moving right. Their shapes bent unnaturally, curling inward like spirals painted across the sky.
"Commander," he said, sitting up sharply. "Look."
The others followed his gaze.
The horizon shimmered. At first glance, it was just heat distortion. But then it shifted too far, rippling like a curtain of glass. Beyond it, mountains flickered, changing shape as though they were being rewritten second by second.
"This isn't home," Dr. Marquez whispered. Her voice carried a tremor of dread. "It looks like Earth, but the physics are wrong. We're not on our planet. We're in…" She trailed off, unable to finish.
Okafor clenched his fists. "A copy. A reflection. Some kind of construct."
Hayes scanned the environment, jaw tight. "Whether it's Earth or not, it's hostile until proven otherwise. We move. Stay sharp."
---
The Forest
They pushed into a treeline nearby, their boots crunching across leaves that looked real, felt real, but glowed faintly at the edges as if traced by invisible hands. Every sound was doubled—branches cracking, their breathing, even the crunch of boots echoed oddly, delayed as if the world itself was imitating them.
Daniel swallowed hard. "This place is watching us."
The crystal in his pack throbbed brighter with every step, as though guiding them. The deeper they went, the louder the hum became, until it vibrated through their bones.
Then, without warning, the ground shifted beneath them. Roots tore upward, snaking across the soil like living veins. Trees leaned toward them, their trunks groaning.
Marquez gasped. "It's reacting to the crystal!"
"Move!" Hayes barked, pulling them forward. They broke into a run, dodging snapping roots and collapsing branches.
The forest ended abruptly, spilling them onto an open plain where the distortion in the horizon was clearer than ever. Beyond it stretched a mirror-like wall of shifting light, bending the world behind it into impossible shapes.
And in the reflection… stood the cloaked figure.
---
The Shadow
The figure was distant yet impossibly close, its form rippling across the mirror as though it stood both there and here at once. The hood turned toward them, faceless yet unbearably heavy in its stare.
The air vibrated with its voice.
"You crossed the threshold. You carry the seed."
Daniel froze. "It's talking about the crystal."
"This is not your Earth. This is the wound between worlds. Here, the veil thins. Here, you will learn what you were never meant to see."
The crystal in Daniel's pack pulsed violently, so bright it seared his visor. The ground shook. The sky darkened, twisting into spirals of black and blue.
Hayes drew his weapon instinctively. "What do you want from us?"
The figure's voice rolled like thunder.
"Not what I want. What it wants."
The mirror cracked—spiderweb fissures racing across its surface. From within the fractures, shapes began to crawl forward. Shadows. Tall, jagged, wrong. Their limbs bent in too many directions, their forms dripping like ink.
Okafor's voice shook. "Oh God… we're not alone here."
The first of the shadow-things stepped through the crack, its eyes blazing with the same glow as the crystal.
The Earth they thought they knew was gone