Chapter 24 — Signals from the Other Side
The command center was overflowing with urgency when Alex and Cheng Mu returned. Screens blazed with heat signatures, atmospheric readings, and real-time dimensional telemetry. Engineers scrambled between consoles. Officers barked orders into headsets. Every few seconds, the floor vibrated with low tremors from the rift.
Sana ran up to meet them, eyes dark with stress and lack of sleep.
"Alex—thank God. You're alive."
Cheng Mu winced, rubbing his bruised ribs."Barely."
Alex managed a strained nod, but his attention was already fixed on the largest screen—showing the primary rift.
It had changed.
Where once it flickered violently, now it pulsed slowly, like the breathing of a giant. Gentle arcs of blue-gold light flowed across its surface. The edges were sharper, more defined.
Natural stabilization was impossible.
This was intentional.
"Sana," he said quietly. "Tell me everything."
She handed him a tablet."We've been monitoring the energy pattern since the beast died. Based on what we're seeing… this isn't a simple dimensional rift anymore."
Alex scrolled through the readings.
"What do you mean?"
"It's a doorway," she said. "A controlled one. Something—or someone—on the other side is shaping it. Guiding the flow of spatial qi. Every minute, it's becoming more stable."
Cheng Mu frowned deeply."So the beast was Phase One? A test run?"
"Possibly," Alex murmured.
A new wave of fear settled in the room.
Sana tapped another graph."And that's not the only issue."
Alex looked up."What now?"
"We're detecting structured signals."
Alex stiffened. "Signals? From Blue Star?"
"Not exactly." She enlarged the waveform."These aren't communications. They're commands."
Cheng Mu leaned over her shoulder."Commands to what?"
Sana looked at the rift.
"Commands to us."
The Message Hidden in the Noise
Alex hooked the tablet into the main holo-projector.
The waveform expanded, becoming a floating structure of twisting light. Patterns repeated. Spirals tightened, then unfurled in precise, rhythmic cycles. Not random. Not natural.
Purposeful.
A language.
One the cultivators used.
Cheng Mu whispered, "That's… a Spirit Code sequence."
Alex nodded slowly. "I've seen something similar in the Heavenly Scriptures fragments recovered from the Ruins of Lothar."
Sana blinked."We still don't know how Blue Star cultivators encode information."
Alex zoomed in."Well… now we're about to learn."
He pulled up a cross-reference of ancient qi-encoded runes—nothing complete, but enough fragments existed in old Earth myths and Blue Star ruins to build patterns.
The waveform flickered.
Sana sucked in a breath."It's reacting to your scan."
Cheng Mu stepped back."Does it know we're decoding it?"
Alex didn't stop."If they're broadcasting this openly, they want us to decode it."
Piece by piece, the waveform aligned itself with recognizable runes.The translation built itself like a growing storm.
Finally—
The hologram snapped into clarity.
Four simple characters burned in the air:
WE ARE COMING
The words echoed in the silence.
Alex felt the temperature drop.
Cheng Mu exhaled sharply."Well. That's not ominous at all."
Sana swallowed."There's more."
The waveform shifted again.New runes emerged.
PREPARE YOUR WORLD
Alex frowned deeply."Prepare? For what?"
The final line pulsed with an energy that made every hair on his arms stand up.
THE HEAVEN QI RETURNING
Cheng Mu blinked."The what returning?"
Sana looked pale."We've heard legends from Blue Star defectors. They always said Earth once held Heaven-Grade qi. The purest form. It vanished millennia ago."
"And now it's coming back," Alex finished.
Cheng Mu gave a humorless laugh."So let me get this straight: Earth is becoming a holy land, Blue Star cultivators want it back, and they're sending polite messages like 'prepare for occupation.'"
Sana shook her head."It's worse. This message isn't a warning."
Alex nodded slowly."It's a declaration."
A declaration of war.
The Strategic Briefing
General Hale strode into the room, armor still scorched from the beast encounter response. His voice cut through the crowded chaos like a blade.
"Everyone, quiet."
The room obeyed instantly.
General Hale placed a data-chip into the table port, bringing up classified intel—satellite visuals, energy scans, and regional tectonic readings.
"The signals have been triangulated," Hale said. "They're not just stabilizing the rift. They're anchoring it."
Sana paled."Anchoring… how strong?"
"Enough to keep the rift open permanently."
Murmurs surged through the room.
Alex clenched his jaw."A permanent rift means an inter-realm corridor. They can send armies. Entire sects."
Hale slammed a fist onto the console."And we can't close it. Not anymore. The dimensional anchors on the other side are too strong."
Cheng Mu swallowed."So Earth is… stuck like this?"
Hale looked at him."Unless we destroy the anchors on the Blue Star side."
Silence stretched.
Everyone turned to Alex.
He already knew what Hale was about to say.
"You're sending a team through."
Hale nodded."A small one. Stealth-based. Fast."
Sana's voice cracked."Alex just nearly died taking out a single beast—"
"And he's still the only person alive who can analyze and destabilize spatial anchors," Hale interrupted. "His Resonance Core research is the only thing capable of breaking them safely."
Sana glared."Or it gets him killed."
Alex spoke quietly."If the anchors remain, Earth becomes Blue Star's battlefield. Billions will die."
He looked at the rift.
Saw its growing stability.
Saw its surface rippling like a calm ocean.
Saw the faint silhouettes shifting behind the veil—shadows of structures, mountains… and perhaps cultivators already waiting.
He couldn't let that invasion begin.
Cheng Mu slapped his shoulder."If he's going, I'm going."
Hale nodded."You two will lead the team. Fifty soldiers max. And you'll deploy tomorrow."
Sana stiffened."Tomorrow? That's insane. We barely understand the terrain on the other side. We don't even know where the stabilizers are—"
"We don't have a choice," Hale said.
Alex rubbed his forehead.
Then the lights flickered.A low tremor passed through the floor.
"Now what?" Cheng growled.
A new alert flashed red across every screen:
DIMENSIONAL SIGNATURE DETECTEDLARGE-SCALE ENERGY MASS APPROACHING RIFTUNKNOWN ENTITY CLASS
Sana's hands shook."General… something massive is coming through."
Alex felt his pulse quicken, but his voice remained calm.
"We need visuals. Now."
The main screen zoomed toward the rift.
For a moment, only swirling light filled the feed.
Then—
A silhouette emerged.
A figure.
Towering.
Humanoid.
Wrapped in flowing robes of silver and dark purple.Behind him, golden halos of qi floated like celestial rings.Every step he took warped the air.
Cheng Mu whispered, "Impossible…"
Sana covered her mouth, trembling.
Alex felt a cold, heavy dread settle in his chest.
This wasn't a soldier.Not a beast.Not a scout.
This was…
A lord.
A Monarch.
One of Blue Star's upper-tier cultivators.
A being who could flatten armies with a gesture.
The figure raised a hand toward the rift.
And the rift responded—glowing brighter, expanding another ten meters.
Then, the figure spoke.
Not in sound.
Not in words.
But directly into their minds:
"Earth.It has been a long time."
Alex staggered backward from the mental pressure.
Sana collapsed to her knees.Cheng Mu clutched his head in agony.
General Hale gritted his teeth but remained standing.
The Monarch continued, voice echoing like thunder inside their skulls:
"We are the Heavenly Ascension Alliance.""Prepare your realm.""For the Great Return begins now."
The rift pulsed so brightly that the screens auto-dimmed.
Alex's vision blurred.
A final sentence echoed through his mind:
"And the one who carries the Resonance Path shall be brought to us."
Alex froze.
The Monarch was speaking to him.
The Monarch knew who he was.
Sana whispered with horror,"Alex… they're coming for you."
Alex stared at the glowing rift.
"No," he said.
"They're coming for all of us."