Military Research Center - Satellite Monitoring Division
Hundreds of screens filled the darkened room, each displaying different sectors of Earth. Red dots for monsters. Blue for human settlements. And occasionally, purple for anomalies that defied classification.
"Sector 7-Alpha showing normal Dreg movement patterns."
"Ravager pack migrating north through Sector 12."
"Star level beast dormant in—"
"Sir, you need to see this."
The lead scientist, Dr. Harrison Webb, moved to the largest central screen. His graying hair and exhausted eyes spoke of three years monitoring humanity's slow extinction.
The screen showed them again. The three.
Energy fluctuations that dwarfed even Star level beasts. Humanoid in form but wrong in every way that mattered. Each stood three meters tall, their bodies a grotesque fusion of human structure and beast nature.
One eye on the forehead. One eye embedded in the chest. One eye on each palm. Five eyes total, each one pulsing with silver corrupt energy so dense it distorted the satellite feed.
Their mouths were the worst part—rows upon rows of teeth, like sharks had mated with industrial shredders.
The first had a monkey's face stretched over human bone structure, fur covering muscled arms that hung too long.
The second possessed scales and an elongated neck, serpentine features merged with bipedal form.
The third's head was insectoid, compound sections that shouldn't exist on anything humanoid, wings folded against its back like a cape.
"Constellations," Webb muttered, using the designation they'd created. One step above Star level. The evolution they feared humanity might face if anyone ever progressed that far.
The beings that were the real threat.
"Still no movement, sir. They've been stationary for six weeks."
"Any progress on their language?"
"Negative. The sounds they make... our equipment can barely register the frequencies."
Webb stared at the screen, deep in thought. Why didn't they attack? Beings of that power could annihilate their remaining territories in days. Yet they simply stood there, occasionally communicating in their incomprehensible tongue, making no aggressive moves.
*What are you waiting for?*
---
Unknown Location - Beyond Human Territory
The Fly spoke first, its compound eyes reflecting a thousand angles of the devastated landscape around them.
"How much longer?"
The words weren't in any human language. The sounds would have ruptured human eardrums, frequencies that existed outside normal perception.
The Monkey, clearly the leader, scratched its elongated arm with casual indifference. Silver energy leaked from its five eyes like tears of pure power.
"Two months. Perhaps less."
The Snake coiled and uncoiled its neck, a nervous habit. "He comes soon then. The one whose name we cannot speak at our level."
They all knew who. The being that destroyed planets not for conquest or resources, but for food. It consumed planetary cores like delicacies, leaving nothing but cosmic dust in its wake. A threat to any galaxy unfortunate enough to draw its attention.
"Our goals aren't so different," the Fly buzzed, its wings creating harmonics that shattered nearby rocks. "We feed on planetary energy too. Just... more sustainably."
"Sips versus swallowing whole," the Monkey agreed. "We take what we can while leaving the planet alive. He devours everything."
They'd perfected this pattern over centuries. Enter a galaxy ahead of him, feed on the planetary energies, then leave before his arrival turned everything to nothing. This planet was one of the last in the galaxy from his approaching direction.
"Saving the best for last," the Snake hissed appreciatively. "His habits are predictable after all this time."
The Monkey's lips pulled back, revealing those terrible rows of teeth. "And what a feast this planet is. The energy here... more potent than anything we've encountered. We've grown more in three years here than the last thirty years combined."
"A true goldmine," the Fly agreed.
The Snake's tongue flicked out, tasting the energy-rich air. "The fragments make it special. This planet has something the others didn't."
All three turned their five eyes toward the human territories, sensing the billions of life forces there. Weak individually, but numerous. And somewhere among them, changes were happening. Evolution accelerating.
"Two months," the Monkey repeated. "We feast until then."
The three Constellation-level beings resumed their meditation positions, drawing in planetary energy with each breath. Rivers of power flowed into them from the earth itself, the planet bleeding energy it couldn't afford to lose.
No one would disturb them. No human could even approach their level. Star level beasts fled from their presence. They were apex predators in a world of prey.
The Fly's compound face split in what might have been a smile. "The humans don't even know we're the least of their problems."
Soon, something infinitely worse would arrive.
Something that didn't just feed on worlds.
Something that ended them.