8:25 PM
The digital clock read 8:25 PM.
The room was silent, interrupted only by the constant hum of the equipment running. In front of the table, a camera remained fixed, its small red dot lit.
"Are you ready?" asked a voice through the encrypted channel.
"We'll only have one chance," it continued. "Twenty-five minutes."
The figure in front of the camera looked up.
"Twenty is enough."
He picked up the black mask from the table. Smooth, unmarked, designed to cover only half the face. It didn't completely hide him, nor was it meant to. He put it on calmly.
"I'm ready."
The transmission began.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Everywhere, at the same time
Times Square fell silent.
The giant screens changed their signal without warning. Advertising, news, and financial graphics disappeared, replaced by the image of a masked figure staring directly at the viewer.
In London, the signal invaded screens near the Tower.
In Shanghai, it dominated entire facades.
In Cuba, old televisions flickered before showing the same face.
In capitals across different continents, the image was repeated.
It did not speak immediately.
It just watched.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Under the sea
The submarine operator frowned as he looked at the radar.
A red dot had appeared where there had been nothing before.
"That wasn't there..." he muttered.
He was about to request a second scan when an explosion shook the hull. The lights flickered. Alarms began to sound.
The compartment held. The armored door remained closed. No water entered.
As he approached the porthole, he saw it.
A small, bipedal figure with disturbingly human proportions floated in front of the glass. It wore no equipment. It had no clear features.
It remained motionless.
Watching.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Russia
The tremor did not activate seismic sensors.
But everyone felt it.
Inside the bunker, the floor vibrated at an irregular cadence. Something was moving beneath it. The concrete cracked.
A worm the size of a dog emerged from the opening, with pale skin and a segmented body. A soldier reacted quickly. He fired. He shot it down.
The relief lasted only a moment.
Another body, much larger, emerged from the same spot.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On the surface
Elsewhere, chaos took different forms.
Flocks of birds descended en masse, with serrated beaks and coordinated movements.
Almost humanoid-looking rats emerged from sewers.
Giant ants broke through walls and pavement, their numbers impossible to calculate.
There was no visible pattern.
Only simultaneity.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8:45 PM
The masked figure reappeared on the screens.
This time, he did not remain silent.
His voice was neither loud nor theatrical. It was rough, heavy with fatigue. Each word seemed to carry the weight of too many failed attempts.
"I'm tired."
He did not say it as a complaint, but as a statement of fact.
He spoke of meetings that led nowhere.
Of proposals discarded before they were even heard.
Of solutions that always came "too soon" or "too late."
"I tried to warn them. I tried to negotiate. I tried to change things without breaking anything."
The tension seeped into his tone. He didn't shout, but the irritation was evident, like contained pressure about to fracture.
"Every time they chose immediate profit. Every time they decided to look the other way."
He paused. Longer than necessary.
"I don't hate the world," he continued. "But fighting against it... weighs heavily. More and more."
The camera captured a slight adjustment of his mask, almost imperceptible, as if even that bothered him.
"I'll wait five days for an answer."
There was no direct threat.
He made no promises.
Just exhaustion.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8:47 PM
The transmission cut out.
"We have a problem," said the faceless voice. "We failed in Israel and France."
There was no immediate response.
"Elizabeth? Aron?"
"They haven't made contact."
Silence.
Finally, the figure stood up.
"Notify ____, ____, and ____," it ordered. "Have them cover the missing points."
The communication ended.
The clock kept ticking.
And the world had already changed.