Location: Earth-Liberty Merge Layer — "The Genesis Plane"
At first, no one believed it was happening.
When the light swept through the skies, shimmering like silver rain, the world thought it was another augmented reality stunt — some massive publicity trick by the Liberty Online Corporation. People recorded videos, laughed, posted hashtags like #SkyUpdate and #PatchInRealLife.
But laughter quickly turned into screaming.
Because the light didn't fade.
It changed everything.
The Merging
Cities around the world twisted and bent, their edges blending with virtual landscapes. Skyscrapers merged with medieval towers; highways dissolved into glowing data bridges. From the skies above New Tokyo to the deserts of Nevada, fragments of Liberty Online's world geometry bled into reality — entire forests of glowing mushrooms, floating islands, and rune-carved mountains.
People stood frozen in the streets, watching the laws of physics rewrite themselves before their eyes.
