[VISION OF THE FUTURE]
It's the year 2030 and Earth is still no longer the dominion of man.
They came in silence—not with noise, not with war. No crashing meteors like Zaryans. No blinking lights. Just presence. One day, the stars disappeared behind cold, gloomy clouds, and the quiet deep blue ocean loomed in strange sounds never heard of before.
Even the land was experiencing what it had never before trembled under shadows that didn't match anything on Earth.
They called themselves. The Triarchs. Beings not of this world, not even of this galaxy. Their message was clear: Earth had been claimed.
Three species. Three realms.
The skies belonged to the Veyari, majestic winged beings with bodies that shimmered like the northern lights. They flew in silence, unseen until they chose to reveal themselves. Their cities floated above the clouds—massive platforms of light and crystal, hidden from radar and unreachable by flight. Every storm, every hurricane that plagued the Earth since their arrival was a message: You do not own the sky.
The seas were ruled by the Zhurak, aquatic titans with skin like obsidian and eyes that glowed like submerged suns. They were never fully seen, only glimpsed through rolling waves and shattered submarines. Entire naval fleets disappeared in minutes. The oceans changed color. Fish obeyed new instincts. Coral grew into shapes resembling the Zhurax language. Humanity could no longer sail without permission.
And the land, it was taken by the Drokar, hulking reptilian humanoids who emerged from the crust of the Earth itself. Buried for millennia in stasis under tectonic plates, they awoke when the others arrived. Towering, with armor-plated skin and voices that sounded like falling mountains, they moved across continents in great columns. They dismantled cities with eerie precision, never speaking to humans, never killing without reason.
No war was declared.
No surrender was asked.
It was their goal.
In the city of New Berlin, once a thriving haven for human resistance, a young man named Athan crouched on a rooftop, his breath fogging in the cold night air. The sky was a swirl of dark green clouds, pulsing with soft alien light. Far above, a Veyari platform blinked once—acknowledging his presence.
He didn't blink back.
Below him, the street was quiet. A Drokar patrol moved in calculated steps, heavy limbs thudding against broken pavement. Athan didn't move. He had learned the rules.
Never attract the attention of a Triarch.
Never look into the eyes of a Zhurax emissary. You might see the sea's memories and forget your own.
If a Veyari speaks to you, do not answer unless you are prepared to fly or fall.
Athan had broken all three rules.
He wasn't proud of it, but he was still alive. That was something.
His earpiece crackled. "You're late," said Zaryan's voice. "We don't have all night. The charge is ready."
He'd already joined the first species of Aliens upon hearing about their heartbreaking story many years ago. Instead of fighting them, his goal is to fight new emerging species with no good intention other than to reclaim the earth and make it theirs.
Athan glanced behind her. Across the ruined skyline, smoke curled from the remnants of what used to be the University. "Copy. I had to wait for the Drokar to pass. I'm heading down."
The rebels had a plan. It was small, almost pitiful compared to the dominion the Triarchs held, but it was real. In the university's sub-basement, an old power core still pulsed with pre-invasion energy technology the aliens hadn't neutralized because it was too deep, too obsolete. But Zaryans had found a way to convert it into an EMP blast.
A blast that could, in theory, ground a Veyari platform for five minutes.
Five minutes.
Enough to hijack it. Enough to see what secrets floated in the skies.
Athan dropped silently to the second-floor fire escape, then down to the street. The Drokar patrol had vanished, but their heavy footprints cracked the cement like scars.
The sea roared louder today. He didn't like that.
Two hours later, Athan stood in the dark undercroft of the University, surrounded by Zaryans and two others: Jenna, a former naval technician, and Rev, a boy who hadn't spoken a word since the Zhurax drowned his entire village.
"We're alive," Zaryans whispered.
Jenna pressed a final button. The lights dimmed.
Athan took one last breath. "Do it."
The pulse ignited with a deep hum, not loud but heavy, like the heartbeat of a god. The floor trembled. Lights flickered across the city. Above them, the Veyari platform blinked once, then began to descend.
They had five minutes.
Athan and Zaryans sprinted up the stairwell and onto the rooftop again, this time armed with jetpack, modified from scavenged tech and barely tested.
As they launched into the sky, Athan felt the sheer weight of the air change around him. The pressure thickened. The sound dropped. The closer they got to the platform, the more unnatural everything felt.
The platform was vast—like an inverted city made of light and mirrors. It spun slowly, revealing levels upon levels of shimmering halls. Veyari floated through the air, their wings never moving, still but sailing smoothly.
Athan landed on the outer edge and rolled into cover.
Zaryans followed. "We did it," he howled.
"No," Athan said. "We're here. Now we find out why they came."
They moved cautiously through the corridors. Everything hummed with energy. Symbols lit up as they passed, reacting to their presence. It wasn't just technology—it was alive.
Then Athan heard it. A voice, not in words but in thought.
"You should not be here, human."
He turned.
A Veyari floated before him - tall, almost translucent, eyes like twin galaxies. It didn't move. It simply hovered, radiant and unknowable.
"Why?" He asked aloud. "Why did you take our world?"
Because it was broken. Because you were dying. Because you forgot how to listen to the demands of the sky, sea and land.
Athan trembled. "That's not your choice to make."
"It was not a choice. It was a response. The Earth called out. And we answered."
Zaryans raised his weapon. "We'll take it back. Every inch."
Veyari turned toward him. You are welcome to try. But remember: the Earth has chosen. It speaks to us now.
And then the floor disappeared.
Athan woke up on a shoreline, soaked and gasping. The ocean was calm. A shape moved beneath the waves. Watching. Listening.
He could still hear Veyari's voice in his mind.
The war hadn't begun.
It had already ended.
Now comes the reckoning.