— Nazca Desert, 3:04 a.m.
The desert should have been asleep.
Silent.
Still.
Cold.
Instead, the Nazca lines glowed like veins under flesh — pulsing with the same impossible auroras that streaked across the sky.
Lena Sorin stood on the edge of the largest spiral, her breath trembling as violet and blue light washed over the sand. The air crackled with a static charge that made the hairs on her arms stand straight.
Behind her, military vehicles rumbled, headlights cutting through dust. Dozens of soldiers and researchers rushed around in chaos.
"Dr. Sorin, we need to evacuate NOW!" Diego shouted, waving for her to step back from the glowing spiral.
But she couldn't move.
The lines… were alive.
The spiral expanded — not visually, but perceptually — as if some ancient consciousness inside the Earth exhaled through it. Each pulse throbbed through Lena's bones like a heartbeat.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Her own pulse synced without her permission.
Then the whisper came.
Soft.
Dry like sand sliding across stone.
"Li…na…"
She froze.
Her eyes darted around.
"Diego… did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" His face was pale, reflecting the unnatural glow. "We don't have time—"
The ground trembled.
Not violently.
Not enough to knock anyone down.
Just enough to announce:
I am awake.
The spiral brightened — every line igniting in unison.
Lena stumbled back, shielding her eyes.
"What is happening?!"
Diego grabbed her arm.
"We have to move— before—"
A shockwave burst outward from the center of the spiral.
Sand erupted like a geyser.
Everyone hit the ground.
Vehicles rocked on their suspensions.
And Lena was hit by the vision.
---
2 — Vision: The Four Witnesses
It slammed into her mind like a storm.
China — Jianyu screaming as black symbols crawled over his skin.
Siberia — Akio running through splintered ice as a massive black vein erupted.
Amazon — Maya fleeing through glowing rivers.
Antarctica — David kneeling as ancient DNA unraveled into alien spirals.
And then—
The Great Wall split, a shockwave lifting dust and stone as roots burst upward.
Something rose beneath it.
Enormous.
Alive.
Lena gasped harshly and fell to her knees.
The vision vanished.
But she was not alone anymore.
Soldiers surrounded her. Military scientists. Men in suits with badges she had never seen.
One of them knelt in front of her.
He wore black gloves and a small pin with three horizontal bars and one vertical slash — the same symbol Jianyu's agent wore.
"Dr. Sorin," the man said calmly.
"You will come with us."
Lena's eyes narrowed.
"What organization are you with?"
"We are the International Geological Emergency Council."
His tone did not match the title.
There was no concern. Only precision.
"And we are here for your safety."
Lena laughed once — sharp, hollow.
"You're lying."
The man smiled slightly.
"We were hoping you were smarter than the average researcher."
He leaned closer.
"Project Vein prefers cooperation."
Her blood ran cold.
"Project… Vein?"
The man's smile never changed.
"You've seen something. Your sketches move, don't they? The lines change on their own while you sleep."
Her breath hitched.
How did he know?
"Hand over your notebook," he said softly. "And the object."
Lena stiffened.
"What object?"
His eyes flicked to her pocket.
To the small lump inside.
The sand-glass.
Earlier that day, when the spiral had pulsed for the first time, a piece of ordinary sand melted into a perfect glass spiral, warm to the touch. Lena had pocketed it before anyone noticed.
Now it pulsed faintly.
As if hearing the auroras above.
As if answering them.
As if… alive.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.
The man sighed — theatrically.
"You're not very good at this, Dr. Sorin."
Two soldiers stepped forward.
Lena backed up instinctively.
Diego jumped between them.
"HEY— you can't just—!"
The man raised a finger.
A soldier struck Diego in the gut, sending him to the sand.
"STOP!" Lena shouted.
"We're done asking," the man said.
They reached for her—
And the spiral pulsed again.
A shockwave rippled across the desert.
Soldiers stumbled.
The ground vibrated violently—
Then the sand-glass in her pocket grew hot.
Lena gasped.
She pulled it out.
The crystal glowed.
Then—
It whispered.
"Lena."
Her legs gave out.
The voice wasn't in her ears.
It was inside her skull.
Inside her bones.
The Project Vein agents stared at her in shock.
"What did it say?" the leader demanded.
Lena didn't answer.
She couldn't.
Because the desert around her was changing.
---
3 — The Awakening Spiral
The Nazca lines — all of them — began to glow.
Not one.
Not two.
All thirty-two gigantic geoglyphs across the desert lit up like a constellation awakening.
The monkey.
The hummingbird.
The spider.
The condor.
The hands.
All pulsing in perfect synchronization.
A network.
A circuit.
A signal.
Soldiers screamed into dead radios.
"Command! We need evac!"
"No response!"
"What is this?!"
"Is this an attack?!"
The man from Project Vein watched silently, breathing harder with each pulse.
Lena stared as the spirals connected — lines of neon threading across kilometers of land like veins beneath transparent skin. The desert itself felt alive.
A second wave of whispers filled her mind.
Layered.
Ancient.
Weak.
Trying to speak through her.
Trying to speak through the sand.
Her notebook vibrated in her bag.
She pulled it out—
The sketches she'd drawn over the past weeks…
were moving.
Lines rearranged themselves into new spirals, new symbols, new languages.
A message rewriting itself every second.
"What do you want…" she whispered.
The sand-glass shifted in her palm.
Its spiral rotated — under its own will.
Then it spoke again.
"Remember."
Her heart stopped.
She didn't know what it meant.
Not yet.
But the Earth did.
---
4 — The Interrogation Tent (Brief)
Hours passed in a blur.
Lena was dragged into a military tent.
Floodlights flickered from strange magnetic interference.
Generators hummed as soldiers shouted outside.
The man from Project Vein sat across from her.
"We know what you saw," he said.
"We know about the visions. The connections. The patterns."
Lena stared at her hands.
They were still shaking.
"You're afraid," she whispered.
He paused.
"Yes," he admitted. "Because you are one of the nodes."
She looked up.
"Nodes?"
"A living connection point," he said quietly.
"One of five."
Her blood ran cold.
"Five?" she whispered.
He nodded slowly.
"China. Siberia. Brazil. Antarctica. Peru."
He leaned in.
"And all five of you saw the same thing tonight, didn't you?"
Lena didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
The spirals outside pulsed again.
---
PART II FINAL CLIFFHANGER
A sudden heat burned her thigh.
Lena gasped and reached into her pocket.
The sand-glass spiral glowed molten white—
Then whispered her name a second time.
Stronger.
Clearer.
"Lena."
She dropped it, screaming.
The Project Vein leader stepped back in shock.
The sand-glass began to twist and reshape itself on the floor — moving like a tiny living organism.
And every spiral outside answered with the same pulse.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Lena realized:
It wasn't calling her.
It was awakening her.
---