The sky changed slowly enough that most people did not notice at first.
Clouds took on a faint green hue near the horizon, thin streaks of color that weather forecasts could not explain. By the time anyone questioned it, communication networks were already failing in layers, each collapse feeding the next.
Emergency broadcasts replaced normal programming.
"We are assessing the situation."
"There is no confirmed extraterrestrial presence."
"Remain calm and stay indoors."
The words repeated until the signals died.
Across the planet, military forces attempted to respond. Aircraft launched only to lose guidance midair. Missile systems failed to lock onto targets that refused to remain in predictable space. Radar screens filled with noise, then went dark entirely.
No one could see the enemy clearly.
They could only feel it.
By the second day, entire regions had gone silent. Cities burned without response. Borders ceased to matter as command structures fractured and fell apart. Nations that had spent centuries preparing for war found themselves unable to fight one.
In an underground operations center, a general stared at a tactical display stripped of symbols.
"We're blind," he said quietly.
An officer beside him swallowed. "Sir, we don't even know where they're striking next."
The screen flickered again.
Another city disappeared.
On the third day, panic reached the surface.
People fled without destinations. Shelters filled past capacity. Hospitals ran on failing generators as the wounded kept coming. Fires burned unchecked, painting the night sky in orange and black.
Humanity had always believed it would recognize the end when it came.
Instead, it arrived piece by piece.
Deep beneath the surface, Earth listened.
Seismic sensors registered movements that did not match any known tectonic behavior. The patterns were too precise. Too synchronized. Scientists who still had access to the data stared at the readings in silence.
"This isn't natural," one of them whispered.
"No," another agreed. "It's deliberate."
On the fourth day, the night side of Earth grew darker.
Power grids collapsed completely in multiple hemispheres. The familiar web of city lights unraveled, leaving only scattered clusters of illumination clinging to survival. From orbit, the planet no longer looked alive.
Above it, the invasion fleet tightened its hold.
Orbital control was absolute. Atmospheric craft settled into fixed positions, their green cores pulsing steadily as unfamiliar energy bled into the sky. The invaders did not hurry.
They did not need to.
To them, the outcome was already decided.
The fifth day began without sunrise in many places.
Smoke covered the horizon. The sky glowed faintly green even where clouds had thinned. Survivors emerged cautiously, staring upward in silence as something unseen pressed down on the planet.
In a ruined city, a woman clutched a broken radio, turning the dial again and again.
"Is anyone there?" she asked.
Only static answered.
Beneath her feet, ancient systems reached a conclusion.
Planetary survival probability fell below the final threshold.
The condition was met.
Deep within Earth's mantle, energy flowed through pathways sealed for millennia. Vaults hidden beneath oceans and mountains unlocked in sequence, their activation silent and absolute.
Across the globe, the same signal echoed.
The planet was no longer observing.
It was responding.
In a chamber no human had ever seen, systems aligned with perfect clarity. Data streams converged into a singular awareness, vast and precise.
Casualty projections stabilized.
Threat assessments updated.
Planetary defense authority transferred.
A figure stood at the center of the chamber, motionless as power returned to systems integrated into its very form. Armor dark and seamless reflected the glow of awakening machinery.
Its eyes opened.
Five days had passed.
Above the planet, unfamiliar signals appeared across the invasion fleet's tactical displays.
For the first time since entering the system, the invaders recalculated.
Earth was no longer silent.
And whatever had been sealed beneath it was no longer sleeping.