Twenty years ago, humanity began chasing the secrets of the universe.
Dark matter.
Dark energy.
Two forces that shaped galaxies but remained completely beyond human understanding.
Hidden laboratories across the world worked in silence, funded by governments and powerful organizations. Their goal was simple.
Harness dark energy.
For two decades the research produced nothing but failures.
Until last night.
After twenty years of experiments, scientists finally succeeded in isolating unstable dark energy within specialized anti-radiation containment chambers.
It should have been humanity's greatest achievement.
Instead, it nearly ended the world.
A terrorist organization infiltrated the facility, attempting to steal the research data for a rival nation. During the chaos, containment systems were destroyed.
Unstable dark energy leaked.
Reality itself fractured.
For a brief moment, a massive rift opened in the sky, and the world trembled as if something from beyond reality was trying to enter.
Then something impossible happened.
A presence appeared within the rift.
Cold.
Silent.
Unfathomably powerful.
A voice echoed across the planet.
"Planetary instability detected."
"Dimensional breach identified."
"Administrator intervention authorized."
The spreading destruction froze.
The rift collapsed.
Before disappearing, the entity delivered a final command.
"System initialization complete."
And then—
The sky returned to normal.
Most of humanity believed it had been a strange atmospheric event.
They went back to sleep.
Unaware that something fundamental had changed.
Morning.
Sunlight slipped through the thin curtains of a small apartment balcony.
Inside the room, a young man slowly opened his eyes.
His alarm clock showed 8:37 AM.
"…Great."
He rubbed his face and stared at the ceiling.
Another day.
Another jobless morning.
No work.
No plans.
No direction.
With a sigh, he got up and walked toward the balcony.
The morning air felt slightly different.
Colder somehow.
He leaned against the railing and looked down at the street below.
Nothing unusual.
People walking.
Cars passing.
Life going on as normal.
Then his gaze shifted downward.
Something moved near the corner of the balcony floor.
Ants.
A small line of them crawled along the wall.
But something about them felt… strange.
He leaned closer.
"…Huh?"
The ants were bigger than usual.
Their bodies were darker.
Their movements looked far more organized.
One of them suddenly stopped.
Its head turned slightly.
For a brief moment…
It looked like the ant was staring directly at him.
The young man frowned.
"…Did ants always look like that?"
Unbeknownst to him—
Last night had changed the entire planet.
And this was only the beginning.