Lee dreamed of falling stars.
They tore through a black sky in streaks of blue fire, striking cities, forests, oceans, and mountains.
Each impact sent glowing mist rolling across the land.
The scenes changed before he could understand them.
Seattle burned beneath a storm of lightning.
A golden city floated above the clouds, its towers collapsing one by one.
Thousands of soldiers stood in formation before a wall of darkness that stretched from the ground to the stars.
Then Lee was back inside the Elysian Void.
Milo threw him into the sand.
Ajax struck his shield aside and placed a sword against his throat.
The Nyxreaver crawled from the shadows, its violet eyes fixed on him.
Six black limbs unfolded from its body as it opened its mouth and screamed.
Lee tried to move.
He couldn’t.
Shadow tendrils burst from his back and wrapped around the creature.
The darkness spread up his arms, sinking beneath his skin.
The Nyxreaver vanished.
Something larger took its place.
A battlefield appeared beneath a blood-red sky.
Broken vehicles burned between piles of stone, and gunfire echoed through a ruined valley.
Figures in military gear moved through the smoke.
Lee recognized the way they advanced.
Two covered the front while the others crossed open ground.
His father had shown him the same movements during backyard training sessions.
One of the soldiers turned.
Dad.
Hurshell Woods raised his rifle and fired into the smoke.
The rounds struck something enormous.
A giant stepped through the flames.
It had one eye in the center of its forehead and stood nearly twenty feet tall.
Thick armor covered its chest, while a spiked club rested across one shoulder.
Lee tried to shout a warning.
No sound came out.
His father reloaded.
The cyclops charged.
Lee fought against whatever held him in place, but the battlefield remained beyond his reach, like an image trapped behind glass.
The club rose.
His father looked directly at him.
Then the weapon fell.
“Dad!”
Lee awoke sitting upright in bed.
Darkness filled the room.
His breathing came fast and shallow, and sweat soaked the collar of his shirt.
For several seconds, he didn’t recognize where he was.
Then the shapes around him became familiar.
His desk.
The dresser.
The military challenge coins his parents had collected during their travels.
Buster slept at the foot of the bed, though the dog had raised his head at Lee’s shout.
Lee pressed one hand against his chest.
No claws.
No wounds.
No shadow tendrils.
He was home.
The clock beside his bed read 5:42 a.m.
Faint blue light leaked through the curtains.
Lee pushed the blanket aside and crossed the room.
His legs felt steady despite the violence of the night before.
That was almost worse.
The cuts and bruises from the Nyxreaver were gone.
His shoulder no longer hurt where the creature’s claw had pierced it.
Even the exhaustion had vanished after several hours inside the Void.
His body showed no proof that any of it had happened.
The backyard did.
Lee pulled the curtain aside.
The fallen stone remained inside the crater, its metallic veins glowing beneath the early morning fog.
Broken trees lay across the pasture, and deep claw marks scarred the porch.
The kitchen door had been covered with a sheet of plywood.
Hermes had helped with that.
Not personally.
According to him, repairing mortal houses fell outside the sacred responsibilities of the messenger god.
He had instead spent several minutes telling Lee how to brace the plywood using boards and tools from the garage.
Lee rested his forehead against the cool glass.
The dream returned in pieces.
The red sky.
The cyclops.
His father’s face.
The club falling.
Hermes.
There was no answer.
Lee focused harder.
I know you can hear me.
A tired voice entered his thoughts.
Gods do not sleep as mortals do, but we occasionally appreciate silence.
I saw my father die.
Hermes said nothing.
Lee’s grip tightened around the curtain.
Was it real?
A longer silence followed.
I don’t know.
Lee frowned.
You don’t know?
I know that visions exist.
Gods have sent them.
Magic can create them.
Some mortals have possessed the ability to glimpse things that have not yet happened.
Dreams can also deceive the person experiencing them.
Lee stared toward the crater.
So it might not happen?
Correct.
But it could.
Yes.
Lee turned away from the window.
Anger rose inside him, sharp and immediate.
“You know everything about this power until I ask something that matters.”
Buster lifted his head again.
Hermes appeared near the bedroom door in a shimmer of gold.
His expression lacked its usual amusement.
“I have never claimed to know everything,” he said.
Lee kept his voice low.
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Hermes studied him for several seconds.
“I know that what you experienced affected you as though it were real.
I know that you saw things you had no reason to expect.
Beyond that, I would be guessing.”
Lee swallowed.
“You think my dad is going to fight that thing.”
“I think your father walks a dangerous road even without monsters.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“No answer will be good enough when you are asking me to promise that someone you love cannot die.”
Lee looked away.
He hated Hermes for saying it.
Mostly because he knew it was true.
His parents deployed often.
Lee had spent years pretending that didn’t frighten him.
They were experienced, careful, and surrounded by other people who knew what they were doing.
That logic had always been enough.
Now the world contained cyclopes.
“I need to call them.”
Lee grabbed his phone from the nightstand.
One signal bar had returned.
He called his father first.
The screen displayed CALLING, but no ringing came through.
After several seconds, the connection failed.
Lee tried again.
Nothing.
He called his mother.
The same result.
His stomach tightened.
“They could be fine,” Hermes said.
Lee glared at him.
“That doesn’t help.”
“No.
But panic will not help either.”
“What am I supposed to do?
Sit here and wait for the dream to come true?”
“You train.
You learn.
You gather information.
Then, when the moment arrives to act, you are capable of changing what you saw.”
Lee lowered the phone.
Changing it.
That was the first useful thing Hermes had said.
The battlefield had not felt like a nightmare meant only to frighten him.
It had felt like something he was supposed to see.
Maybe the future wasn’t fixed.
Maybe that was why he had seen it.
Lee looked toward the glowing crater.
“I’m not letting it happen.”
Hermes’ expression remained serious.
“Then remember that determination without patience becomes recklessness.”
“I know.”
“No.
You have heard the words.
Knowledge comes after you survive the mistake.”
Lee frowned.
Hermes vanished before Lee could respond.
Buster climbed across the bed and nudged Lee’s hand.
Lee scratched behind the dog’s ears.
“At least you don’t talk in riddles.”
Buster sneezed.
By seven o’clock, the house smelled like burned wood, instant coffee, and the eggs Lee had nearly ruined because he kept looking toward the window.
The television played emergency coverage in the living room.
Every channel showed some version of the same thing.
National Guard units moved into major cities.
Airports had closed after glowing debris struck several runways.
Scientists argued over whether the event had been a meteor storm, a solar disturbance, or something no one had seen before.
Videos spread faster than officials could deny them.
A man in Texas lifted the front end of a pickup truck.
A woman in South Korea walked through flames without burning.
In Brazil, something with wings had been filmed circling a crater before military helicopters drove it into the forest.
Most broadcasts called the videos unverified.
Lee knew at least some of them were real.
He sat on the couch with Buster beside him and watched a reporter stand near downtown Tacoma.
Broken windows covered the street behind her.
Soldiers in protective equipment examined a glowing fragment while emergency crews searched a collapsed building.
A banner moved across the bottom of the screen.
SCHOOLS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Lee should have been relieved.
Instead, he wondered whether school would ever feel normal again.
His phone vibrated.
This time, the caller ID showed Dad.
Lee nearly dropped it.
He answered immediately.
“Dad?”
“Hey, buddy.”
The connection crackled, but the voice was unmistakable.
Lee closed his eyes.
Relief hit him so hard that his shoulders weakened.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.
Your mom’s fine too.
Communications have been a mess, so we’ve only got a few minutes.”
“Where are you?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Are there monsters there?”
Silence followed.
Lee opened his eyes.
“Dad?”
“There have been some unusual incidents.”
“That means yes.”
“It means I need you to stay calm and listen.”
Lee sat straighter.
His father’s voice changed when he gave instructions.
It became slower and firmer, every word chosen carefully.
“Stay inside unless you absolutely have to leave.
Keep the generator running, but watch the fuel.
Lock the doors.
Don’t touch any debris, no matter what anyone says.”
Lee glanced toward the crater.
“Right.”
“And stay away from the impact site behind the house.”
Lee froze.
“How do you know about that?”
“Emergency management has satellite imagery.
Your area took several hits.”
Several.
Lee looked toward the windows.
“Is someone coming here?”
“Eventually.
Roads are blocked, and response teams are prioritizing populated areas.
Until then, keep your distance.”
Lee imagined the Nyxreaver breaking through the kitchen.
“Okay.”
His father paused.
“You sound strange.”
“I didn’t sleep much.”
“Neither did anyone else.”
Lee wanted to tell him everything.
The lightning.
Hermes.
The Void.
The Nyxreaver.
The dream.
Instead, he asked, “Have you seen a cyclops?”
The line went quiet.
“What?”
“A giant with one eye.”
“Lee, where did you hear that?”
“Online.”
The lie came too quickly.
His father didn’t respond for several seconds.
“Most things online right now are rumors.
Don’t let fear convince you every video is real.”
Lee looked at the television, where blurry footage showed something enormous moving between buildings.
“Yeah.”
“We should be home soon,” his father said.
“I can’t promise when, but we’re working on it.”
Lee tightened his grip on the phone.
“Be careful.”
“I always am.”
That was what his father said before every deployment.
Usually, Lee believed him.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Another pause.
“I love you too, son.”
The line disconnected.
Lee remained seated with the phone against his ear.
His father was alive.
For now.
That should have erased the dream.
It didn’t.
The first person to arrive was Ella.
She didn’t knock.
The front door opened, and she stepped inside carrying a backpack and two grocery bags.
“Your door was unlocked.”
Lee looked up from the couch.
“That doesn’t mean you should walk in.”
“It does at your house.”
Ella set the bags on the kitchen counter and stopped when she saw the damage.
A sheet of plywood covered the back doorway.
Cabinet doors hung loose, and the refrigerator had been pushed into a slightly different position to hide the largest dent.
Ella slowly turned toward Lee.
“What happened in here?”
“The impact knocked things around.”
“Things?”
“The refrigerator.”
“The impact moved your refrigerator?”
Lee shrugged.
“Big impact.”
Ella stared at him.
She had known him too long to accept a bad lie without examining it from every angle.
Her brown hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and she wore an oversized gray sweatshirt despite the warm house.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You look tired.”
“I didn’t sleep much.”
“That makes two of us.”
Her attention shifted toward the television.
Footage showed emergency crews moving through Seattle beneath a sky still stained with blue light.
“My mom says the world isn’t ending,” Ella said.
“She has repeated it twelve times, which makes me think she believes the exact opposite.”
Lee managed a small smile.
“What’s in the bags?”
“Food.
She sent enough for everyone.”
“Everyone?”
The doorbell rang.
Ella pointed toward it.
“Everyone.”
William entered first, carrying a case of bottled water beneath one arm.
He was taller and broader than the others, with curly dirty-blond hair that looked as if he had slept on one side of it all night.
Declan followed him, holding a cardboard box filled with batteries, flashlights, and several bags of chips.
“I brought emergency supplies,” Declan announced.
William looked inside the box.
“You brought three flashlights and nine bags of chips.”
“Morale is an emergency supply.”
Emerson came in behind them wearing sunglasses, though the sun had barely risen.
He glanced toward the damaged kitchen and lowered the glasses.
“Okay.
That’s not normal.”
“Impact,” Lee said.
Emerson examined the claw marks Lee had tried to hide beneath the edge of the plywood.
“Impacts have claws now?”
Lee stepped in front of them.
“The wood splintered.”
Emerson didn’t look convinced.
Lilith entered last.
She moved more quietly than the others, dressed in black jeans and a dark red jacket.
Her long blonde hair framed a pale face that revealed little of what she was thinking.
Unlike the others, she didn’t stare at the damage first.
She stared at Lee.
For a moment, he felt the same unease he had experienced when the Nyxreaver looked at him through the mist.
Then Lilith glanced toward the backyard.
“I dreamed about this house,” she said.
The room became quiet.
William set the water on the floor.
“What kind of dream?”
Lilith walked toward the window but stopped before reaching it.
“There was blue light behind the trees.
Something dark came out of it.”
Lee’s skin prickled.
Ella folded her arms.
“After everything on the news, that’s not exactly strange.”
“No,” Lilith said.
“It was here.”
She looked at Lee again.
“And Lee was standing in front of it.”
His heartbeat quickened.
“What was I doing?”
Lilith’s eyes narrowed as if she were trying to recover the details.
“I don’t know.
The dream kept changing.”
Hermes’ voice entered Lee’s thoughts.
Interesting.
That’s not the word I’d use.
Her mind may be reacting to the Convergence.
Can she see the future?
Perhaps.
Lee tried to keep his expression neutral.
Lilith continued watching him.
“You had shadows around you.”
The room felt suddenly too warm.
Emerson looked from Lilith to Lee.
“Okay, that’s creepy.”
“It was a dream,” Lee said.
Lilith nodded.
But she didn’t look convinced.
Declan opened one of the chip bags.
“So are we going to stand around discussing nightmare symbolism, or are we going to figure out what happened last night?”
“That’s why we’re here,” William said.
“My dad heard explosions near Tacoma.
Ella says Graham got hit.
Emerson claims he saw a giant bird.”
“It was not a normal bird,” Emerson said.
“It was dark.”
“It blocked the moon.”
“The moon was behind clouds.”
“It had a wingspan wider than your house.”
William opened his mouth, then reconsidered.
“Fine.
Giant bird.”
They moved into the living room.
Ella sat beside Lee on the couch.
William took the armchair, while Declan settled on the floor with the supplies.
Emerson remained standing near the windows, and Lilith chose the chair closest to the hallway.
Their usual gathering looked almost normal.
Almost.
The television showed fires, military convoys, shattered buildings, and glowing stones.
Everyone began talking at once.
William described the blast that had shaken his house.
Declan said every animal in his neighborhood had started making noise at the same time.
Emerson insisted something had landed near the woods behind Stump Lake.
Ella listened to all of them before turning to Lee.
“What happened here?”
Lee looked toward the plywood covering the kitchen doorway.
He could still see the Nyxreaver crawling through the mist.
He could still feel its claws cutting into him.
“Something landed in the pasture,” he said carefully.
Everyone stopped talking.
“How close?” William asked.
Lee pointed toward the backyard.
Emerson moved to the window.
“What the heck happened to those trees?”
The others gathered behind him.
From the living room, they could see the broken trunks, torn earth, and faint blue glow rising from the crater.
Ella stared.
“That’s behind your house?”
“Yeah.”
Declan stepped closer to the glass.
“We should probably not be standing near the window.”
Nobody moved.
Lilith studied the dark marks burned into the ground between the crater and the porch.
“Those aren’t from the impact.”
Lee’s stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“They look like tracks.”
Hermes spoke inside his mind.
Your friends are observant.
You’re not helping.
William leaned closer to the glass.
“She’s right.
Something walked through there.”
The memories of the battle pressed against Lee.
He could tell them.
They were his closest friends.
If anyone would believe him, it would be them.
But belief wasn’t the only problem.
The moment they knew, they became part of it.
Monsters, gods, and whatever was happening to the world would no longer be something happening around them.
Lee looked at his friends.
They had been part of his life long before falling stones and monsters changed everything.
He opened his mouth.
A breaking-news alert sounded from the television.
The screen changed to live footage of downtown Graham.
Military vehicles filled the streets.
Soldiers surrounded glowing debris while workers in protective suits carried equipment between armored trucks.
William pointed at the screen.
“Look.
That’s town.”
The camera moved across damaged buildings and emergency tents.
Volunteers handed out food and water near the center of the square.
Lee recognized one of them.
For the first time that morning, the pressure inside his chest loosened.
“We should go down there,” he said.
Ella turned toward him.
“Why?”
“To see what’s happening.”
“Or,” Declan said, “we remain inside like every emergency alert keeps telling us.”
Emerson continued watching the television.
“They know something.”
Lee followed his gaze.
A technician passed a glowing scanner over one of the fallen stones.
The device reacted immediately, displaying symbols Lee couldn’t read from the broadcast.
Hermes went silent.
What is it?
Lee asked.
No answer.
That worried him.
Lilith stepped closer to the screen.
“They came prepared,” she said.
Ella looked at her.
“What?”
“The containers.
The scanners.
The protective gear.
They knew what to bring.”
Lee studied the trucks.
Lilith was right.
The response didn’t look improvised.
It looked rehearsed.
Hermes finally spoke.
You should investigate.
Lee resisted the urge to react.
Why?
Because mortals should not possess instruments capable of measuring Aether so soon after the Convergence.
The camera zoomed in on the scanner.
Blue light moved through crystalline circuits inside the device.
Hermes’ voice darkened.
And because that technology was not created by humans.
Lee stared at the screen.
His friends continued arguing about whether they should leave the house.
He barely heard them.
The dream of his father had shown him a monster that should not exist.
Now the government possessed technology it should not have.
The world had changed overnight.
And someone had been waiting for it.