The first video appeared online before anyone officially acknowledged that anything was wrong.
It was shaky and badly framed, filmed from an apartment balcony near the old rail line, and it showed nothing clearly enough to be useful but enough to be unsettling: a sudden burst of white light where no light should have been, a low vibrating sound that rattled the window panes, and several unmarked vehicles arriving too fast and leaving too cleanly. The caption was casual, almost joking, but the comments filled quickly with confusion, then speculation, then arguments about whether it was fake, staged, or some kind of experimental tech test gone wrong.
Ethan watched it late that night, the glow of his phone the only light in his room, the compass resting beside him and pulsing faintly with e
