THE ECHOES BENEATH BLACKWATER

Story:When the stars vanished from the sky, everyone thought it was a freak astronomical event — everyone except Maya Lin, the quiet radio engineer who lived on the edge of town. She had been hearing whispers through her homemade receivers for months: faint signals, almost like voices, calling out coordinates and counting down.On the night the sky went dark, her equipment didn’t fall silent — it roared to life.The signals weren’t disappearing.They were moving.Maya traced the transmission to an abandoned observatory outside the city. Inside, the air buzzed with an energy she couldn't explain. A shimmering tear hovered above the center platform, bending reality like heat over asphalt. Through it, she saw the missing stars — not lost, but rearranging themselves into a map.A map pointing directly… to Earth.As the tear widened, Maya realized the countdown wasn’t a warning.It was an arrival schedule.And midnight was only minutes away.