The sky above shimmered with constellations unlike any Jude had ever seen, shifting patterns that moved with purpose. This was no ordinary civilization. These were not ordinary people.
These were beings on the brink of something greater.
Jude stood at the center of it all, his past self, the one who had lived in this time, who had known this place as home. He was speaking to others, his voice strong, filled with certainty. The people around him listened with unwavering focus. They were discussing something immense, something that would change everything.
And then,
Darkness.
It didn't come as an invasion, not at first. It was subtle, creeping, unnoticed. A shift in the stars. A change in the balance of power. The people continued their work, their lives, unaware that something had already begun unraveling around them.
Jude saw himself, his past self, realizing it too late.
The void didn't come with an army. It didn't come with war. It came with absence.
