Chapter 1: A Night to Remember

As I leaned in for a kiss, something caught her eye.

“What was that?” she inquired.

“Probably just a peeping tom,” I joked.

“Seriously?”

“No, it was likely a deer or something.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. There’s no one in this area for miles.”

That was a slight exaggeration. We were at her grandparents’ secluded cabin, so far from civilization that I hadn’t seen another soul for days. The few cabins scattered around were primarily summer retreats, and with winter approaching, they were all deserted.

“Should we head inside?” she suggested.

“We could, but we might not have many more nights like this,” I replied. The autumn chill had yet to encroach upon our evening under the stars.

“You're right,” she agreed. “Let’s seize the moment.” With that, she leaned in for another kiss, only to be interrupted once more—this time by a sudden flash of light.

A moment later, we witnessed a falling star. It was unlike anything I had ever seen; it illuminated the entire sky and crashed with a sound like thunder.

“What was that?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“A meteor. It must have landed nearby.”

“Let’s grab the truck!”

We drove along the dark country road until we reached a point where we could go no further.

“I think we’ll have to continue on foot from here,” I said.

She switched on a flashlight. “This is thrilling!”

The woods were even darker, the trees blocking out most of the starlight. Without the flashlight, we would have stumbled through the underbrush. Navigating the woods in daylight is one thing; at night, it transforms into an entirely different challenge.

What struck me as odd were the animals. Initially, I assumed we were merely startling them, as we heard creatures scurrying away. While we expected to see raccoons and deer, we also heard birds and squirrels, which was unusual at this hour.

It soon became clear that we were not the source of their fright; they were all fleeing in the opposite direction. Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a large dog barreling toward us. I had to leap aside to avoid it as it raced past.

“Was that a black bear?” she asked.

“Could be.”

“I don’t want to know what scared it. Should we turn back?”

“It was likely just the noise. I’m sure it’s fine. We’ve come this far.”

So we pressed on.

Approaching the crash site, we noticed that many trees had been toppled, with several trunks broken. The lack of canopy made it easier to navigate.

“There’s a mound in the center of the destruction.”

“This must be it.”

We climbed to the top and discovered a wide hole—much larger than I had anticipated. Even with the flashlight, I couldn’t see the bottom.

“Do you hear that?” I asked.

“It sounds like a strange hum.”

We ventured closer, expecting to find a rock, but instead, we encountered something smooth, metallic, and perfectly spherical.

“That’s bizarre,” she remarked. “It looks like a cannonball.”

“Right, very odd.”

“What if it’s some type of bomb? Maybe we should leave.”

“Let’s just call the DNR. They’ll know how to handle this.”

Just as we turned to depart, the sphere emitted a sharp noise. We glanced back as it quieted down, but it continued to produce a random array of sounds, from beeping to long, resonant notes.

“What is it doing?” she asked.

“Honestly, I have no clue.”

Then, to our astonishment, it lifted off the ground, now at eye level.

“Okay, that’s really strange,” she said.

“I agree.”

The sphere began flashing colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and finally Purple. It repeated this sequence, and then started to display random colors at an increasing speed. However, the more I watched, the more the randomness faded into a pattern.

“I think it’s some kind of code,” I suggested.

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t speak rainbow.”

Eventually, the sequence stopped, glowing white before reverting to its original metallic gray. Then, symbols began to appear on its surface, lingering for a few seconds before disappearing.

“Do any of those look familiar?” I inquired.

“Not at all.”

The sphere continued to showcase different symbols for nearly half an hour, yet we were too captivated to leave.

“Oh, that one looks familiar,” she suddenly exclaimed.

“Really?”

“Yeah, that’s cuneiform! I remember studying it in school. It was one of the earliest written languages.”

More symbols began to emerge, and to my surprise, they started to resemble something I had seen before. One appeared in Arabic, another in Chinese, and I even recognized hieroglyphics and Cyrillic characters.

Finally, the symbols transformed into English, and the message was unmistakable.

“Oh my god,” she gasped.

“I… I can’t believe it.”

The message was simple yet chilling:

We Are Coming.

Chapter 2: Unraveling the Mystery

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