The words hit the room like a bomb.
The Seeker found Earth.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Nobody spoke.
Because deep down—
everyone understood exactly what those words meant.
The countdown was over.
The waiting was over.
The search was over.
It had arrived.
Valentina's voice shattered the silence.
"Emergency alert."
Every screen activated simultaneously.
Satellite feeds.
Military networks.
Astronomical observations.
Civilian broadcasts.
Dozens of live recordings flooded the room.
And every single one showed the same thing.
The sky.
At first nothing seemed unusual.
Clouds.
Stars.
Darkness.
Then—
something changed.
A point of light appeared above the atmosphere.
Small.
Harmless.
Beautiful.
Like a new star.
Adrian stared.
"That's it?"
Nobody answered.
Because the point of light was growing.
Slowly.
Steadily.
Larger.
Brighter.
Until every satellite on Earth focused on it.
The object wasn't entering the atmosphere.
It wasn't descending.
It simply existed.
Hanging above the planet.
Watching.
The stranger beyond the screen closed his eyes.
"It's exactly the same."
Elena looked at him.
"What happens now?"
His answer came immediately.
"Nothing."
The room froze.
"What?"
"Nothing happens."
Nobody understood.
The stranger continued.
"Not immediately."
Fear settled deeper into Elena's chest.
Because somehow that sounded worse.
Much worse.
"The Seeker doesn't attack."
"Then what does it do?"
Alessandro demanded.
The stranger looked directly at him.
"It observes."
Silence.
"It studies civilizations."
The starfield behind him shifted.
Worlds appeared.
Countless worlds.
Thousands.
Perhaps millions.
Then one by one—
they disappeared.
Gone.
Extinct.
Dead.
The room felt colder.
"The Seeker searches for anomalies."
His eyes found Elena again.
"It searches for impossible things."
No one needed clarification.
Everyone knew who he meant.
Suddenly alarms erupted across every screen.
Valentina reacted instantly.
"Unknown energy detected."
The object above Earth flashed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The entire planet seemed to hold its breath.
Then every electronic device on Earth activated simultaneously.
Phones.
Computers.
Televisions.
Vehicles.
Satellites.
Everything.
Across the entire world.
Every screen displayed the same image.
A single eye.
Massive.
Ancient.
Impossible.
Watching.
The room fell silent.
Because looking at it felt wrong.
Not frightening.
Wrong.
Like seeing something the human mind wasn't meant to understand.
The eye blinked.
And every screen on Earth changed.
A message appeared.
One sentence.
Simple.
Terrifying.
ANOMALY LOCATED.
Elena's blood ran cold.
The stranger immediately stood.
"No."
For the first time since appearing—
he looked panicked.
Genuinely panicked.
"That's too fast."
"What does that mean?" Elena demanded.
The stranger looked at her.
And she hated the answer before he even spoke.
"It knows it's you."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Then—
something impossible happened.
The image of the eye moved.
Not on one screen.
On all of them.
Turning.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
As if looking through the display itself.
As if looking directly into the mansion.
Directly at Elena.
The eye stopped moving.
Then another message appeared.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
The stranger cursed under his breath.
A rare display of emotion.
"Run."
Alessandro stepped forward immediately.
"We're not running."
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
The stranger's eyes filled with frustration.
"Because I've already lived this."
The room froze.
He pointed toward the eye.
"I fought it."
A second finger.
"I hid from it."
A third.
"I crossed timelines trying to escape it."
His voice dropped.
"And every version of me failed."
Nobody spoke.
Because they could hear the truth in his voice.
The exhaustion.
The grief.
The centuries of failure.
Then the eye blinked again.
Every light in the mansion exploded.
Glass shattered.
Systems died.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Only the screens remained active.
Only the eye remained visible.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then a final message appeared beneath it.
Not directed at humanity.
Not directed at Earth.
Directed at one person.
ELENA VASQUEZ.
A pause.
Then—
WE NEED TO TALK.
And for the first time since its arrival—
the Seeker spoke directly to her.