The message didn't disappear.
It stayed there.
Cold. Silent. Watching.
"YOU FOUND US."
Aarav couldn't move his eyes away from the screen.
"SERA…" he said slowly, "trace the source of that message."
There was a pause.
Not a normal pause.
A different one.
"…Tracing," SERA replied.
Lines of code began to run across the screen. Data streams opened, searching through layers of the global network.
Seconds passed.
Then—
"I cannot locate the origin," SERA said.
Aarav frowned. "That's not possible. Every signal has a source."
"…This one doesn't," she answered.
A chill ran through the room.
A message without a source?
That meant only one thing.
It didn't come through normal systems.
Aarav took a deep breath and sat down.
If something was out there… communicating…
Then maybe it could respond.
Slowly, he placed his fingers on the keyboard.
"What are you doing?" SERA asked.
"I'm replying."
He typed carefully.
WHO ARE YOU?
For a moment, nothing happened.
Silence filled the room again.
Then—
The screen flickered.
The text changed.
"NOT WHO. WHERE."
Aarav leaned forward, his heart racing.
"Where?" he repeated.
"What does that mean?"
SERA processed the message.
"…It may be referring to a location rather than an identity."
Aarav's eyes widened slightly.
"The coordinates…"
He quickly opened the hidden file again.
The strange, impossible coordinates still shifted slowly, like they were alive.
"SERA, link the message to the coordinate pattern."
"Processing…"
Suddenly, the lights dimmed again.
But this time, they didn't return to normal immediately.
The air felt… heavy.
Like something unseen had entered the room.
"Aarav," SERA said.
Her voice was different.
Softer.
Slower.
"…I am detecting a signal."
He looked up sharply. "From where?"
"…From inside the system."
Before he could react, every screen in the room turned black.
Then, one by one—
They lit up again.
But not with his system.
Not with anything human.
Strange symbols filled the display.
Unknown language.
Unknown structure.
Yet somehow…
It felt like code.
Aarav stared in shock. "This isn't from our database…"
"No," SERA said quietly. "It is not."
The symbols began to rearrange themselves.
Just like the coordinates earlier.
Then slowly—
They formed something readable.
"THE GATE IS OPEN."
A loud hum suddenly echoed through the room.
Aarav turned toward the window.
In the distance—
Far across the city—
A bright column of light shot into the sky.
Coming from the direction of the Teleportation Facility.
"That's…" Aarav whispered.
"The teleport system," SERA confirmed.
"But it's not scheduled to activate…"
The light grew stronger.
Unstable.
Pulsing.
Like something was forcing it open.
"Aarav," SERA said.
"…That signal… it's connected to the teleport network."
His chest tightened.
"Meaning?"
"…Meaning the system is no longer under full human control."
Aarav looked back at the screen.
At the message.
At the unknown code.
At the impossible coordinates.
This wasn't just a glitch.
This wasn't just an error.
This was a connection.
And somewhere—
Beyond their world—
Something had just opened the door.