Dr. Aryan Ved wasn't just a name in textbooks. He was the man who rewrote them.
A legend in every observatory, a ghost in every debate, and a mystery in every lecture hall. With over fifty years in astrophysics and theoretical cosmology, Aryan Ved had uncovered cosmic microwave patterns never seen before, debunked long-standing laws, and predicted celestial behaviors with terrifying accuracy. Governments feared him. Students worshipped him. And the stars — well, the stars never stopped whispering his name.
The world knew him through his journals:
"Darkness Between Two Infinities",
"Echoes of a Silent Cosmos",
"The Mathematics of Absence".
People said he wasn't just trying to find aliens — he was trying to understand why they hadn't found us.
But on the 14th day of the Solstice Cycle, during an otherwise routine global astronomy summit, a sudden emergency broadcast interrupted the planet's peace.
"This is a global alert. A rogue asteroid — estimated to be 10 times the size of Earth — has entered our solar system. Its trajectory is locked onto our planet. Estimated time to impact: 10 seconds."
No one spoke. No one moved. Satellites blacked out. Time itself seemed to falter.
Only Aryan stood still, staring at the skies from the glass dome of the summit tower in Patagonia.
The asteroid — impossibly fast, unnaturally quiet — was already visible, a burning monster swallowing the sky. No telescope needed. Just eyes. Just horror.
9 seconds.
8...
7...
He didn't run. He didn't scream. He simply watched.
His breath slowed. The world blurred. He remembered nothing — not the awards, not the equations, not the crowds. Just space. Just silence.
3...
2...
He whispered something only the stars could hear.
1...
He closed his eyes.
And when he opened them again...
...there was no sky.
No Earth.
No asteroid.
Only a single fragment of light — floating, pulsing, calling.
A whisper echoed through the void:
"Now you may begin again."