The Abandoned Luna's Return
"Mars isn't a paradise. It’s just another simulation! Another layer of the game!"
"Is it?" An old man stood up, his skin mapped with the blue scars of a lifetime in the deep-shelters. "Because I can see it, girl. Look up."
He pointed toward the mouth of the cave.
I walked out, Silas close behind me. I looked up at the sky, and my heart nearly stopped.
The "Mars.exe" glitch I had seen on the beach wasn't a glitch. It was a **Manifestation**.
High above the Earth, a red planet was visible—not as a distant star, but as a massive, terraformed orb that seemed to occupy half the sky. It was surrounded by a glowing, violet ring—the "Source" energy I had released from the Mothership.