Perhaps it was the very star he had devoured. It led to a tower that stretched upwards, beyond Matthias’s line of sight and through the thick, cloudy veil that permeated the air. Inside, Matthias discovered astronomical charts and walls etched in electrical diagrams. At the top of the spire, there stood an antenna, from which a red orb of light would flicker intermittently.

Matthias found himself drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. His curiosity was too great, and he couldn’t help himself from tampering with a nearby control panel. The ground shook, and the heavens shifted as objects began to lose focus. The rest of the world had become opaque.