The white radiance had blinded the entire world.Martín kept his eyes shut, trembling, until the intensity began to fade. When he dared to look, everything seemed… normal. The sky, clear; the buildings intact; the hospital still standing. As if nothing had happened.
He stood there, stunned.—"Was it a dream?"—he whispered, incredulous.
Then the pain came.First, a blow to his head, then a burning sensation that shot through his entire body. He screamed and convulsed violently; the spasm hurled him from the bed onto the floor.
Screams erupted in the hallway:—"Help me, he's dying!"—a woman shouted.—"Mom, what's happening to him!"—a child cried.—"Please, help my daughter!"—another voice sobbed.—"God… all of them at once!"—a nurse screamed—. "Hold him down, he's seizing!"
Martín could barely hear. After more than two years paralyzed from the neck down, his body shook as if waking from a long slumber. He opened his eyes and saw his hand trembling against the floor: a blue aura flickered across his fingers. With effort, he moved one. Then another. His breath caught in his throat.
—"I… I can move…"—he whispered, his voice breaking.
With effort, he pressed a hand to the floor. Muscles, atrophied for years, seemed to come alive under the blue aura that enveloped him. Every attempt made him gasp, but then his other hand responded as well. He clenched his teeth, pushed, and little by little raised his torso. Then his knees. And finally, with an awkward heave, he stood upright.
He was standing.Standing for the first time in over two years.
He stared at his trembling hands, wrapped in a bluish glow that coursed along his arms and legs. He understood nothing.—"What… happened to me? Why? What is this?"—he murmured, watching the strange energy dance over his skin.
The chaos outside snapped him from his thoughts. From the window came the sound of screams, honking horns, shattering glass. The roar of a city drowning in panic. Staggering, Martín leaned on the wall until he reached the window.
For the first time in years, he was standing, looking out at the world.
And what he saw froze him in place.
In the street, people ran in every direction. Some clutched their heads and screamed in agony. Others collapsed to their knees, as if something were burning them alive from within. And among them… a monster appeared.
A massive black bird, more than ten feet long with enormous wings, dove straight down. It crashed into a parked van, stabbing its beak again and again, tearing the metal apart as if it were paper. With a thunderous flap of wings, it lifted the vehicle and hurled it aside, sparks and glass raining down. The terrified screams of witnesses filled the street.
Martín recoiled instinctively, his hand outstretched. The blue aura surged around his palm. And then he noticed it: though he hadn't touched it, the window glass began to crack under an invisible pressure.
—"No… it can't be…"—he stammered.
He stepped forward and barely pressed a finger to the glass. Instantly, the entire pane exploded outward in thousands of glittering fragments. The aura repelled them, none even scratching his skin.
Breathing hard, Martín stood paralyzed between awe and terror.—"What… what am I now?"
The roar of the city pulled him back. Down below, more beasts were unleashed: dogs with burning eyes lunged at pedestrians, enormous birds swooped down onto cars, even runaway horses slammed their hooves against the asphalt with terrifying force.
And above, in the night sky, a horrifying sight: a burning commercial airplane plummeted at full speed. Martín watched it crash into a building, a fireball that lit the entire horizon. In the distance, more planes wavered, losing altitude, as if something had struck them too.
The world was collapsing.
Martín rested his hand on the shattered window frame, the aura glowing around him like a cold fire. The dilemma shook him to his core:—"What do I do now? Hide… or try to do something?"
For the first time in his life, he could move.But what he saw outside made it clear that the price of this miracle… could be the beginning of the end of the world.
In Guadalajara, Mario collapsed in the workshop. He clutched his chest: it burned from within.—"Damn it!"—he gasped—. "Am I having a heart attack or what the hell…"He dropped to his knees. His eyes flared with a golden glow. The mutt in the corner backed away, barking nonstop, while Mario fought for breath, his chest blazing like a furnace.
In Madrid, Elena and her sister Sara were still in the yard, staring at the illuminated sky.Suddenly, Elena grabbed her chest: a strange tremor rippled through her, a vibration that distorted her body until she looked blurry, like a warped image.
—"Elena!"—Sara cried, pale with fear—. "What's happening to you, sister?"
Elena tried to answer, but her voice came out fragmented, as if speaking from many places at once. Her outline shimmered like a reflection on water.
In Osaka, Kendo was in his room when the light vanished in an instant. The glow from the window disappeared, and a heavy darkness flooded the space. He stretched out his hand… and instead of skin, saw shadows sliding off his fingers, twisting with him.—"Kendo?"—his mother pounded from outside—. "Son, answer me!"But he could not.
In Berlin, Hans dropped his instruments. The old man he was treating stared at him.—"Doctor… your eyes."
Hans rushed to the mirror: metallic blue irises stared back. Around him, steel began to vibrate—first a scalpel, then a pair of forceps, then the entire tray lifting as though pulled by an unseen force.—"This isn't normal…"—he whispered, backing away.
Similar phenomena spread across the globe.Men, women, and children screamed, twisted in pain—some collapsing, others staring in horror at the light bursting from their own bodies. Humanity itself seemed to be awakening… something new.
And it wasn't just humans.Among animals, the proportion was even greater: entire flocks wheeled through the sky as if sharing a single mind, packs of wolves howled in unison, and deep in the jungle, beasts roared at a sky they no longer understood. From insects to predators, nearly every species answered the same invisible call.
Humanity had survived the meteor.But the real impact… was only beginning.