PROLOGUE

  It was the year 2075.

  On a seemingly peaceful night, under a star-studded sky, something impossible happened.

  The entire world witnessed the firmament burn in an opaque crimson tone, as if space itself had bled for an instant.

  Seconds later, they came.

  Asteroids—dozens, perhaps hundreds—ripped through the atmosphere, producing a roar that echoed across the planet, making windows tremble and alarms blare.

  When they hit Earth, sowing destruction, they did not form common craters.

  From inside the rocks, a dense crimson smoke spread, as if it had a will of its own.

  Authorities rushed to isolate the impact sites, but it was already too late.

  The mist spread rapidly, and wherever it touched the ground, the earth undulated and deformed.

  Biomes began to take on unnatural forms: plants contorting, acquiring dark red hues.

  Some animals went into a frenzy, deforming within minutes, distorted echoes emerging from the mist itself.

  These were the first mutations—and they occurred simultaneously across all continents.

  Days later, thousands of people fell into a sudden coma.

  In the media, governments claimed to be "protecting the population from atmospheric effects."

  But the truth was different.

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  Inducing a coma was the only temporary way to slow down human mutations.

  Scientists worldwide tried to understand the origin of the crimson mist—but the deeper they delved into their investigations, the more they realized they were dealing with something that did not belong to this universe.

  No solution worked.

  No barrier could contain its advance.

  The Crimson Era had begun.

  In the early days, the first altered humans emerged.

  Symptoms varied from person to person—explosions of aggression, mental lapses, hallucinations—but all shared a common mark: red, pulsating veins spreading across the skin like living roots.

  Not the entire population was affected all at once.

  The infection depended on proximity to the impact zones, duration of exposure, and, in some cases, the natural resistance of each individual.

  But slowly and inevitably, the world plunged into an era of unprecedented chaos.

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