The first rupture appeared beneath the ocean.
Far beyond Khalum's sight, somewhere in the vast depths of the Pacific, the seabed split open with a force that shook the entire planet. Tremors rippled through the tectonic plates like fractures spreading across fragile glass. Entire fault lines awakened simultaneously, releasing centuries of tension in violent convulsions that no seismograph on Earth had ever recorded.
Within seconds, the oceans began to surge.
Massive waves rose along coastlines across the world as if the seas themselves had become unstable. Harbors collapsed. Oil platforms twisted and tore apart under impossible pressure. Entire fleets of ships were swallowed by the chaos as the water beneath them churned violently.
But the destruction did not stop there.
Across the continents, the ground itself began to break.
Khalum staggered as the pavement beneath his feet shuddered violently. The tremor was unlike any earthquake he had ever experienced; it was deeper, heavier, as if something fundamental inside the planet had begun to unravel.
Buildings swayed.
Glass exploded outward from towering skyscrapers, raining down onto the streets below in glittering storms of shattered fragments. Traffic ground to a halt as drivers abandoned their vehicles in blind panic, fleeing in every direction as the earth beneath them cracked open.
The sky above continued to tear apart.
The massive fracture stretching across the heavens widened further, revealing a vast darkness behind the blue veil of Earth's atmosphere. Stars burned in that exposed void, cold and distant, yet disturbingly close, as if the barrier separating Earth from the universe had simply been peeled away.
And still the voice remained silent.
For several long seconds, the entire world seemed suspended between confusion and terror.
Then new text appeared within the hovering interface.
[Planetary Stability: Collapsing]
[Dimensional Anchor: Failing]
Khalum felt a chill run through his body.
He had no idea what those words meant, yet their implication was terrifyingly clear. Whatever force governed the strange system now visible to humanity, it had already decided that Earth no longer belonged within the structure of reality.
Around him, people were screaming.
Some fell to their knees, staring at the floating messages with expressions of disbelief. Others tried desperately to contact loved ones, shouting into phones that no longer had signal. A few simply stood frozen in place, unable to comprehend the magnitude of what was happening.
Above them, the sky continued to crumble.
Entire sections of the atmosphere seemed to dissolve into shimmering fragments, drifting upward into the exposed cosmos beyond. The sun flickered briefly as if the fabric of space itself had begun to distort around it.
For the first time in human history, the planet looked small.
Fragile.
Temporary.
Then the voice spoke again.
[Planet: Earth]
[Final Assessment Complete]
The next line appeared slowly, each word materializing with unbearable calm.
[Existence Authorization: Revoked]
A deafening roar erupted across the horizon.
Far away, entire mountain ranges collapsed as the crust of the planet fractured under unbearable pressure. Lava burst through enormous fissures that split open across the continents, rivers of molten rock spilling across landscapes that had existed for millions of years.
The world was not exploding.
It was unraveling.
Reality itself seemed to be withdrawing its support from the planet, allowing the structure of Earth to slowly disintegrate piece by piece.
And yet, amidst the chaos, something unexpected happened.
A new window appeared within the interface.
Smaller.
Different.
[Exceptional Selection Initiated]
Khalum blinked in confusion as additional lines of text followed.
[Species Identified: Human]
[Population Evaluation: Complete]
The trembling ground beneath his feet suddenly felt distant, as if his senses had begun to detach from the destruction around him. The screaming crowds blurred slightly at the edges of his vision while the system message continued unfolding before him.
[Selected Individuals: 100,000]
Across the planet, the same notification appeared before exactly one hundred thousand people.
Most of them did not even understand what they were seeing.
Some were running for their lives.
Others were trapped beneath collapsing buildings.
A few were staring helplessly at the sky as the world ended around them.
The next message appeared.
[Transfer Protocol Initiated]
Khalum barely had time to process the words.
The air around him suddenly grew cold.
Not the ordinary chill of wind or weather, but something deeper — a strange sensation that felt as if space itself had begun folding inward.
The sounds of the collapsing city faded rapidly.
Screams became distant echoes.
The violent tremors shaking the ground disappeared entirely.
For a brief moment, Khalum stood in perfect silence while the world around him dissolved into white light.
Then the final message appeared before his eyes.
[Planet: Earth]
[Status: Deleted]
And just like that—
Khalum Cross vanished.
Somewhere in the infinite universe, a planet had just ceased to exist.
But for one hundred thousand humans who had been taken from its dying surface, the story was far from over.
In fact…
it had only just begun.