Vid_20230110_104327_222.mp4

"Ten forty-three," Elias mutters, checking his watch. "Right on time."

The camera shakes slightly as the recording begins. The lens is clouded with condensation from a coat pocket. A thumb wipes it clear, revealing a stretch of empty, frost-covered highway in the high desert. VID_20230110_104327_222.mp4

Suddenly, the video glitches. The shadows on the ground begin to move independently of the light. The stone bridge doesn't change, but the world under it does. For a fleeting second, the dry earth beneath the arches ripples like water, reflecting a city made of glass and violet light. Elias takes a step onto the first stone. "Wait!" the camera operator shouts. "Ten forty-three," Elias mutters, checking his watch

The filename "VID_20230110_104327_222.mp4" suggests a raw, unedited moment captured on a smartphone on . A thumb wipes it clear, revealing a stretch

As the gate swings wide, the camera pans to the right. There, hidden by a trick of the topography and the morning mist, is a bridge. It doesn't span a river or a canyon. It sits in the middle of a flat, dusty basin, arching toward nothing, its stone pillars glowing in the weak January sun.

Elias doesn’t answer. He fits the key into a padlock that shouldn't exist on a government-owned fence. With a heavy clack , the lock falls open.