The video didn't show a room or a person. Instead, it was a static shot of a mirror. At first, it looked like a frozen frame. But then, Elias noticed the reflection. The camera filming the mirror wasn't there. In its place was a window looking out onto a city that Elias didn't recognize—a skyline of violet glass and floating spires.

In the reflection of his own dark screen, Elias didn't see himself. He saw the empty chair of his basement office, viewed from high above a city of violet glass.

In the flickering light of a basement server room, the file g60243.mp4 sat quietly, a digital ghost waiting to be summoned. For years, it had remained buried in a directory of corrupted security footage, a nameless string of characters that nobody bothered to click.