Now What?

The Abuja traffic lived up to its notorious reputation, a slow, grinding crawl of vehicles choked together in the humid morning air. Layla, despite the simmering unease from her earlier conversation with Ejiro, attempted to immerse herself in the scheduled demands of her day. Chinwe's voice, professional and efficient, filled the soundproofed cabin of the SUV, a disembodied presence outlining the Senate briefing, summarizing overnight intelligence reports, ticking through the predictable anxieties of global hotspots.

"…and Madam Deputy Director, we're still awaiting concrete confirmation on the Delta unrest," Chinwe continued, a faint crackle of static briefly distorting her voice. "Tieddr Corp is downplaying it as localized… potential… industrial action…"

Suddenly, a subtle shift in the SUV's motion, a barely perceptible change in the engine's hum, registered in Layla's subconscious. Outside, a rising tide of car horns began to blare, a dissonant symphony of urban frustration. Layla frowned, a prickle of unease breaking through her professional focus. "Chinwe, one moment." She interrupted her PA, her gaze drawn to the outside world filtering through the tinted windows. The smooth, predictable flow of the commute had fractured, broken apart.

She lowered the privacy screen separating the front and back of the SUV. Innocent, his usual stoic composure replaced by a taut alertness, twisted in his seat. "Madam, something isn't right."

Layla, her senses now fully engaged, felt it too - a subtle pressure in the air, an almost imperceptible hum that vibrated not in her ears, but deep within her chest. The usual Lagosian chaos felt different, charged with a strange, unfamiliar tension. "What is it, Innocent?"

"I'm not sure, Madam," Innocent replied, his voice tight, his eyes flicking upwards.

"But… look."

Layla followed his gaze, leaning forward, peering through the windshield. At first, she saw only the familiar sprawl of Abuja, the sun glinting off glass buildings, the hazy blue of the sky. Then, she noticed it – a subtle darkness, a faint distortion high above, as if the very air was bending, shimmering.

It coalesced, sharpened, resolving itself against the clear sky with impossible clarity. It was a shape unlike any she had ever seen, or could have imagined. Vast, geometrically impossible, it hung suspended above the city, an obsidian shard against the azure canvas of the morning. It wasn't a craft of any kind she recognized, not plane, not satellite, not missile – it was something else entirely, something profoundly alien.

A collective intake of breath swept through the stalled traffic. The blare of horns faltered, died away. The usual city sounds faded, replaced by a hushed, disbelieving murmur. People were emerging from their vehicles, craning their necks upwards, their faces shifting from confusion to awe, then to something closer to terror.

Layla's carefully constructed reality seemed to buckle, to fray at the edges. Her training, her experience, her rational mind – none of it could categorize, could explain, what hung suspended above them. It was too large, too silent, too… present.

She felt a primal chill crawl up her spine, a cold certainty that this was not observation, not exploration. This was something else, something far more consequential.

Then, without a sound, without any discernible movement, it vanished. One moment it was there, an impossible behemoth dominating the sky, the next moment, it was gone, leaving only empty blue in its wake, and a silence that felt heavier, more oppressive, than any noise.

The silence shattered. A scream, sharp and piercing, tore through the air. Then another, and another, a chorus of fear erupting from the stunned onlookers. People stumbled back to their cars, or away from them, running blindly, directionless. The carefully orchestrated order of the morning commute dissolved into instantaneous, terrifying chaos.

Layla stood rooted to the spot, the vanished shape still burned into her vision, the oppressive silence ringing in her ears. Around her, the city was unraveling, the thin veneer of civilization cracking under the weight of the impossible. The world, in that single, silent visitation, had changed, irrevocably and utterly. The shadow had fallen, and the darkness was only just beginning.