The small cube was made of a dense, matte-black rock that seemed to absorb the light around it, defying any known material on Earth.
The artifact belonged to a race that called themselves the Aethel . They had built a thriving, peaceful civilization on Earth long before the rise of the dinosaurs. They had mastered clean energy, conquered disease, and lived in harmony with the planet's ecosystem. But they had detected an unstoppable cosmic event: a wandering black hole that would soon strip the Earth of its atmosphere and reset all biological life. artifact
By morning, the message faded, and the cube returned to its silent, inert state. The small cube was made of a dense,