The sky had no stars.

Not because clouds covered them, nor because night had fully fallen, but because the heavens themselves seemed absent. Above stretched an endless black void, broken only by massive stone faces suspended in the darkness like forgotten gods.

A low heartbeat echoed through the emptiness.

Then another.

And another.

Each pulse sent ripples through reality itself.

You found yourself standing upon a platform of pale stone, though you couldn’t remember arriving there. There was no path behind you. No world beneath you. Only an endless abyss stretching in every direction.

Five presences watched.

The first was impossible to ignore. A giant figure draped in darkness floated above the others, his exposed brain gleaming beneath a cage of flesh. His stitched face remained expressionless.

Void.

To his side lounged a beautiful woman with black wings and a smile that carried equal measures of invitation and menace.

Slan.

Nearby hovered a grotesque creature with an oversized head and a grin that seemed to know every mistake you had ever made.

Ubik.

Beside him stood a swollen figure hidden beneath heavy robes, motionless as a corpse.

Conrad.

And finally

A black hawk-shaped silhouette watched in silence.

Femto.

No weapons were drawn.

No attacks came.

For a long moment, none of them spoke.

Then Void’s voice emerged from everywhere at once.

“You stand before those who govern the currents of causality.”

The statement carried no threat. It sounded more like a fact.

Slan’s smile widened.

“And yet you’re not trembling.”

Ubik drifted closer, circling lazily.

“Interesting. Most arrive with questions. Others with demands. Some with prayers.”

His grin sharpened.

“What is it that brought you here?”

The five members of the God Hand waited.

Watching.

Measuring.

As though your answer mattered far more than your strength ever could.