The winds howled over the snowy landscape of the North Pole as Aurora, a researcher stationed at an Arctic observatory, peered through her telescope at the strange red star that had appeared in the December sky. Its glow was brighter than Mars, pulsating with an odd rhythm that almost seemed… intentional. Aurora's colleague, Marco, joked it was Rudolph leading Santa's sleigh, but Aurora couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something more.
For weeks, the red star loomed closer. On Christmas Eve, it vanished entirely, leaving an eerie silence in the sky. Then came the sound—a low, melodic hum that seemed to vibrate through the ice itself. The team at the observatory gathered outside to investigate, their breath fogging in the frigid air.
From the darkness, a sleigh-like craft emerged, pulled not by reindeer but by levitating, bioluminescent creatures that resembled jellyfish. Seated in the sleigh was a being cloaked in red, his face obscured by a hood, except for a glinting metallic beard. The being stepped down, its boots leaving no imprint in the snow.
It approached them, and when it spoke, its voice was a strange harmony of tones, incomprehensible yet soothing. Then, as if sensing their confusion, the being raised a hand, and their minds were filled with visions—images of its home planet, a world bathed in eternal twilight where beings crafted toys of light and sound to bring joy to the universe.
"This is Santa," Marco whispered, eyes wide with awe.
Aurora wasn’t convinced. Something about the images felt… too perfect, like they were meant to distract. As the being distributed small, glowing orbs to each of them, she felt a shiver of dread. These weren’t gifts—they were seeds, pulsating with the same rhythm as the red star.
The being turned to Aurora, its metallic beard shifting as it handed her an orb. This close, she noticed something chilling—tiny figures trapped inside the orb, their faces frozen in expressions of terror. She dropped it, the illusion shattering. The orb wasn’t a gift; it was a prison.
Aurora stepped back. "Who are you? What are you?"
The being's voice softened, and the visions in her mind changed—now, they showed a planet eerily similar to Earth, barren and desolate, its inhabitants enslaved by the same glowing orbs.
"You will bring joy to many," the being said, and its hood slipped back. Beneath was not a human face but a mass of writhing, glittering tendrils that mimicked a jolly visage only when viewed from afar.
The glowing orbs in the hands of her colleagues began to expand, enveloping them in light. Marco screamed as the orb absorbed him, his form shrinking until he, too, was trapped inside, banging on its crystalline walls.
Aurora turned and ran, the crunch of snow drowned by the melodic hum growing louder behind her. She reached the observatory and locked the door, her heart pounding as she watched the sleigh rise into the sky. The red star reappeared, growing smaller and smaller as it carried the being—and her captured friends—away.
The next morning, news reports flooded in. Children around the world awoke to find glowing orbs under their Christmas trees. They laughed and played with them, their parents none the wiser.
Aurora sat alone in the silent observatory, clutching the only orb she had managed to save—a tiny Marco, his face a frozen scream. The red star was gone, but she knew it would return next year.
And next time, there would be no escape.
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