“How?” said Sam.

In the arena, the lights went dark. The crowd murmured excitedly.

“Shh,” Magdalena said. “It’s beginning.”

All Sam could do was watch and listen. After a moment, the curtain surrounding the arena stage fell. The audience gasped as a giant spaceship was revealed, suspended in the air and all lit up with blue and purple lights. Fog swirled around it, and projections of comets flew by, making it look as if the ship was flying through space.

“They came from the darkest reaches of the universe,” a woman’s voice intoned. “Looking for revenge.”

Ominous music filled the air, throbbing with bass that sounded like engines pulsing. The spaceship moved, turning from side to side on hidden hydraulics.

“Our planet had no warning of what was about to befall us,” the voice continued. “They arrived in darkness.”

Magdalena sighed. “That’s a little dramatic,” she said. “Space is dark, after all.”

The spaceship descended to the stage. Then it split open, the two halves pulling apart. A dozen costumed characters emerged, their faces painted in reds and yellows, their bodies covered in what looked like iridescent scales.

“Well, that’s just insulting,” Magdalena said. “They made us look like devils.”

Sam watched as the performers moved through a complicated choreography that involved tumbling and leaping. The movements were jerky, violent, primitive. They were accompanied by flashes of red and yellow lights and the sound of beating drums.

“They did not come alone,” the narrator’s voice said.

“Okay,” Magdalena said. “Pay attention. This is the good part.”

“They brought with them monsters,” said the voice. “Creatures made to hunt and kill.”

The spaceship transformed again, this time breaking into pieces as something else rose from beneath the stage. It was an egg, massive and pulsing with greenish-yellow light. The performers representing the Mogs swirled around it, almost as if they were worshipping it. They held out their hands to it. Then cracks appeared in the surface and the light inside shot out in thin beams.

Sam looked over at Magdalena. Her face was bathed in the glow from the television. Her eyes were wide, and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. She held her hands clasped in front of her as she stared at the screen. For some reason, Sam found himself frightened.

The egg broke open, revealing a huge creature inside of it. Easily twenty feet tall, it resembled a prehistoric lizard, with a spiked tail and armored hide. Its eyes glowed with yellow light. When it opened its mouth, it revealed wickedly pointed teeth.

“It’s like a piken,” Sam said, an involuntary shudder rippling through him.

“Only bigger,” Magdalena said. “Faster. And meaner.”

The creature opened its mouth and let out a ferocious screech. That was when Sam noticed something peculiar. The actors were all looking at one another and backing away. Some pointed at the beast standing on the stage, then turned and fled.

“What’s going on?” Sam said. “Why would they be afraid? They’re acting like it’s—”