2026 Hawthorne Prize finalist!

Northern Africa, 2053: a groundbreaking paleontological discovery sparks hope for restoring the world’s collapsing bird populations as a “de-extinction” renaissance unfolds. Nearly a century later, deep under the Sahara, physicists explore the universe’s mysteries while massive surface domes test self-sustaining ecosystems filled with revived, genetically resurrected species. As these timelines converge, humanity finds itself entangled in a brutal creation of its own making. One that unleashes ancient lifeforms, once lost to extinction, into a denuded world. A hidden reality is unmasked—revealed by the RIFT—and it does not bend to us.