[This skirmish has been brought to you courtesy of the 2022/2023 Skirmjam.]
[For more information, please visit: https://boards.4channel.org/qst/thread/5538522]

Harsh synthetic illumination stains the clear night sky, shrouding the starscape with jaundiced hues.
Below, a jumbled tumor of concrete, glass, and metal mars the shadowswept alpine landscape.
Unremitting activity seeps throughout the light-suffused streets – machines grumbling and belching, little beings senselessly scrambling to and fro, an intolerable cacophony of chatter and clamor and empty dialogue - heedless of twilight’s call for serenity.
The fetid emissions of rampant urbanization – the choking by-products of burnt fuels, the residual tang of carcinogenic meats, and vile odors of stagnating human waste - taint the atmosphere in thick clouds.
Above - between the diligent vigil of the evening star and the smooth procession of the lunar body – a foreign star flickers into existence, and then the solitary point of light gradually, almost imperceptibly, enlarges.
From a glimmering mote, the star first morphs into a cluttered confluence of twirling, intersecting lines, then coalesces into geometric, spirographic pattern which promptly collapses back upon itself before being restructured into a new configuration, then another, and then another.
The shifting abnormality hangs there over the sprawling metropolis named Serenade, unnoticed by its petty inhabitants.

= You are a human currently situated somewhere in the downtown Serenade =
= This region is moderately prosperous, low-rise apartment complexes, tourist traps, and smatterings of commercial and business districts dominating the urban clutter =
= Wherever you are, you currently have a clear view of the skies above Serenade =
= Within the confines of this greater context, describe your surroundings and explain what your purpose there is =