The Lumen Horizon drifted in silent orbit above Delta-3, engines idle. Oliver stood alone in the observation deck, the coin in his palm vibrating faintly. The hum was low but insistent, like the heartbeat of the Rift itself. He rotated it between his fingers, letting the weight of it settle.The ship’s lights reflected on the polished surface of the coin, and for a moment, it seemed to pulse on its own, independent of his hand.Billy sat at the console, scanning readings from multiple sectors. Iris leaned against the rail, arms crossed, watching Oliver’s interaction with the coin. Neither spoke. The tension in the room was thick, charged like the air before a storm.Oliver’s eyes narrowed. He keyed the activation sequence in his mind and allowed the coin to extend its frequency. A soft vibration ran up his arm, into his chest. The hum grew, resonating with the ambient energy of the Rift.“System reads an energy spike,” Billy said, voice tight. “Localized, directional… whatever that

The aftermath of the storm over Solara Vant hung heavy in the air. Broken streets, fractured buildings, and lingering Rift energy pulsed faintly across the skyline. Travelers patrolled rooftops and alleyways, stabilizing residual fractures, while drones assessed structural damage. Oliver moved through the remnants of chaos with measured steps, Seraphiel’s hilt at his side and the coin in his pocket, now faintly warm, like a living pulse against his chest.Iris followed him, her shield strapped to her back, but her eyes were fixed on the coin’s faint hum. She had not spoken for hours, her mind occupied entirely with its energy, its strange resonance. “They’re all accounted for?” Oliver asked over the comms.“Yes,” Billy’s voice replied. “Minimal civilian casualties, but the coin’s signal left a lot of stress fractures in local space. Sensors still detect micro-rifts that need constant containment.”Oliver exhaled and rubbed his temple. “Keep the teams rotating. No one overexerted. T

The Strategic Command Deck of the Lumen Horizon was quiet, too quiet, save for the constant hum of energy fields stabilizing the orbit above Colony World Sigma-12. Oliver stood at the center of the room, shoulders rigid, eyes fixed on the holographic display hovering before him. Red and black pulses lit up the three-dimensional map, converging on the human settlement at precise intervals. Every flicker, every distortion indicated something the human eye could barely comprehend: Wraithborn troops materializing in formations that defied conventional logic.“Satellites confirm Sigma-12 is compromised,” Billy said from the edge of the deck, his fingers dancing across a console. Streams of encrypted data scrolled rapidly as he processed sensor arrays. “The energy pulse detected is unlike anything in prior incursions. We’re seeing coordinated rift drops. It’s precise.”Oliver didn’t look at him. His focus remained on the floating map, where the Wraithborn’s projected troop vectors spread

The first tremors hit before the alarms could even sound. On Sigma-12, the civilian sectors flickered as Rift energy phasing shifted entire blocks out of sync with reality. Buildings shimmered, warped, and then returned as if nothing had happened. The city’s population froze mid-step, caught between dimensions, moments suspended, eyes wide.Oliver stood at the holo-deck command table aboard the Lumen Horizon, his hands hovering above the projected map of Sigma-12. Energy distortions flickered across the city grid, a ripple of black interference moving faster than any drone could report. He didn’t flinch. The coin in his pocket pulsed faintly, vibrating in rhythm with the disturbances below.“They’re phasing civilian zones,” Billy reported, voice clipped. “Secondary vectors bypassed all our stabilizers. Predictive algorithms suggest, ”“They want us to react,” Oliver interrupted. His finger traced a corridor on the holo-map, red lines marking the Wraithborn surge. “Every diversion, eve

Iris threw her hands forward. She pushed her mind into the special energy rings on her wrists. A bright blue light shot out of her hands.Ten other soldiers standing in a circle around the big square threw their hands forward too. Blue light shot out of their hands. The blue lights connected in the air. They formed a giant wall of solid light. It looked like a huge dome made of blue glass. It covered the square and the twelve big metal pods.A second later, the first wave of Wraithborn hit the blue wall.SMASH!The noise was deafening. The monsters crashed into the hard light. They clawed at the blue wall. Their sharp fingers made horrible scratching sounds. SCREEEECH.Iris felt the impact in her own body. The magic of the shield was tied to her energy. When the monsters hit the wall, it felt like someone punched Iris in the chest. She gasped for air. She dropped to one knee, but she kept her hands up."Hold the line!" Iris yelled to her team. "Do not let them in! Give the people time