The sky above the city of Oakhaven was not a sky at all. It was a giant, swirling ocean of thick purple clouds and bright gold lightning. The entire planet of Sigma-12 was floating inside the Rift. It was trapped in a dark, magical space between worlds.The two hours of rest were over.Inside the cold, metal command room, Commander Oliver stood exactly where he always stood. He was in the center of the room. He was looking at the giant blue hologram of the planet. He did not look tired. He did not look scared. He looked like a machine made of flesh and bone.Captain Vance walked into the room. He carried two hot cups of black coffee. He handed one to Oliver."The soldiers are waking up, Commander," Vance said softly. "The guns are reloaded. The plasma shields are holding."Oliver took the coffee. He did not drink it. He only held it to warm his cold hands. "And the search teams?"Vance smiled a little. "They found her, sir. You were right. Your math was right."Oliver put the cup on t

The sirens were screaming. Fifty thousand civilians were running through the streets, carrying bags, crying children, and holding onto each other.Captain Iris stood in the center of the largest city square. She ignored the terrible pain in her bandaged arm. She raised her good hand high into the air.On her wrist, a silver ring glowed with blinding blue light."Billy!" Iris yelled into her radio over the noise of the crowd. "Are you linked to the city grid?!"Billy was sitting in the command room, typing on three keyboards at once. "I am linked, Captain! Routing all reserve power to your location! Prepare for a massive surge!""Send it!" Iris shouted.A massive beam of electricity shot out from the city's power plant and hit Iris's silver ring.Iris screamed as the raw energy flowed through her body. It was painful, but it was beautiful. She pushed her hand out.A giant dome of solid blue light erupted from her ring. It expanded outward rapidly, covering the entire city square, locki

It did not look like the wild, screaming monsters outside. It did not look like the giant, hulking Goliaths.This monster was perfectly thin and incredibly tall. It moved with complete silence. It did not have rough, smoky skin. Instead, it wore armor. It was wearing a dark, corrupted version of human adaptive armor. The armor was smooth and pitch-black, glowing with faint purple lines. Its face was covered by a smooth black mask. Only two burning red eyes shone through narrow slits.It was an elite assassin. It was a ghost."Open fire!" Jax yelled.The four human guards pulled their triggers. Bright blue lasers shot across the room. The lasers hit the Wraithborn operative directly in the chest.But the operative did not fall.When the lasers hit the black armor, the armor instantly hardened. It flashed silver for a millisecond, absorbing the heat and light of the lasers. The deadly energy simply bounced off the smooth metal and hit the ceiling."Adaptive armor!" Vance screamed. "It s

The command room was a mess. Just an hour ago, a Wraithborn operative had walked right through the solid steel wall. It had killed four human guards. It had tried to kill Commander Oliver. Now, the monster was just a pile of black ash on the floor.Two small cleaning robots rolled across the gray metal floor. They made soft humming sounds. Vrrrrr. They swept up the black ash. They sprayed chemicals to clean the red blood. The four dead guards had already been carried away to the medical wing.Captain Vance stood by his desk. He was shaking. He looked at the empty space where the guards had died. He could not stop his hands from trembling.Captain Iris sat in a chair in the corner. Her left arm was still in a thick white cast. She looked tired. She looked angry. She watched Oliver.Commander Oliver did not look at the blood. He did not look at the robots. He stood behind his large black desk. He was perfectly calm. His uniform was clean. His face was like a stone mask. He was thinking.

On the screen, Billy was typing frantically. His face was pale white. Sweat poured down his cheeks. "Boss... the pulse is leaving our planet. It is going out into the Rift. It is crossing dimensions!"The hologram showed the purple wave traveling across millions of miles of dark space.Then, the wave hit something.Far away, at the very edge of the holographic map, thousands of new red dots suddenly appeared. Then millions. Then billions."Oh my god," Iris cried from the floor. She stared at the hologram.The entire edge of the map turned completely red. It was not just an army. It was an entire universe of monsters. It was the true Wraithborn empire, hiding deep in the dark magic of the Rift.And in the very center of that massive red ocean, a giant, pulsing yellow dot appeared."What is that yellow dot?" Vance asked, his voice shaking uncontrollably."It is the central command node," Oliver said, breathing heavily. "It is the humanoid strategist. We found him. I have his exact coord