The Polar night hung like a veil of glass over the frozen sea. The stealth transport carved a silent trail through the inky air, guided by infrared sensors and magnetized rails buried beneath the ice shelf. Ash peered through the porthole, watching a desolate plain of fractured permafrost and rock-strewn ice. Beneath it, Site Vanta awaited—buried a kilometer under the Arctic wasteland, its entrance hidden in a yawn of blasted granite.Mara sat beside her, checking her pulse rifle’s coolant levels. Rhys and two members of Team Alpha flanked them, weapons ready, breath visible in the frigid cabin air. The Divergence Key pulsed against Ash’s hip, alive with the possibility of revelations—and danger.“ETA in three minutes,” the pilot announced through the intercom. “We’re approaching the descent shaft.”Ash nodded. “Keep comms silent. No transmissions until we breach.”“Understood,”

The city was burning.From the rooftop of the old terra-engineering tower, Elias watched in grim silence as plumes of smoke spiraled skyward like black serpents. Fires danced across the skyline. Sirens wailed like the cries of a dying beast. Somewhere below, a mother screamed for her child, her voice smothered by chaos. And yet, above it all, the sky remained a haunting shade of pale—almost indifferent.Beside him, Kiera knelt over the shattered remains of the drone transmitter, her gloved hands working furiously to extract the data core.“Five more seconds,” she hissed, sweat beading on her brow.Elias tightened his grip on the rail, scanning the perimeter through the digital overlay of his contact lens. “We don’t have five. Delta squads just breached the outer perimeter. They’re moving faster than predicted.”Kiera’s fingers paused just a moment. “Then buy me four.”Without a word

 The first construct slammed into Ethan like a freight car. Its hands—pulsing with blue-white energy—clamped over his chest, and he tasted ozone and ash as the world distorted. His ears filled with static laughter: his own voice, warped. Time skewed, slowed. He wrenched free, rolling across cracked concrete, breath exploding in his lungs.Selene’s rifle barked behind him, shredding the construct’s shoulder. Sparks flew as metal sinew tore apart. The creature shrieked—an animal wrenched from its mind. It staggered, fractal edges unraveling, before collapsing into a heap of molten steel and discarded memories.Ethan spat blood. “We don’t have time for this.” He yanked out the Divergence Key’s compact interface and jammed it against his palm reader. A three-digit countdown—3…2…1—then the device blinked green: ECHO TRIGGER AUTHORIZED.Above them, the shattered crown of Arcli

The searing red glow of the remote horizon painted eerie patterns on the ocean’s surface as the Aethra sliced through the black water. Jax stood at the prow of the ship, his coat flapping violently in the gale, eyes trained on the blinking coordinates hovering in his augmented HUD. They were almost at Site Sigma—one of the last known Project Lazarus research outposts before the entire protocol went dark two decades ago.Behind him, footsteps. Sera.“You still don’t trust her,” she said, stepping beside him.Jax didn’t turn. “Zhen’s a survivor. Doesn’t mean she’s loyal. People who live through hell usually owe their soul to someone else.”“She risked her neck pulling us out of that compound in Marrakesh. That earns her some credit.”Jax remained silent. His thoughts were on the briefcase they’d recovered—sealed with biometric locks, encoded with a dead man&rsqu

The corridors of the Aethra hummed with low, steady life support as Jax Reeve made his way toward the command deck. Each step echoed—metal on metal—through compartments half-lit by emergency luminescence. He carried no weapons; his steel-blue eyes were more than enough for what lay ahead. Still, his grip tightened on the railing as he passed crew quarters, each hatch hiding stories of sacrifice and survival.At the starboard junction he paused, glancing at a flickering console: an alert from Sector Twelve, Earth. The pulse of residual echoes, though diminished, was stirring again—this time in the Pacific Northwest. Reports mentioned shared hallucinations of lost loved ones, phantom broadcasts promising Paradise beyond the collapse. The hallmarks of Project Aurora.He exhaled, steeling himself. Aurora had gone live.Behind him, Selene emerged from the shadows. She carried a data-slate scrolling with new disruptions. “They’ve triggere