The blue screen filled with millions of tiny, glowing white dots. Each dot represented a human life in the city of Glimmer."Watch," Rae whispered.The video on the screen played. The clock in the corner showed 2:59 AM. The millions of white dots were glowing brightly. Then, the clock hit 3:00 AM.Instantly, without a single warning, every single white dot on the screen vanished. The screen went completely dark blue."They are gone," Lyra gasped, covering her mouth."Now, look at the code behind the video," Rae said. She pressed another button.A list of blue code appeared next to the dark screen.Everett stared at the code. He expected to see a massive red warning. He expected to see a deletion command. He expected the System backup to say: WARNING. TWO MILLION ENTITIES DELETED.But there were no red warnings. The blue code was perfectly calm. It was perfectly normal."It doesn't make sense," Silas muttered. "Two million people died, and the backup server doesn't even care? Why are t

The city of Glimmer was dead, but it was not broken. There were no cracked windows. There were no burning buildings. There were no blood stains on the clean, gray concrete. The giant, shining glass towers reached up into the sky, reflecting the dull light of the sun. The traffic lights at the intersections still changed from green, to yellow, to red.Click. Click. Click. The sound of the changing traffic lights echoed loudly in the empty streets. It was a normal, everyday sound. But today, it was the most terrifying sound in the world.Everett walked slowly down the center of the main road. He wore his dark brown cloak. The heavy steel sword was strapped to his back. His pale, gray, artificial right hand hung uselessly at his side. He did not try to hide the limp in his step. He did not try to hide the deep, ugly scars on his face.Behind him, Silas carried his heavy sniper rifle. The sniper looked left and right. His eyes darted into every dark alley. He aimed his gun at empty windo

The stolen transport truck bounced hard over the rough, rocky road. It was deep into the night. The sky outside the dirty windows was pitch black. There were no stars. The thick ash and smoke from the burning capital city covered everything.Silas sat in the driver’s seat. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. His eyes were red and tired. He had not slept in two days, but he refused to stop driving.Everett sat in the passenger seat. He stared straight ahead into the dark. He looked down at his right arm. It hung by his side. It was pale and gray. It did not look like the rest of his tanned, scarred body. He commanded his hand to close. “One, Mississippi.”The fingers snapped into a tight fist. A sharp, hot spike of pain hit his brain. Everett grunted softly, but he did not let go. He forced his mind to fight the pain. He had to learn how to use the broken arm. He had to be ready.In the back of the truck, Lyra and Rae were sitting on metal boxes.Rae had her laptop open on h

Silas paced back and forth across the stone floor. "They are going crazy. The mayors are locking the gates. The priests are telling people to give up and die. The panic is going to destroy civilization before the Pilgrim even gets to them."Lyra hugged her arms tight. "Fear is the worst weapon. The nobles used fear to control us. Now, the Pilgrim is using fear to break our minds. If the people believe the end of the world is here, they will just stop fighting."Everett stood perfectly still. He stared at the red code on Rae’s computer screen. He stared at the number.ENTITIES MOVED: 4,211.Everett crossed his arms over his broad chest. His green eyes narrowed in deep thought. He blocked out the panic. He blocked out the fear. He needed to think like a soldier. He needed to think like a tactician."Rae," Everett said softly. His deep voice cut through the nervous energy in the room."Yes, Everett?" Rae asked, looking up."When the Pilgrim deleted the city of Glimmer, how many people d

"Get up, you stupid cowards!" the rebel soldier roared. He kicked a metal bucket across the street. "We have to build the barricades! The nobles are still out there! Speaker Rho is trying to become a god! We have to fight!"The people sitting on the ground did not move. They did not open their eyes. They just kept smiling their empty smiles."Listen to me!" the rebel soldier screamed. His face was red with angry panic. He grabbed a young man by the shirt and pulled him up from the mud. "If you do not hold a gun, the Paladins will come and slaughter our children! You cannot just sit here!"The young man with the black circle on his chest looked at the angry soldier. The young man did not fight back. He did not raise his hands."The Paladins are just code," the young man whispered smoothly. "You are just code. Surrender to the balance, brother. The Pilgrim will take the pain away."The rebel soldier let out a scream of pure frustration. He threw the young man back into the mud."You are