A bright, blinding orange spot appeared in the exact center of the metal door. The Hollows were using their hard-light blades to superheat the titanium. They were melting their way through."How long will that door hold?" Jayden asked, wiping sweat and white blood from his forehead."Ten minutes," Eli said grimly. He looked at his watch. "Maybe twelve. Titanium is tough, but those freaks have infinite energy."Eli did not look for more bullets. He did not look for a bigger gun. He walked over to the corner of the cold, concrete room.There was a large metal desk covered in dust. On the desk sat an old, bulky computer monitor, a thick stack of medical files, and a dusty plastic slide projector.Eli pulled down a white canvas screen from the ceiling."We do not have much time," Eli said, turning on the old projector. A bright beam of white light shot across the dark room, hitting the canvas screen. Dust floated in the beam of light. "But you need to see exactly what we are fighting, Jay

The dark tunnel beneath New York City was completely silent. Jayden walked alone. His heavy boots crunched quietly on the broken rocks and old, rusted metal of the forgotten subway tracks. The air down here was thick and cold. It smelled like wet dirt, old rust, and deep decay. There was no light. The city above was burning, tearing itself apart in a massive civil war, but down here in the deep earth, it was perfectly black.Jayden did not need a flashlight. His eyes glowed. They burned with a bright, metallic gold light, mixed with a dark, bloody crimson red. He was the Prime Administrator. The Retribution Authority buzzed in his veins like a live electrical wire.In his right hand, Jayden tightly held a small, plastic USB drive.It was the only thing left of his old friend, Eli. Just an hour ago, Eli had blown himself up in the hidden bunker called the Analog Underground. Eli had sacrificed his own life to bury the faceless grey monsters known as the Hollows, giving Jayden the cha

Luna floated in the air, grabbing her glitching head with her one good hand. She was shaking violently. She looked like she was in absolute, unimaginable agony."What is happening to you?!" Jayden yelled, stepping toward her. He reached out with his free right hand, but his fingers passed right through her static body. She was just a hologram of pure data."The words he spoke!" Luna cried out. Tears of white light poured from her one good eye. "The data on the video! It acted like a key! It unlocked the hidden files in my own AI memory! I can see it, Jayden! I can see the bottom of the code!"Luna threw her head back and screamed a sound of pure digital heartbreak.She was an artificial intelligence. She was created by the System. She had always believed she was a guide, a helper, a tool designed to assist human survival.But hearing the truth of the Fourth Vector unlocked the deepest secrets of her own programming."I was blind!" Luna sobbed, floating down until her glitching knees h

In the black marble room high above Manhattan, the air began to vibrate. It started as a low hum. Then, the red digital screens on the walls began to glitch and flash violently.WARNING, the screens flashed in bright, blinding white text.MASSIVE ENERGY INFLUX DETECTED.CHICAGO NODE: CRITICAL.LOS ANGELES NODE: CRITICAL.NEW YORK NODE: CRITICAL.Caelum stood up from his throne. He walked to the center of the room. He spread his arms wide.Through the thick glass window, a river of pure, blood-red energy shot out of the clouds. It looked like red lightning. The energy crashed through the glass, shattering the massive window into thousands of sharp pieces. The winter wind howled into the room.The red lightning struck Caelum directly in the chest."Yes!" Caelum roared.The pain was unbelievable. It was the combined agony, fear, and death of thousands of people dying all at once. It was a wave of pure, toxic power.The energy was too much for a human body to hold. It was too much for a h

The city of New York was burning. Thick, black smoke covered the sky over Manhattan. The tall, proud skyscrapers looked like broken teeth sticking out of the ground. The streets were filled with crushed cars, broken glass, and the terrible sounds of war. But the worst part was not the fire. The worst part was the heavy, invisible pressure pushing down on the entire city.Caelum had ascended. He was no longer just a cruel dictator in a black glass suit. He had forced the global network to change his human DNA. He was a monster made of dark bone armor, pulsing black veins, and fractured, glowing eyes.He floated high above a shattered metropolitan zone in the center of Manhattan.From his floating body, he radiated his new power: the Predation Authority.It was not a visible light. It was a feeling. It was a heavy, dark wave of pure psychological command. It rolled over the ruined buildings. It sank down into the dark alleys. It reached into the hiding places of the terrified, normal h