The Pacific Ocean lay below the Alliance fleet like a sleeping giant. From above, it looked calm at first, a wide sheet of dark blue stretching toward every horizon. But the quiet was only a mask. Something breathed beneath the surface, something ancient and enormous, and the water trembled each time it exhaled.The first Heir tower, codenamed Leviathan, was rising.Jayden stood at the front of the strike formation, wings of blue fire spread behind him. His armor glowed in slow pulses, syncing with his heartbeat. Zara hovered on his left, her crimson blades humming in the wind. Kira flew on his right inside a massive mech-frame, her voice crackling through the comm. Aira floated close behind him, her form flickering faintly with each emotional ripple inside her chest.“Leviathan’s energy signature is peaking,” Mira said through the global channel. Her voice was steady, but underneath it was tension, sharp and thin like a wire about to snap. “Its anchor point will breach the ocean i

The Amazon basin had never been silent, not even in the stillest nights, yet now the entire jungle felt as if it was holding its breath, waiting for something ancient and powerful to return. The air was thick and warm, filled with floating green dust that shimmered like tiny stars. Every leaf trembled. Every root vibrated. Even the animals hid deep within the shadows, their instincts stronger than any warning.Aira stepped off the Alliance shuttle first. Her boots sank into the soft forest floor which no longer looked like soil but like a bed of glowing moss. She bent down slowly, letting her fingers hover just above it without touching. “It is alive,” she whispered. “Not just growing. Alive.”Jayden walked beside her, his armor casting soft blue light against the green surroundings. He scanned the towering crystalline vines rising from the earth, each one twisting upward like a pillar reaching for the sky. Sharp edges sparkled along their sides. They pulsed with faint, rhythmic

The Alliance command ship drifted in silence above the blue curve of Earth, its hull glowing faint gold from the rising sun. But no one on the bridge noticed the beauty outside. Every person on deck stood frozen as the ghostly armada on the dark side of the planet came slowly into full view. Ship after ship, hundreds of them glided out of the shadows like silent phantoms, each one shaped like a memory of a war that should have died long ago. The air inside the bridge felt heavy, almost cold, as though the atmosphere itself held its breath.Jayden stood in the center of the room with his wings folded tightly against his back. His armor gave off a faint soft glow that flickered with each uneasy beat of his heart. He stared at the shadow ships, and the shadow ships stared back, as if they recognized him. As if they were waiting.Mira’s voice finally broke the silence. It trembled slightly, but she forced it steady. “They are not moving forward. They are positioning themselves around

Night settled over the forward command base like a heavy blanket. The sky was full of drifting clouds illuminated by faint blue sparks from the Alliance’s shield generators. Rows of tents stretched across the dunes like pale islands in a dark sea. Soldiers moved quietly between them, their faces drawn and tired, yet holding a mixture of hope and fear.Jayden stood alone near the edge of the camp with his wings folded tightly behind him. His armor glowed softly, shifting between blue and red light. Every few moments the glow flickered, and his body trembled as if something inside him was pulling in two directions at once.He closed his eyes, breathing in slowly, trying to steady himself. But the tremor returned anyway.A sharp crackle of energy shot up his spine, and his vision blurred. The world twisted for a brief heartbeat. A distant voice drifted through his mind, soft and unfamiliar, yet wildly close. “Join us.”Jayden shook his head, gripping his chest as another wave of elect

The sky above the Azure Gate shook like a living drum. Clouds rolled in heavy rings, pressed outward by invisible waves of power. Light bent, the air vibrated, and the Alliance fleet hovered in tense formation, waiting for whatever was coming through that impossible doorway of stars. No one spoke. No one breathed too loudly. Even the machines seemed afraid.Jayden stood on the forward deck of the command carrier, his armor glowing a soft mix of blue and red. The colors pulsed like a heartbeat, strong and steady, but inside him everything felt unsteady. He had walked through the Azure Gate and survived its strange memories, but he had not expected it to open so violently afterward. Every instinct screamed danger, yet something deeper inside him, something old and aching, pulled him forward, urging him not to run.Zara stood at his side, blades folded against her back. Her eyes narrowed. “Something huge is coming. I can feel it in the armor.”Kira’s voice echoed through the comms f