Landon Hale stood in the middle of the snowy street. He watched the cheering people running toward him. He saw the joy on their dirty faces. He saw the hope returning to the broken world. He should have been incredibly happy. This was the moment he had fought so brutally for. This was the moment he had almost died to achieve. But as Landon stood there, listening to the cheers, a terrible, heavy, dark feeling settled deep into his heart. The victory felt completely hollow. It tasted like ashes in his mouth. Claire Arden walked up beside him. She smiled a beautiful, radiant smile. She reached out and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "Listen to them, Landon," Claire whispered happily, resting her head against his broad chest. "You saved them. You saved all of us. You are their great hero." Landon hugged her back. He kissed the top of her dark hair. But his dark eyes did not smile. "Juno," Landon called out softly. The kind doctor walked over. She looked completely exhaus

The freezing winter wind blew gently through the streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It had been one full week since the terrible death of General Kade Rauth. It had been one week since the massive, floating black dropships of the Iron Order had crashed into the snow. The war was officially over. The human race had won. The city of Milwaukee looked like a broken, messy graveyard of shattered glass and crushed concrete. But today, the city did not sound like a graveyard. It sounded like a giant, busy, happy workshop. The air was filled with the loud, ringing sounds of heavy hammers hitting metal. Bright blue and orange sparks showered from welding torches as people worked to fix the broken steel bridges. Men and women carried long, heavy wooden boards through the deep white snow. The innocent civilians were finally free. They were no longer hiding in dark, freezing basements. They were standing out in the bright, cold sunlight, working together to rebuild their beautiful city. Landon

Landon only wanted the magic and technology experts in the room for this specific meeting. Landon looked at the small group. The room was perfectly silent. "Thank you for coming," Landon said deeply. "I have kept a terrible secret from you for the past week. I am sorry." "What kind of secret, Landon?" Jin asked nervously. She stopped typing on her keyboard. Landon did not answer with words. He slowly raised his right arm. He reached over with his left hand. He grabbed the thick leather fingers of his black winter glove. He pulled the glove slowly off his hand. He dropped the heavy leather glove onto the wooden table. He held his bare right hand out for everyone to see. Claire gasped loudly. She covered her mouth with both of her hands. Jin and Sera’s eyes went completely wide in absolute, paralyzing horror. Silas pushed himself away from the wall. He walked quickly over to the table. Burned deeply into the skin on the back of Landon's large hand was a terrifying, jagged, pitch

Landon turned his head. He looked out the window of the bank building. He stared toward the east. He stared toward the massive, muddy basin of the drained Lake Michigan. "We have an army," Landon said deeply. His voice was filled with a terrifying, serious resolve. Claire frowned. "What army, Landon?" "The ancient gods," Landon answered. "The blue god of Creation is waiting in the crystal city at the bottom of the lake. It told me to come down there. It told me it wants to prepare for the war of the stars." "Landon, no," Silas warned fiercely. He stepped forward. "The ancient gods are not our friends. They hid underground like cowards millions of years ago. They let the earth burn. If we go down to that crystal city and ask them for help, they will trick us. They will use us as cannon fodder." "Silas is right," Claire agreed. "The blue god possessed his body just a few hours ago! It almost killed me! We cannot trust them!" "We do not have a choice," Landon growled. He turned to

"He says we are fighting the wrong enemy," Landon answered out loud, never taking his eyes off the alien. “General Kade Rauth was just a tiny, noisy insect,” the Observer continued in Landon's mind. “He dug up the dead gods. He tried to build an empire of iron. But Rauth did not dig those graves with his own hands. He did not build the weapons with his own money. You fight the shadows, Landon Hale, but you completely ignore the men who sell the shadows for profit.” Landon frowned deeply. “What do you mean? Who sells the shadows?” The silver man did not answer the question with words. The alien slowly raised its shining, silver hand. It pointed its finger directly at Jin and Sera, who were standing nervously on the snowy hill with their laptop computers. “The truth is locked inside the machines,” the Observer whispered. “Break the final wall. Read the ledger. Then you will understand why the earth was sold to the stars.”The silver man lowered his hand. He reached into his own smo