Three seconds before the gigantic gears screamed and this mechanical world stopped breathing, Oliver Warner committed the most forbidden act a professional Dealer could make. He closed his eyes. Around him, Apex Tower was descending into apocalypse. The chainsaw arm of Titan Overseer roared inches from Oliver’s face, radiating heat hot enough to scorch the tips of his bangs. Behind the golden monster, the gigantic pendulum of The Grand Equation swung wildly, driving thousands of massive brass gears at insane speed, 1,000 RPM. The wind generated by the spinning machinery was strong enough to strip flesh from bone. “YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ANY LONGER, ANOMALY!” roared The Overseer. His synthesized voice overlapped itself, echoing from the hundreds of steam vents across his back. “MY CALCULATIONS ARE ABSOLUTE! YOUR DEATH IS A MATHEMATICAL FACT!” Oliver stood on the shattered glass floor. His left leg trembled, his right shoulder was ruined, and silver blood continued drippi

Gravity was blind. It did not care whether you were a hero, a villain, or just some unlucky dimensional tourist. If you fell from two thousand meters up, you were going to kiss the asphalt at terminal velocity, and your body would turn into meat jam. That was a fact. And Oliver hated facts that could not be changed. "Ver! We're dead! WE'RE DEAD!" Tika's scream exploded beside Oliver's ear, louder than the howling wind tearing through the remains of his shirt. The two of them were free-falling through the sky alongside thousands of tons of bronze debris, giant gears, and shattered glass from the collapsing Apex Tower. Oliver did not scream. His golden eyes narrowed against the wind, scanning downward with the speed of a godlike processor. He was looking for a gap. Far below stretched the border between the glorious Upper City and the slums of the Rust District. Between the two levels ran a massive network of steel suspension cables used to channel steam powe

One step. The tip of Oliver’s dirty dress shoe had already touched the edge of Lady Luck’s black-and-gold portal. Warm interdimensional air brushed against his face, carrying promises of a new world and, finally, a road back to Claire. But in a universe ruled by cruel lines of code, happy endings were a myth. Just as Oliver shifted his weight forward to step through... ZRAAAAK! The sound wasn’t like an explosion. It sounded like a gigantic canvas being ripped apart with a dull knife. The black-and-gold portal in front of Oliver suddenly shook violently. Its light flickered wildly, spraying digital sparks in every direction. “What the hell?!” Oliver shouted, instinctively shielding his face with his golden right arm. “Boss! Watch out!” Tika’s voice rang out from below the rooftop. The mechanic girl scrambled back up, panic written across her face. But the warning came too late. CRASH! Lady Luck’s portal shattered apart. The fragments

Ever imagined what it would feel like to get thrown into a giant blender while the blades were made from the concepts of space and time?If not, ask Oliver Warner.The golden-black dimensional tunnel created by Lady Luck had just shattered apart. The fragments didn’t fall downward, because in this place, there was no such thing as "down." Shards of broken reality spun around Oliver’s body like a microscopic asteroid storm, slicing his skin and tearing apart what remained of his shirt.Oliver floated in the middle of The Void. The space between servers. A sea of raw data where the universe dumped files that failed to render.The colors were nauseating. A mixture of neon purple, highlighter green, and blinking blood-red, flickering at a refresh rate that made his eyes feel ready to burst.But it wasn’t the psychedelic scenery that made Oliver’s heart hammer like it was about to explode.It was the black stain behind him.The Eraser.The Eraser didn’t need portals. It didn’t need tunnels

Dark. Cold. And reeking of stomach acid strong enough to melt nose hair. Oliver woke with a violent coughing fit that shook his entire chest cavity. He vomited, spewing liters of salty seawater mixed with thick phosphorescent green fluid. His throat felt like it had been scrubbed raw with rusted wire. "Haaakk... cough... bastard..." Oliver cursed, trying to steady his ragged breathing. He felt around the surface beneath him. Not sand. Not stone. It was soft, rubbery, and warm. The texture felt disturbingly close to industrial carpeting, except it pulsed slowly. Thump... thump... thump... "This is flesh," Oliver whispered, goosebumps racing up his skin. He opened his eyes. The silver glitch in his vision needed several seconds to adjust to the lack of light. But once his sight sharpened, Oliver's jaw nearly dropped. He wasn't at the bottom of the ocean. He wasn't floating in the dark abyss of Thalassa anymore. He was inside a cavern made of meat.