The black glass of the Neural-Forge pulsed with a blinding, silver light. Nyxra stood in the center of the machine, her body wrapped in glowing wires. I tried to reach for her, but the energy field was too strong. It felt like hitting a wall of solid ice."Nyxra, get out of there!" I shouted. "The Forge is eating you! It’s taking your code!""I can't leave, Vaxien!" She cried. Her voice was already changing. It sounded deeper, like it was coming through a thousand speakers at once. "I'm the only match for the system! I'm the Architect's daughter!""What are you talking about?" I barked. "The Architect is a myth! He's been dead for a century!""He was my father!" She screamed. "He didn't just build the High-City! He built the Soul-Code! And he left the back-door key in my blood!""You lied to me!" I yelled, slamming my fist against the energy barrier. "You let me believe you were just a scavenger from the Wastes! You're a High-Code! You're a Royal!""I had to hide!" She wept. "If Mal

"Vaxien, can you hear me? You’re moving too fast for the sensors," Nyxra whispered in my mind.I didn't answer. I was a ghost in the machine now. My spirit was a streak of purple code sliding through the Academy’s walls."He’s right behind that bulkhead!" Nyxra shouted. "The World-Cracker is at ninety percent charge!"I drifted through the thick steel door. It felt like nothing. On the other side, the heart of the weapon hummed with a low vibration."Who’s there?" Malakor screamed. He spun around, firing his energy blaster at the shadows. "I know you’re in here, Glitch! Show yourself!"I stepped out of the darkness. I didn't breathe. I just stood there, a silent shadow with glowing eyes."You’re dead!" Malakor yelled, his voice cracking. "I saw your vitals hit zero! You’re a corpse!""I’m the error you can’t delete," I said. My voice sounded like grinding metal."You think this scares me?" Malakor laughed, though his hands were shaking. "I have the World-Cracker! One pull of the trigg

"The moon is a hard drive, Vaxien!" Nyxra’s voice was screaming through my head. "It’s not a rock! It’s where they keep the souls!""What are you talking about?" I yelled. I was running toward the center of the hangar. "Souls? Like actual people?""Human history!" She cried. "Every person who ever lived... their digital backup is up there! If Malakor deletes it, humanity is gone forever!""He’s going to wipe us out?" I asked. I looked up at the beam of light hitting the lunar surface. "That bastard!""He’s not just killing us, kid," Eva said. She was leaning against a pillar, watching the sky. "He’s erasing the proof that we ever existed. He wants a clean slate.""We have to stop him!" I shouted. "Eva, help me! You have the God-Tier code!""I have the code, but I don't have a ship," she said. She pointed to a massive tower in the distance. "But that is an Energy-Elevator. It’s built to travel up the beam.""Then we hijack it!" I said. "Move! Now!""You're very bossy for a guy who alm

"You think being the Archon is a title?" Malakor wheezed. He laughed, and more black fog leaked from his lips. "You think it’s a crown you wear?""I don't care what it is!" I shouted. I tried to move, but the fog was like heavy chains on my arms. "I'm here to end this! I’m ending you!""You can't end a virus, Vaxien," the old man said. He leaned forward in his tank. "The Archon is a parasite. It’s a piece of code that lives in the blood. It’s passed from host to host. And today, I’m passing it to you.""Get away from me!" I roared. I tried to fire a pulse, but my hands just sparked. "Nyxra! I can't move my limbs!""The fog is overwriting your motor functions!" Nyxra screamed. "Vaxien, it’s not just smoke! It’s billions of nanites! They’re trying to find a port!""What port?" I barked. "I don't have a port!""Your mouth, you idiot!" Malakor cackled. He raised a bony hand, and the fog surged. "Open wide, successor! It’s time for your coronation!""No!" I yelled.The black fog hit me lik

I looked up and felt my stomach drop. The giant blue dome that protected the High-City was flickering like a dying lightbulb. One of those jagged black ships was latched onto the energy grid. It wasn't blowing it up. It was sucking the blue light right out of the sky."The shield is gone! They’re eating the damn shield like it’s candy!" Eva screamed. "Vaxien, the city's defenses are at zero percent!" Nyxra yelled in my head. "The Peacekeeper drones are just floating there. They aren't even firing!""Why aren't they fighting back?" I barked. I gripped my pulse-blades until my knuckles turned white. "Because the drones are pure System code!" Nyxra explained. "To those things, a drone is just a snack. They’re absorbing the programming before the guns can even warm up!""So we're just sitting ducks?" I snapped."No!" Nyxra shouted. "Look at your hands, Vaxien! Look at the other Glitches!"I looked down. My purple energy was sparking wildly, but it wasn't being sucked away. Beside me,