The white light from the sky was a hungry monster. It had been three days since the Archangels had turned the sky into a giant magnifying glass. Every second, the Sol-Cannon in space got brighter. Every second, the air inside the Grey Domain got hotter.Elijah stood at the very top of the Obsidian Spire. He was the Grey King, but he looked like a man who was carrying the weight of the whole world on his back. His obsidian skin was no longer shiny; it was dull and covered in gray ash. The purple veins on his arms were pulsing with a slow, tired rhythm.Beside him stood Sarah, the Architect of Life. Her silver eyes were wide with exhaustion. For three days, she had not slept. she had not eaten. She had spent every minute of her life-force helping Elijah build the only thing that could save them: the Void-Lens.The 200th floor was a mess of fire and glass. In the center of the platform, a giant vat of liquid obsidian was bubbling. It looked like black honey, thick and glowing with a dar

The clock of the universe was ticking, and the sound was louder than any drum.Inside the Obsidian Spire, the silence was heavy. The 12,000 people in the Hive were not moving. They were huddled in the dark, their purple eyes wide. They could feel it in their teeth. They could feel it in their fingernails. The air was no longer just air; it was "Instruction." The world was being told to stop being real.High above the 200-story tower, the pitch-black darkness of the Grey Domain was starting to change. The pre-emptive siphoning of the Void-Lens had turned the city into a shadow, but even the Void could not hide from what was coming now.The "White Terror" of the sky died away. It was replaced by something much worse.The sky turned a deep, burning orange. It was the color of a forest fire. It was the color of a star that is about to explode. The golden clouds of the Archangels were being sucked into the center of the Sol-Cannon, swirling around the gold-glass ring like water down a dr

The sky above Haven’s Drop was no longer a place of light. It was a graveyard of golden glass.The Sol-Cannon was gone. The giant ring that had threatened to erase the Earth had been shattered by its own power. Shards of the golden lens, some as large as houses, were falling through the atmosphere. They looked like giant, burning tears as they hit the air, lighting up the night with a violent orange glow.Elijah sat on his obsidian throne at the peak of the Spire. He was breathing in short, shallow gasps. His body felt like it was made of thin paper. He had used almost every drop of his mana to hold the Void-Lens together. His obsidian skin was dull, and the purple veins on his arms were barely flickering.[Status: Critical Drain.][Health: 5%.][Mana: 1%.]"Lord... it is over," Marcus whispered. The Lord Commander stood nearby, leaning on his spear. His gunmetal skin was covered in gray dust.Sarah walked over and placed a warm hand on Elijah’s shoulder. She could feel the coldness

The crater in front of the Obsidian Spire was a circle of melted glass and white smoke. In the center of that circle stood a nightmare made of silver and light.Themis, the Archangel of Justice, was a giant. She stood twelve feet tall, and her silver armor was so bright it looked like a mirror reflecting the sun. Her eight wings were not soft; they were made of golden blades. She held a pair of scales that could weigh the weight of a planet. She was the "Perfect Law" of the Heavens.Elijah stood at the base of his tower. He looked very small compared to her. His obsidian skin was cracked. He was bleeding silver-gold starlight from a dozen wounds. His 200-story tower, his great Spire, was shaking. The "Presence" of the Archangel was like a heavy mountain trying to sit on his head."Anomaly Elijah," Themis bellowed. Her voice did not come from a mouth. It was a vibration that hit everyone's soul at once. "You have committed the ultimate heresy: you have survived."Elijah leaned on his s

Elijah felt the panic of his people. The "Intent Feed" turned a frantic, jagged yellow. The stability of the Domain dropped to 70%.Elijah felt a surge of rage. Not the cold, logical rage of the King. It was the "Human" rage of a man whose home was being broken. He didn't Void-Step this time. He used the Authority of Lightning.Elijah became a bolt of violet energy. He crossed the distance between the sand and the 100th floor in a zero-time interval. He slammed into Themis’s back with the force of a tectonic plate shift.They both crashed through the obsidian wall and into the Great Training Hall. The battle was now Inside.The Shadow Legion moved back, their obsidian skin glowing. They wanted to help, but the pressure was too high. The air in the hall was 500 degrees. The gravity was shifting so fast that the soldiers were being thrown against the ceiling and then back to the floor.Elijah and Themis rolled across the dark stone floor, a blur of silver and black.Themis kicked Elijah