# Chapter 36: The Ripple Effect
The screams started at dawn.
I bolted upright in my quarters, heart hammering as communication crystals erupted with panicked reports from across the Southern Continent. The intellectual rebellion we'd sparked wasn't spreading peacefully—it was being crushed with a brutality that made Viktor Ashford look merciful.
"Selene!" Marcus burst through my door, blood streaming from a gash on his forehead. "They're killing them. Everyone who questions. Everyone who thinks. They're—" He collapsed, and I saw the arrow protruding from his shoulder.
"Medical!" I screamed, but the compound alarm was already wailing. Through my window, I could see ships on the horizon—not the confused Purist vessels we'd been monitoring, but something else entirely. Something wrong.
C
