The sky turned black in an instant.
Alex was in the command center, reviewing the latest intelligence on the Defilers, when the light vanished. Not like nightfall. Not like an eclipse. The light simply ceased to exist, swallowed by a darkness so absolute it seemed to have physical weight.
"What the hell?" Jaxon muttered, his hand instinctively reaching for his weapon.
The darkness pressed against the windows, against the walls, against their very skin. It wasn't just the absence of light—it was the presence of something else. Something ancient. Something hungry.
And then the voice came. Not a whisper this time. Not a roar. It was a sound that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, from inside their minds and outside their bodies, all at once.
"ALEXANDER KNIGHT."
Alex felt the da
