The silence broke at midnight.
Alex was in the training room, pushing his body to its limits, when the sound returned. But it wasn't the sound of the facility. It was something else. A rhythmic thrumming that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, from inside his bones and outside his body. A pulse. The heartbeat of the universe itself.
He stopped mid-strike, his senses stretched to their limit. The darkness inside him was responding to something. Something that recognized him.
Sebastian appeared in the doorway. "Alex. You need to see this."
Alex followed him to the command center. The tactical display showed a massive energy signature approaching from beyond the known dimensions. It was moving fast. Too fast.
"What is it?" Elena asked, appearing beside them.
Alex felt the darkn
