The sky shattered without warning.
Alex was in the command center, reviewing the latest intelligence reports, when the sound hit him. Not a crash. Not an explosion. A sound like breaking glass, but on a cosmic scale. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, vibrating through his bones, through his very soul.
"What was that?" Elena asked, her hand instinctively reaching for her weapon.
Alex was already moving, his senses stretched to their limit. The darkness inside him was surging, responding to something it recognized. Something that shouldn't exist.
"The Origin," he said, his voice tight. "It's happening."
They ran outside. The sky was fractured. Massive cracks spread across the heavens like a web, and through them, Alex could see something else. Something beyond. A void of pure n
