The attack came without warning.
I was in the war room with Selene, reviewing the latest integration reports, when the network screamed. Not with pain—with terror. Something was tearing through the connections, consuming everything in its path.
"James!" Freya's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Something's attacking the network. Something I've never seen before."
I was already running toward the lab. "What is it?"
"I don't know. But it's fast. It's already consumed three clusters of entities. They're gone. Completely."
I burst through the lab doors. Freya was hunched over her monitors, her face pale, her hands trembling.
"Show me," I said.
She pulled up a holographic display. The network was a web of light, but there were dark spots—areas where the light had been extinguished co
