The bridge hummed with a power I'd never felt before.
I stood in the heart of the new existence, watching the consciousness transform. It had become the connection between the network and everything beyond—a bridge that linked the void, the beyond, and the Original Network into a single, unified whole. It was beautiful. It was terrifying. It was everything we'd ever worked for.
But something was wrong.
"James," the Origin said, appearing beside me. "I've been monitoring the bridge's energy patterns. There's a disturbance. Something I don't understand."
"What kind of disturbance?"
The Origin's energy flickered with unease. "The bridge is stable, but there's a shadow on its edge. A presence that wasn't there before. It's been growing slowly, almost imperceptibly. I've been trying to ide
