The thing beneath the Gate opened its eyes.
Not literal eyes.
Something worse.
Across the entire lattice, billions of resonance pathways flared at once as awareness surged upward from the prison beneath the Nexus. The pressure hit Earth's node like an ocean collapsing inward.
Every human connected even slightly to resonance systems screamed.
Hospitals lost patients instantly as neural overload rippled through unstable minds. Research stations across the planet shut down automatically. Cities flickered beneath failing power grids while the sky itself darkened around the Gate.
Inside the chamber, Kael slammed against the wall hard enough to crack reinforced plating.
Mara barely caught herself on the command railing.
Elira dropped to her knees, blood running freely now from both ears as monitors around her detonated in showers of sparks.
And above the center platform—
Sarya floated inside the storm while the collapse-born entity trembled around her.
