The world ended with a whisper.Not a roar. Not a scream. Just... silence.
One moment, Iden Virel was walking home from campus under the warm glow of streetlights. The next, every light across the city flickered—and died. His phone went dead. The sky fractured like a mirror, streaked with silver cracks that pulsed like veins.
Then came the message.
[NOTICE: GLOBAL TRANSFERENCE INITIATED][THE SHATTERED TRIAL BEGINS]ALL CANDIDATES WILL BE SUMMONED.POPULATION LOCKED: 4,219,888,002TRIAL DURATION: UNTIL ONLY ONE SOVEREIGN REMAINS
There was no time to run. No warning.
The world unraveled beneath his feet, and Iden was consumed by white light.
He fell for what felt like hours—spinning through the void, through systems he couldn't understand, through voices calling names that didn't belong to him.
And when he woke, the sky was red. The trees hissed. And everything he'd ever known was gone.
But something waited for him in the dark. Something ancient.Something dead.
And it would obey.