Arden stood on the steps of the Chronos Institute, the white marble cold beneath her boots. The air was thick with the smell of ozone and impending violence.
Below her, the Syndicate army advanced. A phalanx of Black Ash soldiers in heavy armor, flanked by two towering Devourer bio-mechs. The mechs were hideous thingsalien metal grafted onto biological muscle, painted with red skulls. Their cannons whined, charging up.
"She's mine!" the Ash leader roared, pointing a jagged blade at Arden. "Bring me the Anchor!"
Arden didn't draw a weapon. She didn't have one.
She closed her eyes.
She felt the itch in her brain again. The Fracture Point. The tear in reality where the Syndicate had breached the perimeter. It wasn't just a hole; it was a mistake. A line of code written wrong.
Fix it, she thought.
She opened her eyes. They weren't brown anymore. They were glowing with a faint, unstable violet light.
She reached out her hand.
