The plasma bombardment never came. Instead, as the military machinery hummed to life around Elena's sanctuary, reality itself began to fracture.

It started as hairline cracks in the air above major population centers—delicate fissures that leaked light and shadow in equal measure. Within hours, those cracks had widened into gaping wounds in the fabric of space-time, revealing glimpses of realms that existed beyond mortal comprehension.

Through the Otherworld rifts came radiance that ...