The war room pulsed with tension.
The air was cold—not from the temperature, but from the pressure of dozens of people holding their breath in unison. A massive central timer hung in the center of the command screen, bright red digits ticking down with dreadful clarity.
00:00:06.
Saria Velstein stood alone near the raised tactical platform, her gloves clasped behind her back, coat unbuttoned at the collar. Her eyes didn't blink. They tracked the six floating holographic maps suspended in a circle above the central pillar, each showing a live feed of one of Earth's major cities.
Flickers of light shimmered across the scans. Too fast. Too irregular. Something was happening in the atmosphere.
Operators called out updates from across the room.
"Mana surge detected over Sector Epsilon—capital perimeter."
"Mana spike confirmed in the Southern Ridge!"
"We've got visual distortion—North Asia, confirmed temporal ripple!"
The timer dropped lower.
00:00:03.
