The madness began as whispers in the void.
Reed watched the tactical display with growing horror as red markers proliferated across the dimensional map like a spreading infection. Each marker represented a reality that had gone silent—not destroyed, not conquered, but emptied. Kaedon had escaped his dimensional prison seventy-two hours ago, and in that brief span, he had already visited fourteen separate realities.
None of them had survivors.
"Status report on Sector 47," Reed commanded, his voice hoarse from sleepless nights and endless tactical briefings.
Lieutenant Commander Axis manipulated the holographic display, zooming in on what had once been the thriving industrial hub of New Kepler. "Population of 2.3 billion confirmed... present. All life signs stable. All neural activity..." He paused, swallowing hard. "Zero."
