The calm that had followed the first battle with the Infinite Chains was deceptive.
While Lumeris stood stronger than ever—its cities flourishing, its markets self-regulating, and its traders united under the Nexus Principles—the storm on the horizon had only just begun to gather.
It came not in fleets, not in visible contracts, and not in the form of hostile ambassadors.
It came as a whisper in the Trade Stream.
A phantom signal.
A dark market's heartbeat.
The First Glitch
It began subtly.
A trader from the Cradle, dealing in psionic-infused gemstones, reported an odd anomaly.
"The market mirror showed two buyers," she said. "One real. The other… not."
She shrugged at first—ghost entries weren't unheard of in early-stage Nexus systems. But over the next solar day, six more traders from Halon Spire filed identical complaints.
All claimed to have completed trades with invisible clients.
Trades that still went through.
Goods vanished. Credits transferred.
