Chapter 43: Shadows of Tomorrow
The war room buzzed with controlled chaos. Holographic displays showed troop movements, energy signatures, and tactical projections that would have seemed like science fiction a month ago. Now they were just Tuesday.
Josh stood at the center of it all, orchestrating an alliance that shouldn't exist. On his left, Azazel's ice creatures transmitted real-time data from reconnaissance missions. On his right, Council members analyzed First One behavioral patterns with clinical precision. And scattered throughout were his Vanguard—the bridge between factions, the proof that cooperation was possible.
"The entity in New York hasn't moved in fourteen hours," Yuki reported, her fingers dancing across a holographic interface. "It's just... standing there. Waiting."
"Same with the one in Tokyo," a Council member named Viktor added. He controlled shadows, and right now his power made him look like he was wearing darkness as a second skin. "It's positioned itself over the Imperial Palace. Almost like it's claiming territory."
Josh studied the global map. Twelve First Ones, twelve major cities. They'd hurt one in Antarctica, proven the entities could feel pain. Now the others were regrouping, adapting. Learning.
"They're not just waiting," Josh said slowly, seeing the pattern. "Look at the positions. They're forming a network. Each one is equidistant from the others, creating a perfect geometric shape across the globe."
Dr. Walsh zoomed out the display, and Josh's theory became visible. The First Ones had arranged themselves into a massive twelve-pointed star pattern, with lines of dimensional energy connecting them.
"It's a ritual structure," Dr. El-Sayed breathed, recognizing ancient patterns in the modern display. "They're preparing something. Something that requires precise positioning and synchronized activation."
"How long until they complete it?" Admiral Russo asked from her screen in the DC command center.
"Unknown. But if they finish..." Dr. Walsh ran calculations. "Based on the energy readings, if all twelve entities activate simultaneously in this configuration, they could potentially rewrite reality itself. Make Earth more compatible with their dimensional frequency. Make it... theirs."
The room went quiet. Everyone understood what that meant. Not invasion. Not conquest. Complete transformation of the planet into something alien, something that couldn't support human life.
"Then we don't let them finish," Josh said firmly. "We hit them now, before they synchronize. Take out as many as we can before they realize what we're doing."
"That's twelve simultaneous strikes," Rodriguez pointed out. She'd been coordinating military support, regular forces doing what they could to evacuate civilians and provide logistics. "We barely survived hitting one entity with our full force. How do we hit twelve at once?"
"We split up." Josh pulled up the coalition roster. Seventy-three Shard-users now—twenty new recruits had joined after hearing about the Antarctic victory. "We create twelve strike teams, six users per team. Each team targets one First One. We coordinate the attacks to happen simultaneously, prevent the entities from helping each other."
"That's suicide," Ezra said bluntly. The void-user had been surprisingly pragmatic since joining the coalition, his personal ambitions apparently less important than survival. "Six users against a First One? We'll be annihilated."
"Not if we're smart about it." Josh highlighted specific team compositions on the screen. "We don't try to kill them. We disrupt them. Break their concentration. Force them out of position so they can't complete the ritual. Then we regroup and plan a proper offensive."
Azazel studied the plan with his ancient eyes. "It's audacious. Reckless. It might actually work." He looked at Josh with something that might have been respect. "You've learned to think like a commander. Not just a fighter."
"I've had good teachers. And terrible circumstances." Josh assigned team leaders—himself for New York, Azazel for Moscow, Yuki for Beijing, Sarah Li for Mumbai. "We move in six hours. That gives us time to prep, brief the teams, and get into position. Questions?"
"Just one," Kyla said from beside him. She'd been quiet during the planning, but her eyes held the question Josh had been dreading. "What happens if one of the teams fails? If a First One completes its part of the ritual while we're fighting the others?"
"Then we adapt. Improvise. Do what we do best—survive against impossible odds." Josh met her gaze. "I won't lie and say this is safe. It's not. But it's our best chance."
The meeting dispersed, team leaders gathering their assigned members for individual briefings. Josh found himself alone in the war room with Kyla, the holographic displays casting blue light across their faces.
"You're thinking about the Prime Shard," Kyla said. It wasn't a question.
"How did you know?"
"Because I know you. You've got that look—the one that says you're considering doing something heroic and stupid." She moved closer. "Josh, promise me you won't make any deals with that thing without talking to me first."
"I promise. But Kyla, if we can't disrupt the ritual, if the teams fail—"
"Then we'll figure something else out. Together. Not with you sacrificing yourself to some ancient evil that wants to eat your soul." Her voice cracked slightly. "I can't lose you. Not to the First Ones, not to the Prime Shard, not to anything. You understand?"
Josh pulled her into a hug, feeling her warmth against the constant cold of his Shard powers. "I'm not going anywhere. We made a promise, remember? Both of us walk away."
"Pinky promise?"
"Pinky promise."
They stood like that for a long moment, pretending the world wasn't ending outside. Pretending they were just two people who'd found each other, not soldiers in a war against beings that could erase reality.
Stevens found them like that, coughing awkwardly. "Hey, uh, hate to interrupt the moment, but Josh? Your New York team is assembled. And they're terrified. Could use a pep talk from fearless leader."
Josh reluctantly let go of Kyla. "I'm not fearless. I'm just good at faking it."
"Aren't we all." Stevens fell into step beside him as they headed to the briefing room. "So, leading a team into almost certain death against an incomprehensible horror from beyond space and time. That's fun."
"Your jokes are getting darker."
"My situation is getting darker. I'm compensating." Stevens handed Josh a tablet with team dossiers. "Your team's solid though. Min-Ji for earth manipulation, Emma for light support, two Council members—one does gravity manipulation, other controls kinetic energy—and me."
"You? Stevens, you don't have Shard powers. You'll be vulnerable."
"Yeah, but I've got something they don't. Perspective." Stevens grinned. "Someone needs to keep you grounded, remind you you're human. Plus, I'm really good at tactical support and witty one-liners under pressure. Essential skills."
The briefing room held six very different people trying to figure out how to work together. Min-Ji looked nervous but determined. Emma's light powers flickered with anxiety. The two Council members—Anton and Mei—regarded Stevens with barely concealed contempt.
"A human?" Anton said, his Russian accent thick. "We're fighting First Ones with a human on the team?"
"This human has survived more impossible situations than you've probably seen in your life," Josh said firmly. "Stevens stays. Anyone have a problem with that?"
Silence. Good.
"Alright, here's the situation." Josh pulled up tactical displays of New York. "The First One in Times Square has been stationary for sixteen hours. We're going to hit it hard and fast, force it to break position. We don't need to kill it—just disrupt it."
"How?" Mei asked. She was younger than Anton, maybe mid-twenties, with kinetic energy crackling around her like St. Elmo's fire. "Our powers barely scratch them."
"Because we've been trying to hurt them directly. This time, we attack the environment. The First One is anchored to our reality—it needs to maintain that connection to stay manifested. We break the anchor, we force it out." Josh highlighted the energy patterns Dr. Walsh had identified. "Min-Ji and Anton create gravitational instability. Make it impossible for the entity to maintain a fixed position. Emma provides interference—light at frequencies that disrupt dimensional coherence. Mei, you and I hit it with kinetic and thermal shocks. Keep it off-balance. Stevens coordinates from a safe distance and calls out tactical changes."
"Sounds complicated," Min-Ji said.
"It is. But we've got six hours to practice. We're going to run this operation until we can do it in our sleep." Josh looked at each team member. "I know we're from different groups. Different backgrounds. Maybe we don't trust each other. But for the next few hours, we're not Council or Vanguard or anything else. We're just a team trying to save the world. Can you do that?"
One by one, they nodded.
Training was brutal. They ran simulation after simulation using Josh's ice constructs to represent the First One. Anton and Min-Ji struggled to synchronize their gravity manipulation at first—Anton liked brute force while Min-Ji preferred subtle adjustments. Emma's light frequencies kept interfering with Mei's kinetic energy until they found the right wavelength balance.
But slowly, impossibly, they started working together. Found their rhythm. Learned each other's combat styles and how to complement them.
During a break, Josh found Emma staring at her hands, light dancing between her fingers.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm scared," she admitted. "I've only had these powers for three weeks. I'm still learning basic control. And now I'm supposed to help fight a god?"
"You're not alone. That's the whole point of the team." Josh sat beside her. "I was terrified my first fight. Thought I'd die. And I almost did, multiple times. But I had people watching my back. Same as you do now."
"How do you handle it? The fear?"
"I don't. I just... keep moving forward. Make the next decision, take the next step. If I stop to think about how scared I am, I'll freeze up. So I channel it. Turn fear into focus." He created a small flame in his palm. "These powers—they're terrifying. They want to consume us, change us, make us into something we're not. But they're also tools. And tools only do what we tell them to. You control your light, Emma. It doesn't control you."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because you're here, training, preparing to fight instead of running away. That takes courage. And courage is the opposite of corruption."
By the time the six hours were up, the team was functioning smoothly. Not perfectly—they'd only trained together for one day—but well enough to have a chance.
The transport to New York was quiet. Everyone lost in their own thoughts, preparing mentally for what was coming. Josh stared out the window at the landscape passing below, thinking about how much had changed in such a short time.
Two months ago, he'd been a rookie cop worried about impressing his sergeant. Now he was coordinating a global military operation against beings from beyond reality. Leading people who'd once been enemies. Carrying powers that could save or doom everyone he'd ever known.
The weight of it all should have crushed him. Maybe it would have, if not for the people around him. Kyla, sitting across from him, checking her equipment with practiced efficiency. Stevens, making quiet jokes with Min-Ji to ease her nerves. Even the Council members, Anton and Mei, who'd been enemies a week ago but now shared ration bars and talked about families waiting at home.
"Five minutes to drop zone," the pilot announced.
New York appeared on the horizon, and Josh's breath caught. The city looked wrong. The First One's presence had twisted everything around it—buildings that bent at impossible angles, streets that looped back on themselves, sky that shimmered between dimensions. And at the center, the entity itself, a massive tear in reality that hurt to perceive.
"Remember the plan," Josh said to his team. "We don't try to be heroes. We hit it, disrupt it, and get out. Clear?"
"Clear," they responded in unison.
The transport dropped them three blocks from Times Square. The city was evacuated, streets empty except for abandoned cars and scattered debris. The silence was oppressive, broken only by the low hum of dimensional energy emanating from the First One.
"Teams in position worldwide," Dr. Walsh's voice came through their earpieces. "Waiting on your go, Josh."
Josh looked at his team. Six people who shouldn't trust each other but did anyway. "Any last words before we do this?"
"Yeah," Stevens said. "Why did the First One cross the dimensional barrier?"
Everyone stared at him.
"To get to the other side!" Stevens grinned. "Too good? Too soon?"
Despite everything, Josh laughed. "Terrible. Absolutely terrible."
"That's my brand."
"All teams, this is Reeves," Josh said into his comm. "Execute in three... two... one... NOW!"
They moved as one, racing toward Times Square. Around the world, eleven other teams were doing the same thing. Seventy-two Shard-users attacking twelve impossible entities simultaneously.
The First One noticed them immediately. Its form shifted, appendages that existed in too many dimensions reaching out. Josh felt that mental pressure again, that voice demanding the return of stolen weapons.
"Ignore it!" he shouted. "Min-Ji, Anton, now!"
The earth-user and gravity manipulator combined their powers. The ground beneath the First One buckled and twisted, gravity suddenly pulling in contradictory directions. The entity wavered, its form destabilizing slightly.
"Emma, light bombardment!"
Emma unleashed pulses of light at frequencies that made Josh's eyes water. The First One's form flickered, struggling to maintain coherence across dimensions.
"Mei, kinetic barrage!"
Kinetic energy slammed into the space around the First One, creating pressure waves that disrupted its anchoring. The entity pulled back, its massive form retreating slightly.
"It's working!" Stevens called from his tactical position. "Keep the pressure on!"
Josh added his own attack—walls of ice and fire creating zones of extreme temperature that the First One had to navigate around. They weren't hurting it, but they were definitely annoying it. Forcing it to expend energy maintaining its position instead of completing whatever ritual it was attempting.
Then the First One adapted.
Its form split, becoming multiple smaller entities that attacked from different angles. One appendage caught Anton, and the Russian Shard-user screamed as he was partially erased—his left arm simply ceasing to exist.
"Fall back!" Josh created barriers to protect the team. "Mei, get Anton out of here!"
But Mei was engaged with another appendage, using her kinetic powers to deflect attacks. Min-Ji tried to help Anton but her earth manipulation couldn't affect something that barely existed in their dimension.
The First One was learning. Adapting. Countering their tactics.
"Josh, the other teams are reporting similar problems!" Dr. Walsh's voice was panicked. "The entities are coordinating! They're sharing information in real-time!"
Of course they were. The First Ones were intelligent, ancient, experienced with combat across dimensions. A simple disruption attack wouldn't be enough.
Josh made a decision. He reached deep into himself, past the ice and fire, past the Shard's energy, into that place where he'd touched the Prime. That reservoir of power that terrified him.
"Everyone get clear!" he ordered. "I'm going to channel again!"
"Josh, you can't!" Kyla's voice through the comm. "Your body can't handle it this soon!"
"Don't have a choice!"
He opened himself up, became a conduit. But this time, he only had five Shard-users to draw from instead of fifty-three. The power was significant but not overwhelming. Not enough to destroy the First One, but maybe enough to drive it back.
Josh channeled everything through himself and released it in one massive pulse of dimensional energy. The attack hit the First One square in its center mass, and the entity recoiled, its form compressing, pulling back from Times Square.
For a moment, Josh thought they'd done it. Thought they'd won.
Then the First One spoke, and this time its mental voice carried something new. Not just commands. Understanding.
FRAGMENTS BEARER. YOU TOUCHED THE PRIME. YOU KNOW WHAT WE SEEK.
Josh's blood ran cold.
RETURN THE PRIME. END THIS CONFLICT. WE WILL DEPART.
"It's... negotiating?" Emma said, shocked.
THE PRIME WAS STOLEN FROM US. IT IS THE KEY TO OUR DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL. WITHOUT IT, WE CANNOT RETURN HOME. GIVE IT BACK. WE WILL LEAVE YOUR WORLD.
Josh stood there, exhausted, bleeding from his nose and ears, faced with an impossible choice.
Give the First Ones the most dangerous weapon in existence and they'd leave. Keep it and the war would continue, with Earth caught in the crossfire.
"Josh?" Stevens' voice was quiet. "What do we do?"
Josh looked at his team. At the destruction around them. At the eleven other battles still raging worldwide.
"I need to think," he said. "Teams, fall back. Regroup at extraction points. We need to conference with command."
As they retreated from Times Square, Josh felt the weight of another impossible decision settling on his shoulders.
The First Ones wanted the Prime Shard. Were willing to leave if they got it.
But what would beings that could rewrite reality do with the source of all Shard power?
And could Josh really make that choice for everyone?