The Integration Council tactical room felt smaller with everyone packed inside. Supernatural alliance leaders, government representatives, Academy directors from seventeen countries, Ancient Council observers—all watching displays showing dimensional barrier degradation accelerating toward catastrophic threshold.
Precision meant tracking numbers. Seventy-two hours until permanent portal completion. Twelve gateways synchronized and strengthening. Dimensional stability dropping three percent hourly. Math that led to one conclusion: we were running out of time to stop invasion from becoming permanent infestation.
I stood beside the main tactical display studying Elena's research files, trying to find hope in her calculations. She'd been thorough—fifteen years of preparation documented in meticulous detail. But her notes kept circling back to the same conclusion.
