Chapter 1

The final note tore through Catherine Mays's throat, perfectly on pitch.

Tens of thousands of glow sticks thrashed in the dark arena. The roar of the crowd was a physical weight, pressing against her chest, vibrating through the soles of her boots. She stood in the center of the blinding white spotlight, her chest heaving, sweat dripping down her spine. This was the peak. The absolute summit of her career.

Then, a deafening crack split the air.

It wasn't the sound system. It was the sharp, violent shriek of snapping metal directly beneath her boots.

The stage violently lurched. Catherine lost her balance. Her arms flailed, her fingers grasping at the empty, smoke-filled air.

The floor vanished.

She tipped backward, plunging into the mechanical black hole beneath the hydraulic lift. The sudden weightlessness snatched the breath from her lungs. The screams of the fans faded into a distorted, echoing blur. The wind whipped her hair across her face as she fell into total darkness.

Her stomach shoved into her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the bone-shattering impact of the concrete floor.

Instead, a mechanical, emotionless voice detonated inside her skull.

Host bound. The Oracle system activated.

Catherine gasped, her eyes snapping open. There was nothing but rushing black wind.

Host identified as Highly Compatible Host. Enhanced Life-Affinity and somatic resilience granted.

"Stop!" Catherine screamed, clapping her trembling hands over her ears. The wind tore the sound from her mouth. She was hallucinating. The fall had already broken her brain.

The sensation of falling stopped with a brutal, sickening thud.

Catherine slammed into the ground. The impact knocked the air from her lungs in a violent rush. Her teeth clamped down on her tongue, filling her mouth with the sharp, metallic taste of copper. Her internal organs felt like they had been shoved into her ribs.

She lay there, paralyzed, her chest spasming as she fought to drag oxygen back into her body.

The smell hit her first. It wasn't the sterile scent of arena smoke and hot metal. It was the thick, suffocating stench of rotting leaves, wet earth, and raw blood.

Catherine forced her eyes open.

There was no concrete. No broken stage equipment.

Massive, twisted tree roots the size of buses caged her in. Above her, slicing through the canopy of leaves, hung a moon. It was impossibly huge. And it was glowing a toxic, bruised purple.

Her mind fractured. The panic was a physical coldness spreading from her chest to her fingertips.

Eternal Space unlocked, the mechanical voice of The Oracle echoed in her head again. Newcomer gift package delivered. System entering standby mode.

"Wait," Catherine choked out, her voice a raw whisper. "Oracle? Help me. Where am I?"

Dead silence.

She tried to scream it in her mind. Oracle! Help!

Nothing. The cold silence of the forest pressed down on her. Her hands shook violently as she pushed herself up onto her elbows. A sharp, tearing pain shot through her right ankle. She bit back a whimper.

The ground beneath her suddenly vibrated.

It wasn't a subtle tremor. The earth violently shook, rattling her teeth. A deafening crash echoed from the tree line. Entire trunks snapped like dry twigs, kicking up a massive cloud of dirt and debris.

Catherine's survival instinct hijacked her frozen body. Ignoring the agonizing pain in her ankle, she dragged herself backward, her fingernails digging into the damp soil. She scrambled behind the thick, wooden wall of a giant tree root, pressing her back flat against the rough bark.

A monster erupted from the tree line.

It was a rat, but it was the size of a commercial dump truck. Thick, matted gray fur covered its body, and two jagged horns protruded from its skull. It smashed through a boulder ten feet away from Catherine.

Shards of rock exploded into the air. One sharp fragment sliced across Catherine's cheek.

She didn't make a sound. She slapped both hands over her mouth, pressing so hard her lips bruised against her teeth. Her heart hammered against her ribs, so fast and hard she thought it might break her sternum.

Before the rat could take another step, a wall of fire illuminated the forest.

A reptilian beast, built like a dinosaur and wreathed in actual, roaring flames, launched itself from the shadows. Its massive jaws clamped down on the back of the giant rat's neck.

The sickening crunch of bone snapping echoed in the clearing.

Hot, thick blood sprayed across the forest floor. A heavy splash of it hit the tree trunk right next to Catherine's face. The metallic, foul stench invaded her nostrils. Her stomach violently convulsed. She squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing down the bile rising in her throat.

The dinosaur tore a chunk of meat from the rat. It snorted, sending a blast of white-hot steam into the air.

Then, the beast stopped chewing.

Its massive, slitted pupil slowly rotated. It locked directly onto the gap in the roots where Catherine was hiding.

Catherine stopped breathing. The blood in her veins turned to ice. The dinosaur dropped the meat. It let out a low, rumbling growl and took a heavy step toward her.

She pressed herself harder against the wood, her mind screaming at her legs to run, but her twisted ankle and sheer terror kept her pinned to the dirt.

Suddenly, her back bumped into something.

It wasn't the rough bark of the tree. It was cold. It was hard. And it was covered in smooth, overlapping scales.

Catherine's neck clicked as she slowly, rigidly turned her head.

Under the purple moonlight, a black snake thicker than a redwood trunk towered over her.

Its scales absorbed the light, making it look like a void in the forest. A massive head slowly lowered. Two golden, slitted eyes stared down at her. A forked, crimson tongue flicked out, tasting the air inches from her face.

The dinosaur roared, furious at the intrusion. It abandoned the rat and charged at the black snake, its jaws snapping open to unleash a torrent of fire.

The snake didn't even look at the dinosaur.

Its massive tail whipped out with the speed of a bullet. The impact sounded like a bomb detonating. The tail slammed into the side of the flaming dinosaur, lifting the multi-ton beast completely off the ground.

The dinosaur flew through the air, smashing through three giant trees before crashing into the earth. The flames extinguished instantly. The beast lay in a broken, unmoving heap.

Catherine's brain short-circuited. The sheer, impossible violence of it drained the last drop of strength from her muscles.

The black snake shifted. The sound of its heavy scales grinding against the dirt was deafening. It slithered closer, boxing her into the corner of the roots.

Catherine tried to push herself up, tried to crawl away, but her ankle gave out. She collapsed face-first into the bloody mud.

The snake's head hovered right above her. A cold, hissing breath washed over the back of her neck.

She felt it before she saw it.

The thick, heavy coil of the snake's tail slid over her injured ankle. It moved with terrifying silence, gliding up her calves, wrapping around her thighs, and finally circling her waist.

The muscle contracted.

The crushing pressure squeezed the remaining air from her lungs. The darkness closed in, thick and absolute, pulling her under.