The Depths of a Liquidator

Jackson Cross thought he lived on Earth. He was wrong. Brightfall was peaceful. Predictable. Safe. A farming town beneath open skies and drifting clouds. A place where the worst problem in Jackson’s life was finding the courage to confess his feelings to a girl he’d loved for years. Then the ground split open. Sirens rose from nowhere. Steel structures erupted from the soil. And something ancient began screaming beneath the surface. What Jackson doesn’t know is that his world is not a planet. It is a dome. A simulation built atop drifting stone. And he is not just a resident. He is an inhabitant of something far older and far more dangerous than humanity was ever meant to understand. Across the galaxy, a covert unit known only as the Liquidators exists for one purpose: Contain the Chthryx. Eliminate the infestation. Protect the illusion. But when the system begins to fail, and the depths can no longer be sealed, Jackson will be forced to choose between the life he thought was real… and the truth waiting beneath it. Some worlds are built to protect humanity. Others are built to contain it.