The first time it rained in both Eclipse and the real world at the same time, everyone noticed.
It wasn't about the weather. It was the sound. The exact same rhythm, the same gentle tap against windows, the same weight to the drops. In NovaCity, rain pattered on chrome rooftops. And in the forgotten ruins of Zone-9 inside the game, it made the same soft splash. No lag. No difference.
The system's sync percentage had been ticking up for weeks. That day, it hit 99.99%.
Then the number vanished.
It didn't say 100%. It just… disappeared.
That's when the quiet fear started.
---
Kieran stood in the Aegis Dome, watching the main holo-map. Six zones pulsed a steady red. New reports weren't about Rifts or dungeon bugs anymore. They were about merge events.
