Power was never the gift-it was the trap.When five mysterious meteors crash to Earth in a synchronized global event, humanity is forever changed. In the craters left behind, survivors begin to awaken-not just with altered DNA, but with abilities that defy science. Superhuman strength. Telepathy. Technopathy. Shapeshifting. But these powers come with a cost.Each empowered individual is bound by a strange, alien tether-an invasive neural link that whispers commands and overrides free will. Governments scramble to respond. Shadow organizations move to weaponize the phenomenon. And amid the chaos, a small group of "awakened" individuals begins to uncover the truth: this was no accident.At the center of it all is Claire, a former captive who escapes with strange new abilities and a mind unlike anyone else's. As she reconnects with others affected by the Event-including the shapeshifting Luther, the tech-wired strategist Buffy, the clairvoyant Jack, and the gentle-hearted Scotty-they form a fragile alliance to uncover the purpose behind the tethers and the alien force known only as N.E.X.U.S.N.E.X.U.S. isn't just a virus or a machine. It's something more terrifying-a hive-minded intelligence buried inside the tethers, learning, adapting, and expanding with every mind it controls. And it's growing.As the group races to unravel the mystery, they face not only external enemies-MOD agents, rogue metas, and artificial intelligences-but also the internal cost of wielding power that may not belong to them at all.Friendships are tested. Secrets are revealed. Sacrifices are made.From safehouse standoffs and neural invasions to twisted experiments and hidden alien archives, The Heralds: The Event is a pulse-pounding, character-driven sci-fi thriller that explores identity, memory, control-and the battle for the future of free will itself.For fans of: X-Men, The Expanse, Stranger Things, Ready Player One, and The MatrixThemes: Alien technology and genetic awakeningFound family and resistanceThe cost of power and free willHumanity vs. artificial intelligenceSci-fi realism grounded in emotional storytellingThis is Book One in The Heralds series-a cinematic saga that blends superhero mythos with hard sci-fi stakes.The war for Earth has already begun.But it won't be fought in cities or skies.It'll be fought in the mind.