When the lie is more convincing than the truth, how can I tell what’s real? Three lives bound together in a struggle that will decide the fate of the world: Dylan, searching desperately for his shredded mother—Grace, risking everything to reunite with her son—Madeleine, scheming to force all of humanity into a permanent virtual existence. As the fiery demagogue Dax rises to power on a promise to eradicate the secretive Shade, the conflict escalates, Madeleine and Dax on one side, Dylan and Grace on the other. In the middle: a tiny community outside the Worldstream, faced with a life-or-death decision—ignore the threat and slowly perish, or make a stand for the last vestige of Real Life. This is part 1 of a three-part story.