**AN ANCIENT NIGHTMARE UNLEASHED ** A seemingly unstoppable force has entered our universe, and we are confronted by our most primal fear. Those who have succumbed to its horror have acquired godlike powers. Yet their actions are far from divine as they advance from planet to planet, leaving slaughter and mayhem in their wake. The Confederation Navy is dangerously overstretched, as whole worlds fracture and collapse - and a dark messiah prepares to invoke his own version of the final night. In such desperate times, a powerful new weapon could cause yet more terror, but Dr Alkad Mzu is determined to retrieve the Alchemist - and