Sarah's POV
The world spun as I lay there, my chest heaving, breath coming in ragged gasps. The creature's claws had scraped the stone just inches from me, but somehow, it hadn't touched me. Something had intervened-an invisible force, a shift in the rift that had saved me, if only for a moment.
I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, as the rift seemed to pulse around me, pressing in, threatening to crush me beneath its weight. The beast's glowing eyes locked onto mine, and I knew that if it reached me, there would be no escape.
But then, just as I thought the end was inevitable, a strange shift occurred.
A crackling, sharp sound tore through the air-something like a thunderclap-but not from the sky. The rift trembled, its walls bending, warping as if they were being torn apart by unseen forces. The creature screeched, its grotesque form twitching as though in pain. For a brief, fleeting moment, I felt a surge of power, a force that had no origin but was undeniable.
The creature recoiled, stepping back. It growled low, the sound vibrating through the very ground beneath me, but it didn't attack. Instead, it hissed and backed into the shadows from which it had come. The rift flickered again, its ominous pulse slowing, as if whatever had disturbed it had caused the equilibrium to shift.
I gasped, pushing myself up onto shaky legs. My heart thundered in my chest, my mind spinning in a frenzy of confusion. What had just happened? What had saved me?
The stone in my hand pulsed brightly again, the soft glow growing more intense. I stared down at it, and the faintest hint of a whisper brushed my ears-an urgent plea. It was a voice, but not Axel's. This one was softer, more distant, and yet it held an unmistakable weight.
Go deeper.
The words echoed in my mind, not just spoken but felt. A command, a plea, a beacon of something that wanted to be heard.
I glanced around, the rift stretching out before me like an endless expanse of twisted dark matter. The air was thick, suffocating. I could still hear the distant growls of the creature, its presence lurking just beyond the veil of shadows.
But the voice-the voice had spoken, and it had guided me.
I had to follow it.
Gripping the stone tightly in my hand, I took a hesitant step forward, my footfall echoing through the void. Each step felt heavier, as if the rift itself was trying to drag me back. The air grew colder with each movement, and my mind raced with a torrent of thoughts-memories of Axel, his warmth, his laughter, the way his eyes would soften when he looked at me. But those memories only made the distance between us feel more unbearable. I had to keep going. For him.
The ground beneath me pulsed, the rift's walls bending in impossible angles, as though alive, and yet there was nothing I could hold onto. The darkness seemed to consume everything, the oppressive weight of the air threatening to suffocate me.
And then, ahead, I saw it-a flicker of movement, just at the edge of my vision. A figure. My pulse quickened. Was it him? Had Axel somehow returned?
I froze.
No.
The figure wasn't Axel. It was something far worse.
A monstrous silhouette, its body twisted and elongated, its outline barely visible against the surrounding blackness. But it was its eyes that caught my attention-glowing red, eerily familiar, and far too intense to ignore. It moved with unsettling grace, like it was no longer bound by any physical law. The air around it seemed to shimmer as though it had crossed into this place from another realm entirely.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. The creature's eyes locked onto mine, and I felt the space between us shrink. It wasn't just watching me-it was waiting.
And then it spoke.
"You shouldn't have come here, Sarah."
My breath caught in my throat, and my pulse spiked. That voice-it was familiar, but it was wrong. So wrong. It sounded like Axel, but distorted, twisted, warped by whatever dark forces now controlled him. My chest tightened, panic crawling up my throat. "Who are you?" I demanded, my voice shaking despite my best effort to stay steady. "What do you want?"
The creature let out a hollow laugh, one that sent a chill deep into my bones. The sound echoed around me, reverberating off the shifting walls of the rift. "I am what was left behind," it murmured, its form flickering like an unstable shadow. "The curse... it didn't break completely. It split. And I am the part of him that remained."
I felt my heart drop into my stomach. The realization hit me like a blow-this was not Axel. Not anymore. It was something born of the rift, a fractured piece of his soul, twisted into something dark and malevolent. Something I had to destroy, if I could.
"No..." I whispered, shaking my head. "No, this can't be real."
"Oh, but it is," it replied, its voice a rasping echo of what Axel once was. "Axel is gone, Sarah. He's no longer the man you remember. He is part of me now. And you will never leave this place."
The rift trembled again, more violently this time, as if reacting to the creature's words. I couldn't let it consume me, couldn't let it erase the memories of Axel that I clung to.
Before I could make sense of anything, the creature lunged. Its speed was inhuman, a blur of motion and terror. My instincts kicked in. I leapt sideways, tumbling into the darkness to my right. The beast's claws grazed the air where I'd been standing, and I could feel the cold sting of its presence, like ice on my skin.
I didn't have time to think. I had to keep moving.
Adrenaline surged through my veins as I sprinted further into the rift, the creature hot on my heels. Each step felt heavier, as though the very air around me was thickening, slowing me down. The shadows twisted around me, reaching, clawing at me. But I couldn't afford to stop. I wouldn't. Not until I found Axel.
Ahead, I saw it-a faint flicker of light, weak but unmistakable. A doorway. A way out.
My breath was ragged as I ran toward it, my legs burning with exhaustion. The light grew brighter, but it seemed so far, like a dream just beyond reach. I forced myself forward, my limbs screaming for mercy.
But the creature was close-too close. Its breath was icy, and I could feel the weight of its gaze on my back. I could hear it growing louder, closer, the pulse of its hunger reverberating in my skull.
I dove forward, throwing myself into the light.
---
I crashed through a wall of shadows, tumbling into a new, unfamiliar space. For a moment, I was weightless, like the ground had simply vanished beneath me. Then, with a hard thud, I hit the ground, pain flaring through my body.
I scrambled to my feet, breathless and disoriented. The air around me was different-stale and still, heavy with an unsettling silence. It was as though the rift had given way to something else entirely, but I couldn't make sense of it.
I looked around, heart still pounding, scanning for any sign of danger. The silence was overwhelming, oppressive in its stillness. No growls, no creatures, no ominous hum of the rift's energy. It was almost too quiet.
Ahead of me was a doorway-faint, almost ghostly, but it beckoned. It was a threshold, an opening in the fabric of this strange, new place. I had to move. I had to find Axel-no matter what this place had become.
One last step.
As I neared the doorway, a chill crawled up my spine. The hairs on my neck stood on end. Something was watching me.
I turned, every muscle in my body tensed, my heart in my throat. The presence was unmistakable.
And then I saw him.
Axel's face-his familiar eyes, his expression. But it wasn't him.
It was a reflection of what he once was. His features twisted and broken by the rift, his eyes glowing with an unnatural red. He wasn't smiling. His face was cold, devoid of the warmth I had once known. And the worst part-he wasn't human anymore.