Alex's heart thundered in his chest as he stepped forward, reaching out toward Amira. The world around him seemed to spin, the air thick with an unshakable tension. Her face, once warm and full of life, now seemed like a hollow mask, her eyes vacant as she stared at him. It was Amira, but… it wasn't.
"Amira, what happened?" Alex whispered, his voice shaking with desperation. "This place—it's not real. You don't belong here. We can fix this. We can get you back."
She didn't move. Her lips twisted into that same chilling, vacant smile, and she took a step back. "You cannot save me, Alex. You cannot save anything."
A cold wave of dread washed over him as her words sank in. "No… no, this isn't you. You're wrong. I'm getting you out of here."
But as he reached out again, the ground beneath his feet trembled. The mist thickened, swirling around them like a vortex. The world seemed to blur, the reality of the moment slipping like sand through his fingers.
"Amira… please." His voice cracked, the weight of her absence pulling at him from every angle. "Don't do this."
But she simply shook her head. "You should not have come. The rift has already claimed me. And now, it claims you, too."
Her words were like a chill running through his veins. Alex recoiled, stepping back, but it was too late. The earth beneath his feet shattered with a deafening crack, and everything—everything—fell away.
The next moment, Alex was in freefall again, his body suspended in nothingness. He could feel the rift pulling at him, twisting his senses, distorting his perception. His lungs burned as he gasped for air, but it was impossible to know which direction he was falling, or if he was even still falling at all.
The faint sounds of Amira's voice echoed in the distance, a faint whisper that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. "You should have stayed in your world, Alex. There is no escaping what's coming."
Then, just as suddenly, the freefall stopped. He slammed into the ground, hard, his body aching from the impact. His breath was knocked out of him, and for a moment, everything was a blur. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision.
When the world finally stopped spinning, Alex found himself in a completely different place—no mist, no barren plains, no sickly green sky. He was standing in a city.
But this city was unlike any city he'd ever seen. The buildings stretched into the sky, impossibly high, their sharp angles cutting through the dense, polluted air. The streets were empty, the silence oppressive, broken only by the hum of strange, flickering lights in the distance. The city seemed abandoned, yet alive with something dark—something wrong.
Alex staggered to his feet, his legs unsteady, his mind racing. He tried to call out, but the words got stuck in his throat. His hands trembled as he scanned the city, feeling an unfamiliar weight in the air. This place was wrong, distorted. There was no sense of time here, no warmth.
"Amira?" he called again, but his voice was swallowed by the unnerving silence.
He started to walk, aimless at first, his feet carrying him through the desolate streets. He passed towering structures that looked like they were built for giants—buildings that seemed to hum with an unnatural energy. The farther he walked, the more the air seemed to thicken, as if the city was holding its breath.
Then, he saw something—someone, standing at the end of a narrow alleyway. A figure cloaked in shadows, watching him.
Alex hesitated. His instincts screamed at him to turn and run, but something—a flicker of hope, a lingering thread of fear—drove him forward. Slowly, he approached the figure, his heart hammering in his chest.
As he drew closer, the figure stepped forward, revealing a face that sent a jolt of recognition through Alex's spine.
It wasn't Amira.
But it was someone he knew.
"Luis?" Alex whispered, his voice catching in his throat.
Luis stood before him, his expression blank, his eyes dark and hollow like Amira's had been. He was dressed in a cloak that matched the atmosphere of the city—foreboding, heavy with the same dark energy that seemed to pulse from the buildings.
"You're…" Alex trailed off, unsure what to say. He reached out a hand, as if to touch Luis, but Luis stepped back, his face hardening.
"You shouldn't have followed me," Luis said, his voice low and emotionless. "None of this is real. None of it matters."
Alex's stomach twisted. This was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
"Where's Amira?" Alex demanded, his voice shaking. "She was here. She—"
Luis's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, Alex thought he saw a flicker of something—something like regret, or pain. But it was gone as quickly as it had come.
"Amira is lost," Luis said, his voice flat. "And so are you."
Alex took a step back, confusion flooding his thoughts. "What do you mean, lost? What the hell is going on?"
Luis tilted his head, his gaze turning colder. "You opened the rift. You disturbed the balance. Now, you and I are trapped here. And Amira… she was never meant to be part of this world."
"No!" Alex shouted, his breath coming in sharp gasps. "We can fix this! We can find a way back. We can save her!"
Luis shook his head slowly, his expression dark. "There is no going back. Not anymore."
Alex recoiled, every part of him screaming for the truth—the real truth. "You're lying! You have to be! Luis, what happened to you? What happened to Amira?"
Luis stepped forward, his eyes locking onto Alex's with an unsettling intensity. "The price was paid long before you arrived. You should have stayed away."
The ground beneath Alex's feet trembled again, and the world around them began to shift, the city melting and warping as if it were made of smoke. He could hear the rift's hum growing louder, its energy building, pulling him back toward it.
"No," Alex whispered, his heart pounding. "I'm not going back without her. Not like this."
Luis's face remained unreadable, and in that moment, Alex realized just how far he had gone from the world he knew—the world he had fought to save. The air crackled with an overwhelming energy, and Alex felt his body being pulled once more, his limbs stiffening as the rift's presence wrapped around him.
Then, just before he was sucked into the blackness, Luis spoke one final time.
"She was never the one you needed to save, Alex. You were always the one meant to fall."
And with that, the world fractured completely.
If you've come this far, your time is much appreciated and believe me it all gets better. Wanna see how it turns out? Look out for 'Fractured Horizons - Book 2'