A crushing weight pressed against Adrian's chest the moment he stepped through the gate. It was as if the air had thickened, wrapping around him like unseen chains. His lungs burned, his limbs felt sluggish, and for a fleeting moment, panic gripped him.
Then, the pressure vanished.
Adrian stumbled forward, boots scuffing against smooth stone. His breath came in sharp gasps, but his senses sharpened instantly, forcing him to take in his surroundings.
Zayn landed beside him, knees bent, fingers digging into the cold ground. She let out a sharp breath, her eyes darting around warily. "Tell me… that wasn't just me."
Adrian shook his head. "No. It felt like—" He stopped, unable to describe it.
Like something had pulled them through rather than them stepping forward of their own will.
The thought made his skin crawl.
Then, he truly saw where they had ended up.
Before them lay a city, or what was left of one. The ruins stretched into the distance, remnants of a civilization long since fallen. Towering structures stood like skeletal remains, their surfaces cracked and worn, yet some still shimmered faintly in the dim, unnatural light that bathed the landscape.
The sky above was not a sky at all.
It had no stars, no moon, just a swirling abyss of deep violet, faintly illuminated by a glow that seemed to radiate from nowhere. The air was unnervingly still, thick with dust and an ancient, metallic scent.
Zayn exhaled sharply. "This place…" she muttered. "It feels—wrong."
Adrian didn't argue. The silence wasn't natural. It was the kind that listened.
Every sound they made seemed to echo too far, lingering longer than it should.
Then, the whisper returned.
Not in his mind.
From somewhere in the city.
"Step forward, Chosen."
The voice wasn't a whisper this time. It resonated, rolling through the ruins like a ripple across still water.
A sudden, deep hum vibrated beneath their feet. Adrian tensed as ancient symbols carved into the ground flickered to life, glowing with an eerie blue light. The patterns stretched outward in an intricate design, spreading beneath the ruins like veins pulsing with energy.
Zayn took a step back. "I don't like this, Adrian."
He didn't either.
Then, the city stirred.
Far ahead, amidst the ruins, something shifted. A low, guttural groan—not of a creature, but of stone grinding against stone.
Then, movement.
At first, it was barely noticeable, just a distortion in the air, a flicker between the shadows. Then, they saw them.
Figures.
Not human. Not beast.
They rose from the broken streets, emerging from the ruins like ghosts. Their bodies were warped, humanoid in shape but wrong, their limbs too elongated, their faces featureless save for hollow recesses where eyes should be. Their movements were jerky, unnatural, as if their bodies didn't fully obey the laws of reality.
Zayn swore under his breath. "What the hell are those?"
Adrian had no answer.
But the figures weren't just rising.
They were watching.
A chill ran down his spine as dozens—no, hundreds—of hollow eyes fixated on them.
Then, in unison, they moved.
Not walked. Not ran.
They blinked closer.
One moment, they were at a distance. The next, they had closed half of it.
Adrian's muscles coiled. Every instinct screamed at him to run.
Then, from deep within the city, another sound rumbled through the ruins.
A chime. Low and ominous.
And with it, the figures lunged.
---
Desperate Flight
Adrian barely had time to react before Zayn grabbed his arm and yanked him backward. They stumbled, feet scraping against the stone as the creatures surged toward them.
Adrian turned just in time to see one of the figures blink into existence inches from his face.
Too close.
A void-like hand lashed out—Adrian ducked, barely avoiding the swipe that cut through the air where his head had been.
"Move!" Zayn shouted.
He didn't need to be told twice.
They sprinted.
The ruins stretched before them, a maze of broken streets and towering structures. Each turn felt like diving into the unknown, but stopping wasn't an option.
Adrian risked a glance back—his blood ran cold.
The figures weren't running after them.
They were flickering.
They moved like shadows cast by an unseen fire, their bodies vanishing and reappearing in unnatural, erratic patterns.
One of them materialized ahead of them.
Zayn reacted first—she dropped low, sliding beneath a collapsed pillar and grabbing a chunk of debris as he passed. With a grunt, he hurled the stone at the creature's head.
The impact shattered its form.
For a second.
Then, the fragmented body reformed, shifting like liquid before snapping back into place.
They couldn't fight these things.
Only run.
Adrian spotted a narrow archway between two broken structures. "There!"
They dove through, feet pounding against stone as they entered a tunnel-like corridor. The glow from the city dimmed, leaving only shadows.
Silence.
Adrian's breathing was ragged. His heart pounded against his ribs.
Zayn pressed a hand against the wall, chest rising and falling rapidly. "What… the hell… were those?"
Adrian shook his head. "No idea."
But he knew one thing.
This city wasn't abandoned.
It was waiting.
---
The Watcher
A faint hum resonated through the tunnel, distant but deliberate.
Then, footsteps.
Not theirs.
Adrian turned, pulse spiking.
At the far end of the corridor, where the ruins met the open city, a figure stood.
Not like the creatures from before.
This one had form.
It wore robes of deep indigo, tattered yet regal, flowing unnaturally as if untouched by gravity. The hood concealed its face, but from within the shadow, two pinpricks of golden light stared at them.
Adrian took a step back. "Who—"
"You are not the first to come."
The voice was neither male nor female. It wasn't human.
It echoed through the tunnel, each word layered as if spoken by multiple voices at once.
Zayn's hand inched toward the knife at her belt. "And who the hell are you?"
The figure took a step forward.
Adrian's instincts screamed at him to run, but his body wouldn't move.
The golden eyes dimmed—then the figure raised a hand.
The tunnel vanished.
The ruins around them warped, twisting into a blur of motion.
Adrian barely had time to process what was happening before the sensation of falling gripped him.
Then—impact.
His back slammed against solid ground, knocking the breath from his lungs.
Zayn crashed down beside him with a grunt.
They were somewhere else.
The city was gone.
Instead, they lay on a stone platform, suspended over a void of endless darkness.
And before them, towering over everything, was a monolith.
An altar.
And at its base…
A corpse sat, motionless.
Until it moved.
The city had never been abandoned.
It had been watching.
And now—it had found them