The whispering didn't stop. It only grew worse.
Bruno's muscles tensed as he turned toward the darkness, the weight of unseen eyes pressing against his back. Every instinct screamed at him to move, to run—but where? The Abyss offered no safe haven, only shifting horrors waiting in the void.
Silas exhaled sharply. "It's here."
Raine's voice was barely above a whisper. "What is?"
Silas didn't answer immediately. His grip tightened around the jagged blade at his waist, knuckles pale. His eyes flicked toward the surrounding ruins, scanning the shadows like he expected something to crawl out of them.
Bruno frowned. "You sure about that? Because I don't see—"
The whispering stopped.
A single moment of absolute silence.
Then—
A rip.
The air itself tore apart with a soundless wound, a jagged fracture forming in the empty space ahead of them. Darkness swirled unnaturally, shifting inward as if something from beyond was forcing its way through.
Bruno's stomach turned. This wasn't like before.
It wasn't a creature emerging from the shadows. The shadows themselves had opened.
From within that void, something moved.
At first, it had no shape—just an absence, a formless stain against reality. But then, it solidified. A silhouette stretched impossibly thin, its body shifting between something human and something far removed from it. Dozens of eyes flickered open across its skin, watching them from impossible angles.
It didn't breathe. It didn't move in a way that made sense.
And then, it flickered.
Bruno barely had time to react before it was right in front of him.
A pulse of unnatural cold crashed against his body. His vision blurred. His knees buckled. He felt himself being pulled—no, unraveled. Like the space around him was shifting, turning inward, collapsing toward the thing in front of him.
"Move!" Silas's voice snapped through the air.
Bruno threw himself backward just as the creature's outstretched limb passed through where he had been standing. A ripple followed in its wake, the ground beneath it withering, cracking like something ancient, something drained.
Silas moved fast. He lunged, slashing his blade forward—
The steel passed through the creature without resistance.
For a second, it reacted. The eyes across its body blinked out of sync.
Then, the moment was gone.
Bruno saw the shift before it happened. The creature turned—not toward Silas, not toward Raine—toward him.
A sharp, clicking sound echoed from its throat.
"Bruno, get back!" Raine shouted.
But he was already moving. His body reacted before his mind processed why.
The air bent.
The space around the creature twisted violently, an unseen force pulling him toward it. Not like gravity. Not like a simple push or pull. It was worse.
It was like reality itself was warping, reshaping to bring him closer.
Bruno fought against it, planting his feet into the cracked ground, but the pull only grew stronger. His vision blurred. His limbs felt heavy. His breath came in short, ragged bursts.
This wasn't normal. This wasn't something he could fight with muscle alone.
He clenched his fists. If the Abyss was pulling him in, then he had to push back.
Something cold stirred inside him.
It wasn't physical. It wasn't something he could see or hear.
But it was there.
And when he focused on it, the force pulling him forward stopped.
The creature recoiled.
Silas tensed. "What the hell did you just do?"
Bruno didn't answer. His body was shaking—not from fear, but from something else.
The creature's many eyes blinked rapidly, its form shifting as if reacting to something unseen.
Then, it spoke.
"You… are not supposed to be."
Bruno's heart slammed against his ribs.
It knew him.
The air vibrated as the creature shifted forward again.
The entire terrain cracked apart.
Bruno clenched his jaw. No more running. If he had power, he had to use it.
He stepped forward, letting the cold pulse through him.
And then—