The ground beneath them was still, yet something in the air had shifted.
Bruno didn't know what it was at first—a strange, unspoken tension pressing against his spine—but he knew it wasn't normal. Not here. Not in the Abyss.
Raine stood beside him, arms crossed tightly. Her expression was carefully neutral, but Bruno saw the way her fingers tensed against her sleeves.
Varen, their new "ally," walked a few steps ahead. His presence was oddly casual, as if he belonged in this place more than they did. The tailored black suit, the way he carried his twin swords—one in his grip, the other sheathed on his back—it all screamed experience.
But experience meant nothing in the Abyss.
The silence stretched between them.
"So," Raine finally muttered. "What now?"
Varen glanced back, his sharp features unreadable. "We move."
"Where?" Bruno asked.
Varen gestured toward the distance, where the sky itself seemed to ripple unnaturally. "To the Rift."
Bruno frowned. He had heard that word before—from Silas, from the whispers of this wretched place. "And that is…?"
"The closest thing to an exit." Varen sighed, adjusting his grip on his sword. "But also a death sentence if you go unprepared."
Raine let out a hollow laugh. "Well, that sounds promising."
Bruno glanced between them, then at Silas, who stood off to the side, arms folded. "And we're just trusting this guy now?"
Silas exhaled through his nose, then looked at Varen. "He's right, though. The Rift is the only thing that connects this world to… something else."
"Something worse," Varen corrected.
Raine scowled. "And you want us to just walk into it?"
Varen stopped walking. Slowly, he turned to face them fully. "Tell me," he said. "Do you have a better idea?"
The words hung in the air, heavier than they should have been.
Bruno clenched his fists. He hated it—hated that Varen was right. Every step they took in this forsaken world only led to more dead ends, more creatures hunting them, more questions with no answers. If there was even the slightest chance the Rift held something—anything—that could help them escape this nightmare…
He had to take it.
Bruno exhaled. "What's inside?"
Varen's lips curled into something that wasn't quite a smile. "It changes."
Raine's eyes narrowed. "Meaning?"
"The Rift isn't a place," Varen explained. "It's a convergence point between different dimensions. Sometimes it leads to ruins, sometimes to living worlds, sometimes to… things you shouldn't ever see." His voice dipped lower. "But every Rift follows a law. Only four people can enter at once."
Bruno's stomach twisted. "Why?"
Varen shook his head. "No one knows. But the moment a fourth person steps in, the entrance closes. Permanently."
Bruno and Raine exchanged glances.
Silas was unreadable as usual.
"So we either go in now," Raine muttered, "or never."
Varen tilted his head slightly. "You don't have to go in at all."
The words were a challenge. A test.
Bruno met his gaze. "If there's a chance of finding answers, I'm not backing down."
Varen's expression didn't change. He only nodded. "Good."
Then, the sky changed.
Without warning, the endless blackness above them shifted. The thick, churning mass of swirling shadows rippled outward—like a stone thrown into still water. And then, light.
A sunless dawn erupted across the horizon, bathing the ruins in a pale, colorless glow. It wasn't morning. It wasn't natural. It was like the Abyss had decided, arbitrarily, that the night was over.
Raine inhaled sharply. "What the hell—"
"Don't panic," Silas said, voice calm but firm.
Raine turned to him, disbelief in her eyes. "Are you kidding me? The sky just—"
"It does that," Silas interrupted. "The Abyss doesn't follow time. It moves the way it wants."
Bruno felt a chill creep up his spine. "Then what does that mean?"
Varen sheathed his blade. "It means we should move."
They continued walking, the strange, unnatural dawn stretching before them.
Then, they saw it.
A door.
No walls, no archways. Just a large, weathered gate, standing alone in the middle of the open field, untouched by the ruins around it. It wasn't massive, but it still loomed over them—tall enough to be imposing, yet just small enough to seem eerily deliberate. Its surface was etched with the same markings Bruno had seen on the relic, on the walls of the Abyss. Symbols of something old, forgotten.
Bruno swallowed. "That's the Rift?"
Varen nodded. "Yes."
Silas took a slow step forward, eyes narrowing as he studied the structure. His lips pressed into a thin line.
"This… isn't the same one as before," he muttered.
Raine turned to him. "Wait. What?"
"There was another," Silas said. "Similar, but bigger. More… stable." His gaze flicked toward Varen. "I don't like this."
Varen didn't react. "Doesn't matter. This is what we have."
They approached cautiously, the weight of the Abyss pressing against them.
Then—
A voice.
But not from behind them.
From the side.
A figure sat slumped against a stone outcropping, skeletal and unmoving. But its skull was tilted upward, hollow sockets locked onto the Rift like it was waiting for something. In its bony hands, a scroll.
Raine stepped back. "Nope."
Varen didn't hesitate. He knelt before the figure and plucked the scroll from its grip.
The skeleton didn't react.
Varen unrolled the parchment. His expression darkened.
"What does it say?" Bruno asked.
Varen's lips parted, reading aloud:
"You who stand before the Rift, know this—only four may enter before the gate seals. Once you cross, you are bound. The world beyond is not yours to shape. It will shape you. You may seek strength, you may seek escape, but you will find only what the Abyss allows. Choose wisely, for once you step forward, you will not return as you are."
A silence followed.
Then, Raine muttered, "Well. That's not ominous at all."
Varen exhaled sharply—the scroll started to burn, he tossed the scroll aside. It landed with a dull rustle against the cold stone, forgotten.
Bruno stared at the Rift.
He had already made his choice.
Varen looked up from the scroll. His gaze met Bruno's. "You ready?"
Bruno exhaled.
Then, he stepped forward.
The Rift swallowed him whole.