The stone bridge swayed beneath their feet, nothing but endless void beneath. Orin kept his eyes fixed on the platform ahead, refusing to look down into the swirling abyss. The woman beside him had stopped screaming, her terror giving way to the focused silence of survival.
The creature pursuing them made that sound again—that terrible noise that wasn't quite sound—closer now.
"It's gaining," the woman gasped, her breath coming in ragged bursts.
Orin risked a glance back. The thing moved in stuttering lurches, like a corrupted video file, distance meaning nothing to its unnatural form. Those smooth, featureless head tilted as if curious about its prey.
"Almost there," Orin said, though he had no idea if 'there' would be any safer.
They reached the far platform—larger than the first, with the ruins of what might once have been a structure of some kind. Broken walls formed makeshift barriers, pillars lay toppled like fallen trees. Most importantly, there were places to hide.
"This way," Orin pulled the woman behind a half-crumbled wall, dropping into a crouch. His ribs screamed in protest, injuries from his earlier beating now a distant concern compared to the nightmare stalking them.
The woman collapsed beside him, her breathing shallow, eyes wide with shock. "What is this place? What's happening?"
"Keep your voice down," Orin whispered, peering over the wall.
The creature had reached their platform. It stood unnaturally still, its body occasionally rippling as if disturbed by some invisible current. Its head rotated a full 180 degrees, scanning.
Hunting.
Orin ducked back down. The woman beside him was trembling, arms wrapped around herself as if trying to hold something inside that might break free.
"My name's Orin," he said quietly, hoping to ground her. Keep her from falling apart. "Orin Kael."
She swallowed hard. "Marisa Chen. I was... I was just at work. There was an earthquake, and then..." Her voice cracked. "This isn't real. It can't be."
"Seems pretty real to me," Orin muttered, checking again. The creature had moved toward the far side of the platform, still searching. "Listen, we need to—"
A small stone dislodged from the wall, clattering across the ground.
The creature's head snapped toward the sound.
Orin froze. Beside him, Marisa's breathing stopped.
The thing flickered—and suddenly stood just ten feet away, its body vibrating with an energy that felt wrong on every level. It made a new sound now, a low, rhythmic clicking that filled the air with dread.
"Don't move," Orin breathed. As if stillness would save them.
The creature took a step forward. Then another. Its body moving in ways that defied anatomy, joints bending backwards, limbs stretching. The clicking grew faster.
A rock lay near Orin's hand. He slowly curled his fingers around it.
"When I throw this," he whispered to Marisa, "run for those columns on the left. Hide behind them."
He didn't wait for her answer. With a sharp movement, Orin hurled the rock far to the right. It clattered loudly across the stone.
The creature's head whipped toward the sound. It flickered, vanishing from their sight.
"Now!" Orin hissed, pulling Marisa to her feet. They sprinted for the columns, the sound of their footsteps thunder in the silence.
They reached the columns, pressing their backs against cold stone. Orin's heart hammered against his broken ribs. The pain was clarifying, keeping the edges of his vision sharp when they threatened to blur with fear.
Seconds stretched into minutes. No sign of the creature.
"I think we—" Marisa began.
The air in front of them rippled. The creature materialized, its featureless face inches from their own.
Marisa's scream died in her throat. Orin reacted on instinct, shoving her aside and diving in the opposite direction.
Not fast enough.
A limb—too long, too flexible—lashed out, catching Orin across the chest. The impact sent him flying backward, crashing into a pillar with bone-jarring force. Something cracked inside him, a fresh wave of pain exploding through his torso.
Dazed, he watched as the creature turned its attention to Marisa, who scrambled backward on all fours, terror rendering her movements clumsy.
Orin tried to stand. Failed. His vision swam.
The creature loomed over Marisa now. A seam appeared in its featureless head, widening into a maw lined with teeth that spiraled inward like a drill bit.
"Hey!" Orin shouted, blood speckling his lips. "Over here!"
The distraction worked. The creature's head swiveled toward him, that terrible mouth still open.
Orin struggled to his feet, using the pillar for support. Blood soaked his shirt—his own. Internal damage, then. Bad.
"Run," he mouthed to Marisa, who stared at him with wide, terrified eyes.
The creature flickered toward him.
Orin had nowhere to go. No weapon. No plan. Just the strange certainty that if he was going to die in this impossible place, he wouldn't do it begging.
"Come on, then," he snarled.
The creature lunged.
A blinding flash of light erupted between them. The creature recoiled with a sound like tearing metal, its form distorting as if seen through fractured glass.
Orin blinked spots from his vision. Where had the light come from?
A figure stood on a nearby ledge—human, or at least human-shaped. Clad in mismatched armor that looked cobbled together from different materials, face obscured by a makeshift helmet.
"Get down!" the newcomer shouted, voice muffled but distinctly male.
Orin dropped as another flash of light erupted from some kind of weapon in the stranger's hands. The beam struck the creature, which writhed and contorted before flickering away, vanishing into the distance.
Silence fell.
The stranger jumped down from the ledge, approaching cautiously, weapon still raised. "You hurt?" he asked, voice gruff.
Orin pressed a hand to his side, feeling the wet warmth of blood. "Nothing fatal. I think."
The stranger grunted, turning to help Marisa to her feet. "First day in the Rift, and you managed to attract a Stalker. Bad luck."
"The Rift?" Marisa echoed, her voice faint.
"The Hollow Rift," the stranger clarified, as if that explained anything. He glanced back at Orin. "You two came in together?"
Orin shook his head. "Just met. When everything... broke."
The stranger nodded, helmet glinting in the strange, ambient light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. "That's how it goes. Reality shatters, and whoever's nearby gets pulled in."
He gestured for them to follow. "Night's coming. We need shelter before the Prowlers start hunting."
"Prowlers? You mean there are more of those things?" Marisa's voice cracked.
The stranger laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. "Sweetheart, that Stalker was just the welcoming party. The Rift has horrors you can't even imagine."
He turned, starting toward a path that Orin hadn't noticed before. "My camp's not far. You can rest there, get those wounds looked at. After that, you're on your own."
Orin exchanged glances with Marisa. They had no reason to trust this stranger, but they had even less reason to stay in the open.
"Lead the way," Orin said.
As they followed their mysterious savior across the floating ruins, Orin couldn't shake the feeling that surviving the fall into this place might prove to be the easiest part of what lay ahead.
The Hollow Rift had claimed them. And from the sound of it, it had no intention of letting them go.