The stillness that followed the blast felt unnatural, as though time itself had frozen. Anna’s pulse pounded in her ears, louder than the distant crackle of fires smoldering in the ruins of the warehouse.She stumbled over twisted beams and broken crates, her breath ragged. Alex has to be alive. He has to.Behind her, Marcus and Nadia worked to reinforce what was left of the perimeter. Gray examined the shattered containment unit, her fingers trembling over its warped edges.“The fragment’s gone,” she muttered, almost in disbelief. “Its energy signature… it’s completely burned out.”Marcus glanced around warily. “Then why are we still alive?”Anna stopped abruptly. There it was again—a faint, steady thump-thump, like a heartbeat carried on the wind. It was soft, almost impossible to distinguish amid the destruction, but she felt it more than she heard it.“Alex!” she shouted, ignoring the pain shooting through her leg as she pushed deeper into the wreckage. Her heart pounded faster, d

The collapsing tunnel plunged into darkness as the last emergency light flickered and died. The crumbling ceiling sent dust and debris cascading around Anna and the others as they sprinted toward the faint hum of the old transit line.Anna’s lungs burned with every breath, her muscles screaming in protest, but she refused to slow down—not with Alex barely conscious and leaning heavily on her. His skin was ice-cold, yet the glowing fragments etched into his veins pulsed erratically, flickering like a dying star.“We’re almost there!” Gray shouted, her voice strained. She clutched her damaged data tablet, desperately scanning for any trace of the transport hub’s location. “It should be just beyond the next corridor.”A sudden, metallic clang echoed from behind them. The ground trembled with heavy, uneven footfalls, followed by the low, distorted hum of something mechanical powering up.“They’re still coming?” Marcus hissed, skidding to a halt. He swung around, raising his weapon. “We bl

The cavern trembled as the monstrous shape rose from the dark, waterlogged depths, its segmented armor twisting like living metal. Crimson-lit eyes locked onto Anna and her group, glowing with malicious intent. A cold, mechanical hum echoed through the chamber—a distorted pulse that seemed to synchronize with Alex’s weak heartbeat.Anna tightened her grip around Alex’s unconscious form, willing him to stay alive. His faintly glowing veins pulsed erratically, flickering like a dying star. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t here by chance—it was connected to him… to them.Marcus raised his weapon, his knuckles white. “Everyone, move! We can’t fight this thing!”The group scattered as the creature lunged, its blade-like limbs cleaving through the ground where they’d stood. Sparks erupted as metal and stone shattered under its immense force.Gray frantically scanned the flickering interface on her damaged tablet, trying to locate any escape route. “There’s a service tunnel ahead,” she sho

Anna felt weightless, suspended in a sea of pulsing light. The Gate’s energy surged around her, seeping into her bones, threatening to consume every fragment of her identity. But she held tight—to her memories, to her purpose… to Alex.His fingers were still entwined with hers, though faint and flickering like a dying signal. His eyes remained closed, his chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths. The tendrils of glowing runes still encased his limbs, but they no longer pulled—they waited, expectant.The Gate’s voice—cold, mechanical, yet somehow sentient—resounded in the void:“The Threshold… has been crossed.”Anna’s pulse quickened as she felt its gaze settle on her—not physical, but ever-present.“Purpose must… be fulfilled.”Suddenly, the light fractured, splitting into two realities around her:•To her left, she saw a version of herself back on Earth—a life where she walked away from the tunnels, from Alex… from all of this. She was free, untouched, her life ordinary

The air was still, heavy with the aftermath of their final stand against the Gate. The shattered sky above slowly knit itself back together, the fractures fading into soft streaks of dawn-like light. But the sense of unease lingered, like a breath held too long.Anna sat at the edge of a jagged stone outcrop, her gaze fixed on the distant horizon. The strange, ever-shifting landscape of the Gate’s broken realm was finally still—but for how long?Her fingertips traced the faded runes along her arms, now little more than faint scars. They didn’t burn anymore, but she could still feel a faint pulse in her chest—a distant echo of the Gate’s power, dormant but present.It wasn’t over. Not really.Alex approached quietly, his footsteps soft on the stone. He set down a small bundle of supplies he’d managed to scavenge from the ruins—food, water, a makeshift blanket.“You should rest,” he said gently. “We’ve been moving nonstop.”Anna shook her head, still staring into the horizon. “It’s not