Screams from the Abyss

Frontiers

The sky above Manhattan fractured like a broken mirror, each shard reflecting a different version of reality. Jaden ducked as a skyscraper from an alternate New York phased through the space he'd occupied moments before, its steel and glass rippling like water as it passed.

"Watch your left!" Zoe's voice crackled through their quantum link. A burst of her flame incinerated a tendril of void-stuff that had been reaching for Jaden's shadow.

"Thanks," he gasped, spinning to face a new threat. "Any sign of Marcus?"

As if in answer, a complex equation materialized in the air before him, its variables shifting to form a barrier against a wave of temporal distortion. Marcus stepped through, his form flickering between states of matter.

"We've got a problem," he said, his voice tight with urgency. "The rifts aren't just growing. They're... learning. Adapting to our attempts to close them."

Jaden felt a chill that had nothing to do with the chaos swirling around them. "Learning? How is that po