Where is Victoria now?

The ocean stretched endlessly before Ethan and Anna, its rhythmic waves a stark contrast to the chaos they had just escaped. The horizon burned gold and crimson, as if the sky itself had been scorched by the city's collapse. But even as the sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the shore, Ethan couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't truly free.

Anna sat beside him, her knees pulled to her chest, silent for once. The breeze tugged at her hair, carrying the faintest trace of salt and something else—something metallic, like the aftertaste of fear.

Ethan rubbed his face with his hands, his skin still tingling with the remnants of the city's pulse. He wanted to believe it was over, that they had outrun the nightmare, but deep down, he knew better. The city wasn't just a place. It was a presence, a force that had latched onto him long before he ever set foot inside its twisting streets.

Anna finally broke the silence, her voice low and rough. "Do you feel it?"

Ethan didn't need to ask what she meant. He nodded, his gaze fixed on the horizon. "Yeah. It's still there."

Anna exhaled slowly, her breath fogging in the cooling air. "I thought we ended it."

"So did I."

But the truth was, Ethan had felt that lingering connection the moment he opened his eyes on the beach. It was faint, like a distant heartbeat, but it was there, throbbing at the edges of his mind. The city might have collapsed, but its essence had survived—somewhere.

Anna turned to face him, her eyes dark with determination. "We can't ignore it."

Ethan's jaw clenched. "I know."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, letting the weight of their situation settle between them. Then, with a sigh, Ethan pushed himself to his feet and offered Anna his hand.

She took it without hesitation, pulling herself up. "So what now?"

Ethan stared out at the horizon, his expression hardening. "Now we find out where it went."

Victoria stood at the edge of a world that didn't belong to her anymore.

The sky above her was an impossible shade of violet, streaked with veins of light that pulsed in time with the new rhythm in her chest. She could feel it—the city's heartbeat syncing with her own, its energy coiling through her veins like a serpent made of light and shadow.

She flexed her fingers, watching as faint trails of luminescence followed the movement. The transformation was subtle on the outside—her eyes a little brighter, her skin a little too smooth—but inside, she was something else entirely.

The city hadn't just merged with her. It had chosen her.

And with that choice came power.

More power than she had ever dreamed of.

Victoria turned her gaze toward the distant horizon, where the remnants of the world she had once known lay just out of reach. She could still feel them—Ethan and Anna—moving like faint echoes in the fabric of reality. They thought they had won, that they had escaped.

But they didn't understand the game.

Not like she did.

Victoria smiled, her lips curling into something sharp and predatory. The city wasn't just a place of twisted streets and impossible geometry. It was an idea, and ideas couldn't be destroyed. They evolved. They adapted.

And now, so had she.

With a flick of her wrist, the air around her shimmered, bending to her will. She took a step forward, her feet leaving no imprint on the ground, and the world shifted with her. The lines between dimensions blurred, reality rippling like water in her wake.

She was no longer bound by the same rules.

And it was time to make sure Ethan and Anna understood that.

The journey back to civilization felt surreal. Ethan and Anna walked for hours along the deserted coastline, their only company the crashing waves and the growing unease that neither of them voiced aloud. The world felt too quiet, as if holding its breath in anticipation of something they couldn't yet see.

By the time they reached a small coastal town, the sun had disappeared entirely, leaving only the faint glow of streetlights to guide their way. The town was eerily still, its streets empty, the windows dark. It was as if the place had been abandoned long before they arrived.

Anna frowned, glancing around. "This doesn't feel right."

Ethan nodded, his hand hovering near the knife tucked into his waistband. "Stay close."

They moved cautiously through the deserted streets, their footsteps echoing off the buildings like gunshots in the silence. The deeper they went, the more the unease grew, until it was a tangible weight pressing down on their shoulders.

Then they saw it.

At the center of the town square, where a fountain should have been, was a mark.

A symbol neither of them recognized, but both instinctively understood.

The city had been here.

Anna's breath hitched. "Ethan…"

"I see it."

The symbol pulsed faintly, the same rhythm they had felt beneath the city's streets. But this time, it wasn't just a remnant. It was a message.

Ethan knelt beside the mark, his fingers tracing the edges. The closer he got, the louder the pulse became, vibrating through his bones like a second heartbeat.

Anna crouched beside him, her voice a whisper. "What does it mean?"

Ethan didn't answer right away. He could feel the city's presence here, but it wasn't the same as before. It wasn't trying to trap them or consume them.

It was calling to them.

"This isn't over," he finally whispered, his voice hoarse. "It's just the beginning."

They both stood, their eyes locked on the symbol as it pulsed one final time before fading into the stone beneath their feet.

But even as the light disappeared, the echo of its message lingered in the air.

Find me.

And Ethan knew, without a doubt, that they would.

Because they had no other choice.