Anomaly

I barely slept.

Not because I was injured or exhausted—though I was both—but because something was wrong.

The moment my eyes opened, I felt it.

The room was cold.

Not the usual kind of cold from the draft slipping through the cracked window. This was something else. Something deeper.

Like the warmth had been drained from the air itself, leaving behind only emptiness.

I sat up, rubbing a hand over my face, trying to shake off the lingering unease. The whisper from last night still clung to my thoughts.

I didn't know if it had been a hallucination, a dream, or something real.

And that was the problem.

With a frustrated exhale, I shoved the thought away and grabbed my gear.

I had bigger things to worry about.

The moment I stepped outside, I felt it.

Velmora had changed.

The lower districts were always restless—full of Rifters, scavengers, and desperate people trying to survive. But today, the usual hum of activity felt off.

People whispered in clusters, their voices hushed, their eyes darting toward the edges of the city.

I caught snippets of their conversations as I passed.

"They found another empty house—doors wide open, food still warm. No one inside."

"Maybe it's a monster slip. Those unstable Rifts are dangerous."

"No, man, it's the Guild. They don't want anyone talking."

Theories swirled through the streets like a storm.

But I knew the truth.

It wasn't the Guild. It wasn't a random Rift breach.

It was something else.

Something that had come through with me.

And I needed to find it before it found me.

A sharp ping echoed in my vision.

[New System Quest: The Last Witness]

Find Oren Lask before he disappears.

Learn what he saw.

Reward: ???

Of course, the System wanted me to dig deeper.

I pulled out my phone and texted Joren.

Where was he last seen?

The reply came almost immediately.

"District 17. Old Rift processing plants."

My stomach tightened.

No one went to District 17 anymore.

Not since the explosion.

If Oren was hiding there, he wasn't just paranoid.

He was hiding from something.

And that meant I needed to find him.

---

The deeper I went into District 17, the heavier the air became.

At first, it was subtle.

A shift in pressure. A static buzz in my skull.

Then the smell hit me.

Not rot. Not blood.

Something worse.

The scent of burnt metal and cold ash, like something had been torn apart at a level beyond just flesh.

By the time I reached the first set of collapsed Rift factories, my vision flickered with System notifications.

[Abyssal Influence Detected.]

[Anomaly Stability: Failing.]

Then—

A sharp shock ran through my skull. My HUD flickered.

[IMMEDIATE SKILL SELECTION REQUIRED.]

Wait—what?

A new window forced itself into my view.

[Skill Evolution Available. Select a Skill to Evolve:]

1. Shadowstep → Abyssal Phantom (Increases movement speed, allows limited phasing through objects.)

2. Void Shard Expulsion → Abyssal Rupture (Concentrated energy explosion, ignores armor.)

3. Mana Leech → Abyssal Consumption (Can drain HP in addition to Mana from enemies.)

I stopped cold.

The System was forcing me to choose—now?

Not after the mission. Not later.

Why?

I had seconds to decide.

Shadowstep had saved my life more times than I could count. Abyssal Phantom would make me faster, harder to hit.

Void Shard Expulsion was my strongest ranged attack. Abyssal Rupture would turn it into something far deadlier.

Mana Leech kept me alive in long fights. Abyssal Consumption would let me steal life as well as energy.

Something in my gut twisted.

My mind screamed speed, but my instinct whispered power.

I exhaled sharply, ignoring the fear curling in my gut.

[Skill Evolution Selected: Abyssal Rupture.]

A wave of searing heat crashed over me, like my very existence was being rewritten.

[Abyssal Rupture Acquired.]

[Effect: Concentrated energy explosion. Bypasses armor. Destructive radius expands based on user's mana control.]

My fingers trembled with raw energy. Something had changed.

And something knew it.

I moved forward, every step calculated.

The Rift processing plants loomed ahead, their shattered towers leaning like broken bones.

Something watched me.

Not a person. Not a monster.

Something else.

A sharp ping filled my ears.

[WARNING: Abyssal Distortion Reaching Critical Levels.]

I turned—too slow.

The air twisted, shadows stretching unnaturally.

A pulse of cold silence.

And then—Oren Lask was standing right in front of me.

His eyes were wide.

Mouth slightly open.

His hands trembled. His body stiff as a corpse.

Then, his lips moved.

"Don't look at it."

Before I could respond, the System glitched.

Text distorted. The world tilted.

And then—

I saw it.

Beyond Oren. Beyond the Rift.

A shape that should not exist.

It wasn't human.

It wasn't a monster.

It was something else.

It stood between worlds, between realities.

Its form shifted, parts of it flickering in and out, as if it was struggling to stay in this plane of existence.

No eyes. No mouth.

Yet—I felt it staring at me.

The pressure in my skull spiked, like claws scraping inside my mind.

Then came the whisper.

A voice that wasn't a voice.

"You are not lost. You are chosen."

I blinked—

And the vision shattered.

The ruins returned. The air was still.

Oren? Gone.

No blood. No sound.

Just… gone.

The System's screen flickered violently.

[Abyssal Entity Confirmed. Identification: Incomplete.]

I exhaled, gripping my dagger tighter.

I had seen it.