Chapter 38 - Shattered Horizons

The night was no longer just night. The fractured sky above wasn't merely a reminder of what had been lost—it was a warning of what was coming. Kai Voss could feel it, a tremor in the very fabric of reality, an imbalance that sent shivers down his spine. The creatures that had emerged from the distortion were unlike anything he had encountered before. Their presence defied the natural order, slipping between existence and nothingness as if they weren't bound by the same physical laws.

But this wasn't just about them. This was about what lay beyond, the unseen force that had been sealed away when the Moon was shattered. The Revenants had called it the Threshold, but Kai didn't need a name to know that something was wrong.

A ripple passed through the air, distorting the landscape around him. The ruins ahead twisted for a moment, warping like a reflection on disturbed water before snapping back into place. The creatures—whatever they were—moved fluidly through it, their elongated forms shifting in and out of visibility. They weren't bound by time.

Kai clenched his fists, feeling the pulse of his fragment burning against his chest. He had used Temporal Shatter moments ago, but it hadn't slowed them down. If anything, they had moved even faster within frozen time, as if his power meant nothing to them. That realization unsettled him more than he cared to admit.

Lena stood beside him, gripping her fragment tightly. Her breaths were shallow, her fingers trembling slightly, but she didn't waver. She had seen things that defied logic before, but this was something else entirely.

"We can't fight them like this," she said, her voice steady despite the chaos around them.

Kai didn't argue. There was no point in trying to fight something he didn't understand, not when they barely had a plan. The only thing they could do was run.

One of the creatures shifted, its form stretching unnaturally as it lunged toward them. Kai grabbed Lena's arm and pulled her back just as its elongated fingers sliced through the air where she had stood. The very space around them fractured, splintering like glass before sealing itself back together.

Kai didn't wait for another attack. He turned and ran, dragging Lena with him as they weaved through the ruins. The Revenants had already disappeared, vanishing into the shadows like they had never been there to begin with. Whatever their goal had been, they had abandoned it the moment these creatures arrived.

But that only made one thing clear—this was something even they feared.

As Kai and Lena sprinted through the desolate cityscape, the world around them continued to shift. The further they ran, the more distorted everything became. Buildings flickered between states of decay and preservation, as if time itself couldn't decide whether they should exist. The ground beneath them trembled, the very fabric of reality quivering under the weight of something unseen.

Then, without warning, a blinding light erupted from the horizon.

Kai skidded to a stop, shielding his eyes as the wave of energy surged toward them. It wasn't just light—it was something else, something deeper. A pulse of raw power that resonated through the air, vibrating through his bones.

When the light finally dimmed, Kai lowered his hand and turned toward the source.

And then he saw it.

The Impact Zone.

It stretched before them, a crater so vast it seemed endless. The earth had been torn apart by the sheer force of the Moon's destruction, but this wasn't just a wound in the planet's surface. The center of the crater pulsed with an eerie glow, a swirling vortex of energy that defied explanation.

Lena took a step forward, her voice barely above a whisper. "This is it."

Kai didn't respond. He was too focused on what was happening at the center of the zone. The air shimmered, bending and distorting as something began to emerge from the vortex. Not the creatures that had been chasing them—something bigger. Something worse.

The fragments had granted humans power, unlocking abilities beyond their understanding. But what if the fragments weren't just pieces of the Moon?

What if they were pieces of something else?

Kai's grip tightened around the shard hanging from his neck. He had always assumed that his power had come from the Moon's destruction, that the fragments were simply remnants of the celestial body that had once lit up the night sky. But as he stared into the swirling void before him, he realized that wasn't the full truth.

The Moon hadn't just broken.

Something had broken free.

Lena turned to him, her expression unreadable. "We're running out of time."

Kai exhaled slowly. He knew. He had felt it since the beginning, that unshakable feeling that this wasn't just an apocalypse. This was something else. Something far greater.

The sky above cracked again, sending another tremor through the earth. The creatures had stopped their pursuit, standing at the crater's edge as if waiting for something. Their glowing eyes reflected the vortex, their forms flickering between this reality and another.

And then, from within the swirling abyss, something began to rise.

It was massive, its form barely comprehensible against the shifting energy surrounding it. It wasn't just a creature. It wasn't just an entity.

It was a force.

Kai took a step back.

For the first time since the apocalypse began, he felt truly small.