Into the Unknown

Kai had expected pain, or maybe the feeling of weightlessness as he fell into the rift. Instead, he felt nothing.

For a moment, there was only silence. No gravity. No sound. No sense of time.

Then—

Impact.

Kai crashed onto hard ground, the force rattling his bones. A second later, Aiden landed beside him with a heavy thud, groaning in pain.

Kai coughed, rolling onto his side. His body ached, but it wasn't broken. Blinking rapidly, he pushed himself up, his breath catching in his throat as he took in their surroundings.

They were no longer on the rooftop.

The sky above them swirled in unnatural hues—deep purples, shifting blues, and streaks of golden light cutting across the horizon. Strange, jagged structures loomed in the distance, rising and falling as if they were breathing. The air was thick, charged with an energy that made his skin crawl.

Aiden groaned, rubbing his head. "Tell me we're still in New York."

Kai swallowed hard. "I don't think we are."

Beneath them, the ground wasn't concrete—it was smooth, almost glass-like, with faint geometric patterns glowing beneath the surface. It pulsed gently with an eerie rhythm, like a heartbeat.

Aiden staggered to his feet, glancing around. "Okay, what the hell is this? Where are we?"

Kai didn't have an answer. He felt off, his body still humming with residual energy. But more than that—

Something was watching them.

His breath hitched as he turned his head. In the distance, barely visible through the strange, shifting air, figures moved. Tall, thin silhouettes with elongated limbs and glowing eyes. They weren't human.

Aiden saw them too. "Shit. Kai… those things—"

A sharp crackle split the air.

Kai barely had time to react before something lunged from the shadows.

He barely managed to throw himself backward as a dark, jagged creature slashed at the spot where he had just stood. It was humanoid but wrong, its limbs stretching unnaturally, its body flickering like a bad signal. Its face—or what should have been a face—was a void of twisting blackness, shifting and pulsating with static energy.

Aiden stumbled back, reaching for something—anything—to use as a weapon. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Kai didn't have time to answer.

The creature screeched, its voice a high-pitched distortion that cut into his brain like a knife.

It lunged again.

Kai's instincts took over. Another flicker.

The world slowed.

He moved without thinking, twisting his body away from the strike. The creature's clawed hand barely grazed his arm, but even the slight contact sent a jolt of raw energy surging through him. His vision blurred for half a second—

And then he was behind it.

He had moved faster than humanly possible.

The creature twitched, confused for a split second. Kai didn't hesitate. He drove his elbow into its side with all the force he could muster.

The impact sent it skidding across the glowing ground, but it didn't go down.

It glitched.

Its body split apart and reformed, shifting unnaturally, as if reality itself was struggling to define its existence.

Aiden grabbed a loose metal pipe from the ground. "Okay, I don't know what's happening, but I am NOT dying here!"

The creature turned toward them, hissing, its body crackling with unstable energy.

Then—

A second one emerged from the shifting shadows.

Kai's stomach dropped. "There's more."

The second creature was bigger, its movements eerier, more fluid. It didn't lunge immediately—it watched, its glowing eyes locked onto Kai as if recognizing him.

A low hum vibrated through the air. The ground beneath them pulsed brighter, the strange geometric patterns flickering faster.

Then, a voice.

Not from the creatures.

Not from Aiden.

But inside Kai's head.

You do not belong here.

Kai's vision blurred, his head pounding with the weight of the words. The flickering in his body intensified, his surroundings warping around him.

Aiden grabbed his arm. "Kai, what's wrong?!"

The creatures moved in.

Kai forced himself to focus, shaking off the dizziness. "We need to run!"

Aiden didn't argue. They turned and bolted, racing toward the distant structures, the creatures screeching behind them.

Kai didn't know where they were.

He didn't know what those things were.

But one thing was clear—

They weren't supposed to be here.

And something, somewhere, wanted them gone.