The Rift’s corrupted glow pulsed faintly through jagged cracks in the cavern walls, casting distorted shadows across the uneven ground. Static energy buzzed faintly in the air, setting my teeth on edge. Each step felt heavier like the gravity here was trying to drag us down into the glitching abyss below.

  Selene walked ahead of us, her posture rigid and her amber eyes sharp as she scanned every crevice and corner. Devon followed behind me, his crimson greatsword on his shoulder, his heavy boots crunching over loose stones and fragments of unstable code. I trailed between them, shadows curling at my ankles with every step.

  No one spoke.

  The silence wasn’t comfortable—it was sharp, like the edge of a dagger held against fragile gss. I could feel the weight of their unspoken words pressing down on me, and every few steps, I caught Devon gncing at Selene with a tightness in his jaw that I hadn’t seen before.

  My HUD flickered faintly, glitching along the edges as we walked.

  [ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD: ZONE STABILITY – 20%]

  This pce is falling apart. The thought was cold and heavy in my chest. We couldn’t afford to slow down.

  Eventually, the path split into three directions, each route disappearing into shadows lit faintly by glitching red and blue veins of corrupted code.

  Selene knelt by the fork, one dagger in her hand, as she traced the faint prints in the dust. “There’s movement here. Not just monsters—pyers or operatives.”

  Devon stepped forward, his voice low. “Which way do we go?”

  Selene didn’t look up. “The left path shows the freshest prints. But it’s narrow. A perfect pce for an ambush.”

  “And the middle?” Devon asked.

  Selene pointed her dagger at the center path, her amber eyes narrowing. “It’s wide open. But that also means we’re easy targets.”

  “And the right?” I asked hesitantly.

  “It descends steeply,” Selene said. “We might end up stuck in a pocket of corrupted terrain. It’s unpredictable.”

  Devon exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “So we’ve got a death trap, an ambush, and a blind drop. Fantastic.”

  “We’re not picking the least worst option, Devon. We’re picking the smartest one,” Selene said coldly, standing up and facing him.

  “And what do you suggest, Selene? Creep along the edge of an ambush because you want to feel safe?” Devon’s voice was sharp now, cutting through the tension like a bde.

  Selene’s shoulders squared, her amber eyes bzing as she stepped closer to him. “Safe? Do you think this is about safety? I’m trying to keep us alive, Devon. Every reckless choice you’ve made has nearly gotten us killed.”

  Devon’s jaw tightened, his grip flexing around the hilt of his greatsword. “And every hesitation of yours slows us down. We won’t sneak our way out of this Rift, Selene. At some point, we’re going to have to fight. That’s reality.”

  The air between them crackled with something raw and unspoken. Shadows flickered nervously at my feet, reacting to the rising tension in the space.

  “Devon,” Selene said, her voice low but sharp. “You’re not the only one who cares about Kiera’s safety. But you act like you’re the only one who understands the risks.”

  Devon let out a bitter ugh, shaking his head. “Risks? You think I don’t understand risks? I’ve been watching her fight for her life in this hellhole since day one, Selene. Every second she’s here is another second closer to her being broken by this pce.”

  “You’re not her shield, Devon!” Selene snapped. “She’s stronger than you think. But you’re smothering her. And one day, that overprotectiveness is going to get us all killed.”

  Devon stepped forward, his towering frame casting a shadow over Selene. “I’m doing what needs to be done. Someone has to make the calls when things fall apart. Someone has to keep her safe.”

  “And what happens when you can’t, Devon?” Selene’s voice was quiet now but sharp as gss. “What happens when your strength isn’t enough? Who’s going to protect her then?”

  The silence that followed was suffocating. Devon’s jaw was set, his eyes locked onto Selene’s with an intensity that made my chest tight.

  I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Stop!” I said, my voice louder than I intended. Both of them turned to look at me, their expressions still tight with emotion. “You’re both trying to protect me, I get that. But this isn’t helping anyone. We can’t afford to be at each other’s throats—not here. Not now.”

  Devon turned away, his shoulders rising and falling with slow, steady breaths. Selene sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she stepped back, breaking eye contact with him.

  I swallowed hard, my shadows flickering faintly around me. “We need to move forward. Together.”

  After a long silence, Selene finally spoke. “The middle path. It’s risky, but we’ll have visibility. We’ll need to stay sharp and move fast.”

  Devon didn’t respond immediately. He turned his head slightly, his voice quieter this time. “Fine. The middle path it is.”

  It wasn’t an apology, but it was close enough.

  We started walking again, the silence between them now colder, heavier. I stayed close to Devon, his presence still carrying that protective warmth despite the edge of his movements. Selene walked slightly ahead, her posture sharp, her daggers gripped tightly.

  Every so often, Devon’s eyes flicked toward Selene—just briefly—before snapping back to the path ahead.

  I felt caught between them, like a fragile bridge suspended over chaos, and one wrong word would send all three of us crashing into the void below.

  The corridor opened into a wider chamber—a vast cavern filled with glitching ptforms suspended mid-air. Energy crackled from jagged crystals jutting out of the stone, and corrupted creatures prowled across the floating structures.

  Selene raised her hand, signaling for us to stop. “We’ll need to cross carefully. Those ptforms won’t stay stable for long.”

  We moved single-file across the narrow bridge. Every step sent faint cracks spider-webbing outward from our boots. Below us, the corrupted chasm pulsed with a faint, malevolent light.

  Halfway across, the bridge shuddered violently.

  [WARNING: ENVIRONMENTAL COLLAPSE IMMINENT]

  Chunks of stone began to fall away, pixeting into shards of light as they tumbled into the void. Devon cursed under his breath as he picked up speed. Selene was already moving, her steps light and precise.

  I stumbled as the bridge buckled beneath me.

  “Shadow Mirage!” I shouted instinctively.

  Three shadowy duplicates flickered into existence around me. One stepped onto a colpsing stone segment, stabilizing it momentarily. Another dashed ahead, drawing the attention of glitching wraiths that had begun to emerge from the cracks below.

  I lunged forward, barely catching myself as my feet hit stable ground. Selene grabbed my arm, pulling me up just as the st section of the bridge crumbled behind us.

  Devon nded beside us, his greatsword smming into the ground for bance. His breath was heavy, his brow slick with sweat.

  “That was too close,” he said, his voice tight.

  Selene released my arm, her amber eyes flickering between Devon and me. “Your duplicates… you controlled them, like, really well this time.”

  I nodded, my heart still racing. “It felt… instinctive. Like they knew where to go.”

  Devon patted my shoulder lightly. “Keep honing that instinct. It’s keeping us alive.”

  ?????°???°?????

  The silence that followed the argument was sharp and heavy, pressing down on us like the unstable weight of the Rift itself. Selene stalked ahead, her movements sharp, her amber eyes glinting faintly in the corrupted glow of the cavern. Devon walked behind me, his broad shoulders tense, his greatsword resting against his shoulder with practiced ease.

  I lingered between them, shadows curling softly around my feet, responding to the tight coil of anxiety in my chest. Their words still lingered in the air—sharp, raw, and unspoken. They weren’t wrong—neither of them. Selene’s caution and Devon’s boldness were both necessary. But together, they were fire and ice, constantly cshing, each refusing to yield to the other.

  The Rift stretched endlessly ahead, the narrow stone pathways twisting like fractured veins beneath our boots. The walls flickered with faint strands of red and blue light, and every now and then, distant screeches echoed through the tunnels—a reminder that this pce was alive in ways we couldn’t understand.

  I exhaled, my breath misting faintly in the chill air. “How much further until we reach stable ground?”

  Selene spoke without turning her head. “If the waypoint is accurate, we’re nearing a cross-section of Rift anomalies. Pces where the code overps and becomes… erratic.”

  “Meaning what?” Devon’s voice was gruff, clipped.

  “Meaning it’s either going to be a safe zone… or a death trap,” Selene said ftly.

  Devon let out a low huff. “Fantastic.”

  The path narrowed as the air around us grew thicker with static energy. The faint hum of corrupted code grew louder, vibrating through the stone beneath our feet.

  My HUD flickered briefly.

  [ZONE STABILITY: 15%]

  Tiny particles of glitching light floated in the air around us like broken gss suspended mid-fall. They clung faintly to my cloak, vanishing whenever I tried to touch them.

  Something felt… off.

  “Do you feel that?” I said softly, my shadows flickering faintly at my feet.

  Selene stopped, her amber eyes scanning the narrow tunnel ahead. “We’re being watched.”

  Devon’s grip tightened on his greatsword. “Monsters or pyers?”

  Selene narrowed her eyes. “Look.”

  She knelt near the ground, tracing her gloved fingers along a faint line in the dust—a footprint. It wasn’t rge or animalistic. It was humanoid.

  I stepped closer, my shadows reacting faintly to the print, spreading outward.

  “These aren’t random wanderers,” Selene said quietly. “They’ve been here. Recently.”

  Devon frowned, his gaze following the faint trail of prints. “Could be rogue pyers, operatives… or something else entirely.”

  I turned my attention to the walls. Symbols had been etched faintly into the stone—symbols I couldn’t recognize. They glitched faintly, fragments of letters and numbers flickering in and out of focus.

  “What do these mean?” I asked, tracing one of the symbols lightly with my fingertips.

  Selene’s lips pressed into a thin line. “They’re markers. Someone was trying to map this pce—leave messages for others to follow.”

  Devon stepped beside me, squinting at one of the symbols. “Encrypted… but sloppy. Like they were in a hurry.”

  My HUD flickered again, and a faint waypoint pulsed on my mini-map.

  [DISTORTED SIGNAL DETECTED: PROCEED WITH CAUTION]

  The waypoint led to a distant cavern, barely visible in the glitching haze at the end of the path.

  “We follow the trail,” Selene said, her voice steady. “But we stay sharp.”

  The path opened into a cavern unlike any we’d seen before. Makeshift structures had been carved into the jagged stone walls—barricades of scrap metal and glitching materials reinforced weak spots in the terrain.

  Faint nterns flickered with distorted blue light, casting eerie shadows across the debris-strewn floor. Cables snaked along the ground, leading to broken data pads and scattered equipment—some still glowing faintly with corrupted energy.

  At the center of the cavern, a rusted terminal flickered weakly, its screen half-obscured by static and glitching lines of text.

  “An outpost,” Devon said softly, his eyes scanning the wreckage.

  “Not just an outpost,” Selene replied, kneeling beside a shattered crate. Inside, faint traces of weapon mods and experimental gear glimmered beneath the debris. “This was an operative camp. Whoever was here… they left in a hurry.”

  I moved cautiously to the rusted terminal, my HUD flickering as I approached. Its screen crackled faintly, distorted text scrolling across its surface.

  [CONNECTION LOST][ERROR: CORRUPTED DATA DETECTED][FRAGMENT LOCATOR INITIALIZED...]

  My shadows recoiled slightly from the terminal, as if instinctively sensing something wrong.

  Selene joined me, her voice low. “They were searching for something. Same as us.”

  Devon kicked aside a broken crate, revealing faint scorch marks across the ground. “But someone—or something—forced them out.”

  I crouched near the terminal, my shadows curling softly around the base. “Do you think they found one of the fragments?”

  Selene’s brow furrowed. “If they did… they didn’t get far with it.”

  I noticed something at the far edge of the cavern—a pile of tattered equipment shoved hastily into a corner. Among the mess, something glimmered faintly—a small data pad, half-covered by glitching rubble.

  I reached for it, my shadows curling protectively around my wrist as I lifted it carefully. The screen was cracked, but faint lines of text still scrolled across it.

  [CLASSIFIED DATA LOG – ACCESS DENIED][UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY DETECTED]

  But the screens encryption screen started to warp and formute letters. A cohesive sentence that I was able to understand at the bottom of the screen, one line stood out, flickering faintly:

  [DECRIPTION SUCCESSFUL]

  “…UNKNOWN is ahead of us. The Demon Lord anomaly… unstable, unpredictable. Find her before she finds the fragment codes.”

  My stomach turned as I read the words aloud.

  Selene stood behind me, her eyes sharp. “They know about you, Kiera. About what you are.”

  Devon’s voice was low, steady. “And they’re watching us. Right now.”

  I swallowed hard, my HUD flickering with faint static at the edges.

  “They’re close,” I whispered. “Aren’t they?”

  Selene nodded, her daggers already drawn. “Too close.”

  A faint sound echoed through the cavern—a sharp, metallic ping followed by the faint crackle of static.

  Devon turned sharply, his greatsword raised. “We’ve overstayed our welcome.”

  From the shadows beyond the cavern, faint glowing eyes began to emerge—dozens of them, glitching faintly as humanoid figures stepped into the flickering light.

  Each figure wore mismatched armor, half-digital masks glowing faintly with neon-blue outlines.

  Rogue pyers. Operatives.

  We were surrounded.

  Selene stepped closer to me, her daggers spinning in her hands. Devon adjusted his grip on his greatsword and stood in a fight stance.

  In the distance, above the sea of glowing eyes, a single voice echoed through the cavern—a smooth, confident tone that oozed authority and mockery.

  “Well, well… what do we have here?”

  A figure stepped forward, his dark armor glowing faintly with flickering neon lines. His face was partially obscured by a mask, but his sharp green eyes glinted with amusement.

  “Looks like our little Succubus Demon Lord brought friends.”

  The cavern seemed to hold its breath as the rogue operatives emerged from the shadows, their glowing masks flickering faintly with distorted light. They moved with confidence—casual, even—as if they already knew the outcome of this encounter. Each step echoed faintly in the heavy silence, accompanied by the faint hum of their corrupted gear.

  Devon’s greatsword was already raised, its crimson edge glinting under the fractured light of the Rift. Selene stood close to me, her daggers glinting like shards of moonlight. My shadows stirred at my feet, restless and reactive, swirling in faint tendrils as if anticipating the storm about to break.

  The air buzzed with tension—sharp, electric, and suffocating.

  “You've wandered into my web just as I pnned,” he said, spreading his arms theatrically as if welcoming us to some grand performance.

  His voice was smooth and calm, yet every word carried a weight that made my stomach twist uncomfortably.

  Devon stiffened at my side, his hand tightening around the hilt of his greatsword. “Kaiden.”

  Selene’s amber eyes flicked to Devon, her brow furrowing slightly. “You know him?”

  Kaiden’s smirk widened as he strolled closer, his boots crunching faintly over the glitching gravel beneath him. “Oh, Ren knows me. Isn’t that right, old friend?”

  The way he said Devon’s username—Ren—felt venomous, but also like he knew him personally.

  I gnced at Devon, who was gring daggers at Kaiden, his posture tense and unmoving. His usual easygoing demeanor had hardened into something colder, sharper.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Devon said, his voice low and dangerous.

  Kaiden chuckled lightly, rubbing his chin as if he were genuinely amused. “And yet, here I am. Funny how fate tends to bring old faces back together, huh? I've been on my best behavior and was released a few weeks ago, so I was rather anxious to say hello to the friend who sent me away.”

  His green eyes flicked to me, locking onto mine with an intensity that made my skin crawl.

  “And you,” he said, his smirk softening into something more calcuting. “You’re the little anomaly everyone’s been whispering about, aren’t you? The Succusbus Demon Lord with the broken code.”

  My shadows curled protectively at my feet as I clenched my fists. “What do you want?”

  Kaiden tilted his head slightly, studying me like I was some rare artifact in a museum. “Want? Oh, sweetheart, it’s not about what I want. It’s about what you have.”

  He gestured around the cavern, his operatives shifting slightly in response. “You’ve been making quite the mess of things, you know that? UNKNOWN thought they could keep this little glitch under wraps, but the problem with secrets is… they always leak.”

  Selene stepped slightly in front of me, her daggers raised, her amber eyes sharp as flint. “You’re wasting your breath. If you wanted to attack, you would’ve done it already.”

  Kaiden raised his eyebrows, his smirk widening. “Smart and pretty. I like you, dagger-girl.”

  Selene didn’t flinch, her eyes locked onto his every movement.

  Kaiden cpped his hands lightly, the sound echoing faintly through the cavern. “Alright, enough introductions. Let’s get to business, shall we?”

  He raised one hand, and in response, the operatives behind him drew their weapons—glitching bdes, crackling energy rifles, and wicked-looking cws that sparked faintly with distorted code.

  “Here’s the deal,” Kaiden said smoothly. “You’re outnumbered. Outgunned. And this Rift? It’s ours. Now, you can py nice and come quietly, or…”

  He snapped his fingers. A faint static hum filled the air, and red targeting dots flickered to life across Devon, Selene, and me.

  “…we can do this the fun way.”

  “MOVE!” Devon roared, swinging his greatsword in a wide arc as the first wave of rogue operatives fired, before the second wave lunged forward.

  Selene was already in motion, her daggers fshing like streaks of silver light as she danced between two attackers, slicing one across the throat and parrying another.

  I instinctively activated Shadow Mirage, summoning three duplicates of myself that scattered in different directions. One drew the attention of two operatives, while another moved to fnk Kaiden himself.

  My real self ducked behind a nearby barricade, shadows swirling violently around me.

  Devon fought like a storm, every swing of his greatsword creating shockwaves that sent operatives staggering backward. But for every one he cut down, two more seemed to take their pce.

  Selene slipped between enemies and striking with precision. But even she was being pushed back, her movements becoming sharper, more desperate.

  Kaiden stood calmly in the background, watching it all unfold with mild amusement.

  “Shadow Maw!” I shouted, smming my hand onto the ground.

  The shadowy wolf emerged, snarling as it lunged toward a cluster of operatives. It ripped one apart before leaping to another, its spectral jaws snapping with feral intensity.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  A net of crackling energy unched from somewhere in the shadows, wrapping around Devon’s chest and pinning his arms. He stumbled, his greatsword falling to the ground with a heavy cng.

  “DEVON!” I screamed, but my shadows recoiled, glitching faintly under the strain of the chaotic energy surging through the cavern.

  Selene’s cry of frustration followed as two operatives tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms behind her back.

  Kaiden strolled forward slowly, his hands csped behind him, his smirk never wavering.

  “See?” he said smoothly. “Wasn’t this easier than fighting to the death?”

  I tried to summon more shadows, but a bst of static energy smmed into my chest, sending me sprawling backward. My HUD flickered violently as error messages flooded my vision.

  Kaiden knelt down beside me, his sharp green eyes locking onto mine.

  “You’re going to be very useful, little Demon Lord,” he said softly. “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you.”

  His hand reached out, his gloved fingers tracing faintly along my jawline. My shadows fred instinctively, but they were weak—flickering, unstable.

  As my vision began to dim, I heard Selene shouting something in the distance—her voice sharp and desperate.

  Then, darkness.