Odyssey Of Survival

A deafening crack echoed through the darkness as Nate slammed his hand against the cold, unyielding ground.

Pain exploded through his fingers, but he didn't care. He gritted his teeth, his breathing ragged, his entire body trembling from the excruciating agony still pulsing beneath his skin. His insides burned as if they had been seared raw by the invading shadows, his limbs heavy, his vision flickering—but he refused to stop.

His mind screamed at him, warning him that he was at his limit. But limits meant nothing now.

With a furious snarl, he forced himself to stand, every movement a battle against the crushing force weighing him down. He staggered forward, one agonizing step at a time, his legs barely responding, his body screaming in protest.

"Move, dammit."

He clenched his jaw, burning every last ounce of his mental energy, pushing his body beyond its limits. Every step felt like trudging through quicksand, but he refused to stop.

And then—

Through the swirling mass of darkness, he saw it.

A figure.

Barely visible, just a shifting blur in the suffocating void.

Sera.

She was standing in the center of it all, her body motionless, her head tilted downward as if she were lost in an endless abyss. The shadows twisted around her, tendrils of black smoke coiling and writhing, pulsating like a living entity that breathed and fed on everything around it.

Her presence felt wrong.

Not just powerful—wrong.

Like something had taken hold of her soul and was refusing to let go.

Nate's breath hitched.

He didn't think. He reacted.

He reached out, his fingers trembling as they stretched toward her through the thick darkness. The moment his hand brushed against her shoulder—

Everything changed.

Her body jolted as if struck by lightning, her eyes snapping wide open, pupils dilating.

A sharp gasp tore from her lips as her surroundings finally came into focus. Her gaze flickered to Nate, her expression blank at first, then shifting into something fragile, something horrified.

Nate felt the exact moment her consciousness returned.

The instant she realized.

The darkness evaporated.

Like a tidal wave crashing in reverse, the shadows withdrew, spiraling back toward her like a collapsing storm. The suffocating air thinned, the weight on Nate's shoulders lifted, and for the first time since this nightmare began, the city became visible again.

But with the light came the truth.

Hundreds of bodies lay sprawled across the ground.

People.

Not warriors.

Not enemies.

Innocents.

Men, women, children.

Lifeless. Mummified.

Nothing left of them but withered husks, skin shriveled and tight against their bones, their mouths frozen open in silent, eternal screams.

Sera's breath hitched.

Her hands shook violently.

She took a step back, her knees giving out as she collapsed to the ground.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

"No…" Her voice was barely above a whisper. Then louder. "No… no, no, no—"

Her hands clutched her head as if trying to rip the reality away, as if denying it would make it disappear. But it wouldn't.

It was real.

They were dead.

And she had killed them.

Her entire body trembled as sobs racked through her, her fingers curling into her scalp, pulling at her hair in sheer desperation. "I—I didn't mean to… I—"

Her gaze lifted to Nate, her expression shattered.

"I'm sorry," she choked out, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry."

Nate kneeled beside her, his expression unreadable. He wanted to tell her it wasn't her fault. That she didn't mean for this to happen.

But those words felt empty.

Because the truth was—

It had happened.

And nothing he said would bring them back.

"It's okay now," he murmured, his voice steady.

But in his heart, he knew—

It would never be okay again.

Sera would never be okay again.

And as she knelt there, trembling, drowning in her own sorrow, Nate suddenly felt it.

That presence.

Behind him.

A feeling so suffocating it sent ice crawling down his spine.

His muscles tensed as a whisper of something ancient, something wrong, slithered through his mind.

It didn't speak.

And yet, somehow—

He understood.

It wanted Sera dead.

It was telling him—

"She should have died in that tunnel."

Nate's grip on Sera tightened as his jaw locked.

And then—

For the first time—

He saw it.

The thing that had been watching. Following. Waiting.

The figure that emerged was almost human—

But only in the most disturbing way.

Its body was skeletal, its flesh dry and gray, stretched so tightly over its bones that it looked mummified. Its arms were long, unnatural, with jagged claws extending from its fingers, glistening with some dark, poisonous substance.

But the worst part—

PThe part that made Nate's breath hitch—

pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp how it moved.

It had no legs.

Its torso ended in a jagged, diagonal cut, as if it had been severed in half.

And yet—

It floated effortlessly, gliding through the air with unnatural grace, as if the laws of physics meant nothing to it.

It didn't make a sound.

It just watched.

Staring at Nate.

Waiting.

The air turned ice-cold in an instant.

Nate barely had time to react before it moved.

A blur of motion—faster than anything he'd seen before.

His instincts screamed at him.

Move!

Without hesitation, he lunged forward, wrapping an arm around Sera's waist and yanking her off the ground. She gasped in shock as her feet left the earth, her breath hitching at the sudden burst of speed.

"Nate—?!"

But he didn't answer.

He couldn't.

Because only he could see it.

And it was coming.

His legs burned as he bolted through the ruined city, his body already strained from everything that had happened. His speed wasn't at its peak—he could feel it. His muscles were sluggish, his breath ragged, his lightning barely flickering. The lingering effects of Sera's darkness still clung to him, slowing him down.

And he was carrying her.

Sera was light, but every extra ounce mattered. Every bit of weight was another fraction of a second lost.

Then—

Cleo.

As Nate dashed past her, he didn't even think—his arm shot out, grabbing her by the waist and hoisting her up against his chest.

"NATE—?!" Cleo shrieked, her small hands gripping his shirt in shock.

Still, he didn't stop. He couldn't stop.

He could hear it behind them.

The thing was relentless, gliding through the air as if it were weightless, undeterred by terrain, by physics—by anything. The sound of its movement was eerie, a whispering, distorted rustle that sent shivers down his spine.

And it was fast.

Unnaturally fast.

Even at full speed, Nate wouldn't have been confident in outrunning it. But now?

Now, he was slowing down.

His grip on both Sera and Cleo tightened as his breathing grew heavier.

He needed a plan.

He needed to shake this thing off.

But how?

His eyes darted around frantically. The city was barely standing—crumbled walls, fallen pillars, the remains of houses destroyed by Sera's outburst. There were places to hide, but none that would keep them safe for long.

I can't keep running forever.

His vision blurred at the edges.

His stamina was dropping.

His speed was dropping.

And the creature—

It was gaining.