Nate took a step back, his grip tightening around Cleo as the darkness pulsed outward, spreading in waves from Sera's unmoving form. The inky tendrils of shadow writhed like living things, slithering along the ground, creeping over the lifeless husks of those she had already consud.
And it wasn't stopping.
The black mist expanded like a rolling tide, consuming everything in its path. The stone courtyard cracked beneath its touch, the walls of the palace trembled, and beyond them—
Screams.
Shrill, panicked cries echoed through the streets of Ket-Ra, piercing through the night like the wails of the damned. The people had seen the unnatural black fog, but by the ti they realized the danger, it was too late.
A horrifying realization struck Nate like a hamr to the chest.
The shadows had reached their hos.
He could hear them—n, won, children—all wailing in agony as the darkness seeped through their walls, through their skin, devouring them from the inside.
The sa way it had consud the n who had murdered Sera's people.
Only these weren't murderers.
They were just innocent bystanders caught in the storm of her rage.
Nate's heart pounded in his chest. He turned sharply, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.
"SERA, STOP!"
She didn't react.
"SERA, PEOPLE ARE DYING!"
Nothing.
No movent. No flicker of recognition.
She was lost in it—her grief, her anger, the overwhelming force of the power she had unknowingly unleashed.
Nate gritted his teeth, his mind racing for a solution. He could see it now—the way the black smoke curled around her, feeding off her emotions, amplifying them. It wasn't just her rage anymore. The power itself was acting like a parasite, fueling itself on her sorrow and anger, pushing her deeper and deeper into the abyss.
She had no control over it.
And if he didn't stop her soon, there wouldn't be anything left to save.
He clenched his jaw and turned away, cradling Cleo against his chest as he kicked off the ground and shot forward at breakneck speed.
He had to get her out of here first.
Everything around him blurred into streaks of light and shadow as he moved, the wind howling in his ears. He zigzagged through the crumbling city, dodging the creeping tendrils of darkness as they slithered hungrily toward anything still alive.
The city's terrified citizens barely had ti to register his presence before he was gone again, a bolt of lightning streaking across their vision.
Within seconds, he had carried Cleo miles away, placing her safely beyond the reach of the expanding death.
Her small fingers clutched at his tunic, her tear-streaked face filled with terror. "N-Nate… what about Sera?"
He knelt down, brushing strands of hair from her face. "I'll bring her back," he promised, his voice firm, steady, despite the storm raging inside him.
She sniffled, nodding, trusting him without question.
He didn't waste another second.
With a crackle of electricity, he vanished from sight.
Nate reappeared before the palace, his body crackling with the residual energy of his high-speed movent. His eyes locked onto the swirling darkness ahead. The thick black fog had completely engulfed the palace grounds, a shifting, living mass of shadows that twisted and curled unnaturally.
It wasn't just darkness—it was sothing else entirely.
Sothing wrong.
The people who had been forced out of their hos stood frozen in place, staring at the horrifying spectacle before them. Their faces were pale, their hands trembling, their voices hushed whispers of fear.
"…This…" one man murmured, eyes wide with horror. "This is beyond anything I've seen."
Another woman fell to her knees, clutching her head. "The gods are punishing us!"
"Run! Escape the cities before the curse spreads!"
The crowd scattered in every direction, desperate to escape the growing void swallowing their city.
But Nate had no intention of running.
His gaze hardened as he took a step forward, standing defiantly at the edge of the abyss.
Then he called out once more.
"SERA!"
His voice echoed through the empty streets, cutting through the unnatural silence like a blade.
But still—no response.
His fists clenched, his body tensing.
Fine.
If she wouldn't co back to her senses on her own—
Then he'd have to go in and drag her out.
With a final breath, Nate shot forward, vanishing into the darkness.
Nate surged forward, his body cutting through the suffocating blackness like a blade. But sothing was wrong.
His speed—
It was gone.
He was running, but it felt like he was wading through thick, invisible tar. His movents were sluggish, his muscles fighting against an unseen force that wrapped around his legs and arms, dragging him down, holding him back. He had never felt anything like this before.
Nothing had ever slowed him down.
Not in a fight. Not in a storm. Not even when he was injured and bleeding out.
But this?
This thing—this unnatural, living darkness—was restricting his speed in a way that made no sense.
His teeth clenched as he forced himself forward, step by step, breath by breath. The air was heavy, pressing against him, and the deeper he moved into the abyss, the more suffocating it beca.
"Didn't she just fucking get her powers?!"
A fresh wave of shadows pulsed outward, curling around him, wrapping around his arms, his legs, his torso. They coiled like serpents, slithering into his ears, into his mouth, trying to invade him, to beco part of him.
He gagged, twisting violently as the tendrils of darkness slithered down his throat.
No. Fuck no.
His strength hadn't diminished. Not even slightly. He could feel it thrumming beneath his skin, waiting to be unleashed.
With a furious growl, he flexed his entire body, his muscles tensing, and—
BOOM!
The shadows shattered, bursting apart like brittle glass. The force of his release sent a shockwave rippling outward, pushing the encroaching darkness back, but only for a mont.
The black tendrils recoiled, shifting, watching.
Then they surged forward again.
Nate didn't give them the chance.
The mont he broke free, he exploded forward, his speed reigniting in a single, blinding burst. His body blurred, lightning crackling in his wake as he tore through the consuming void, dodging the writhing mass of tendrils trying to latch onto him.
Sera was close.
He could feel her.
But the closer he got—
The harder it beca to move.
His speed flickered, slowed, and then—
Stopped.
His feet hit the ground with a dead weight.
His legs wouldn't lift.
His body—his entire body—felt like it was being dragged into the earth.
The darkness around him grew thicker, denser, pressing down on his shoulders, sinking into his pores.
Then—
Pain.
A white-hot, soul-crushing agony that spread through his veins like wildfire.
His entire body convulsed as he fell to one knee, gasping.
It felt like sothing was inside him.
Thousands—no, millions—of tiny, writhing things crawled beneath his skin, burrowing into his flesh, sinking into his bones. He could feel them moving, wriggling, biting, consuming.
It was like ants.
Millions of them.
Swarming, feasting, devouring.
A strangled scream tore from his throat.
His fingers clawed at his arms, at his chest, anywhere, trying to rip the invisible invaders out of him, trying to get them off, but there was nothing to grab, nothing to pull.
It was inside.
Inside him.
His vision blurred.
His breath ca in ragged gasps.
His mind scread at him to move, to fight, to break free—
But his body wouldn't respond.
He could feel it now.
The abyss.
It wasn't just around him.
It was in him.
And it was winning.
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