”Stay safe, Nyx!” Obsidio called after me.

  ”…!” I casually waved back to the vehicle. The Hova’s door slid closed and it took off back into the sky.

  I got them to drop me off on the edge of the Quetzl so I could run by a few places on my way back to Tlacauli. Obsidio tried to convince me to stick around for drinks, but the sooner I got out of there, the better. No way I wanted to get sucked into whatever schemes Miss Thariya was undoubtedly cooking up. I didn’t trust the look in her golden eyes.

  I made my way down the parking garage, exiting out onto the streets of Quetzl. A heavy drizzle of rain pounded down on me. Crazy it’d only been five or six hours since I was up on the wall… what time was it anyway? Two- three in the morning? Something like that? Surely I could go back to the apartment now, right?

  The streets of Quetzl were as crowded as ever. Neon flashed and party-goers in elaborate attire and costumes hopped from one bar to another. Obsidio and gang would’ve blended in perfectly here. Music poured out into the night sky, contesting the thunder roaring above. Even though it was past midnight, that didn’t stop the craze. The party never stopped in Quetzl.

  If Quetzl was this annoying to be in, I couldn’t even image living in Strata. The entire district was like this. Not to mention bigger egos with far more wealthy people there. Strata was right next to throne and the corporate hot-seat of Hyperion, after-all.

  I took a deep breath, air flowing steadily through my mask. It somewhat filtered out unpleasant scents and stale air- Oh, right, my mask. I ducked my head, hiding it in my hood. The Ebonshroud returned to its tar-like state with a thought and crawled over my face, shifting back into its featureless black shape.

  By the time I lifted my head, it was back to normal. I brushed a few loose strands of dark hair back into my hood, ignoring the ache in my head. I wasn’t too close to overdrafting Ebonshroud, but it’d been a long day, and I was more than ready for some rest.

  I stopped by a coffee shop still open on the way to the pet store. I was planning on getting something caramely, but I fell just short on Meal Chips. I’d need to get some more. Instead, I settled for a strong black blend. Heavenly, as always.

  I moved to the pet store, Axo’s Lot. It was one of the only pet stores open 24/7 nearby, and I took full advantage of that. I moved through the aisles to get the best catnip I could find. I couldn’t quite remember if Pursius liked Moewthful or Purrfect Blend, so I just got a can of both.

  “Haah… Will that be all?” A tired-looking clerk asked me. His eyes dropped to my coffee cup with a look of envy, as was right. Coffee was more than enough to evoke such a strong emotion.

  ”…” I nodded to the man and passed over the jar of catnip along with my shard.

  ”Ugh, another shard.” The clerk’s expression dropped. Was it really that much more of a hassle? He grabbed it from me and proceeded to check me out. “Have a good night.”

  ”You. Too.” I grabbed the shard and catnip, tossing them both into my pocket. I walked out to the street. Now I just needed to go to Pursius. He’d probably still be awake-

  ZRAK!

  Lightning flashed just down the street, momentarily blinding me. Thunder boomed, pounding against my eardrums. For one horrifying moment, the world went silent. Then screams erupted from all around me. They were quiet at first, but steadily picked up as my hearing returned.

  I turned around, watching lightning freeze in place for a few moments. It was an abyssal black, unlike anything natural. Its edges looked frayed like it tore at reality by its mere presence. The lightning condensed on the ground, turning into a diamond-shaped crack in space--a rift.

  A mother and child were pulled in by the sudden rift, the air and gravity around it momentarily destabilized around the portal. The mother grabbed her child protectively, though the kid was ripped out of her arms by the rift entirely. She slipped, tumbling toward it.

  “MOOOOMMM-“ Her scream abruptly cut off and she fell fully through the rift, traveling across space and time.

  “T-T-TYYYRRRRAAAA!” A heartbreaking wail came from the mother. She collapsed to the pavement, immediately and entirely breaking down.

  A few shouts came from around. Most of them sounded excited. People gathered to stared at the rift, completely uncaring about the child that’d just been sucked through and the continuous agonized wails of the mother. Only a few people around even moved to call the Bureau.

  Even if help arrived in the next five minutes, though, there was little hope for the kid. Rifts weren’t playgrounds. Monsters roved them, but even more dangerous was the thick miasma contaminating them. The kid was as good as dead…

  My mask reflected back in my coffee. A hazy memory from a time long, long past replayed in my mind. What had I said at that time? What had I done? Regardless, her smile had been so radiant back then.

  I looked up, seeing the pure sorrow on the mother’s face. It made my heart ache in an unfamiliar way. She knew, just as most of us here did, that kids had no chance of surviving a rift- that her kid had no chance of surviving. It was a look of total despair, like her world had been ripped out from in front of her.

  Not even adults could fully withstand without the system’s protection or specialized equipment. A kid? The miasma would tear through her in a fraction of the time, depending on the severity on the other side of the rift. Her kid’s chances were as good as nonexistent.

  I bit my lip hard enough for it to bleed. My head throbbed with memories and shattered oaths. I- was I doing this? I moved toward the mother. Normal people couldn’t withstand the miasma, true. I wasn’t exactly normal, though, now was I? Probably wouldn’t affect me much anyway.

  And if I didn’t make it through this? Going out trying to be a hero once more wasn’t so bad. Especially if it meant saving a kid. I disliked them, but Elysia always did love children. For her, if nothing else, I could try.

  Thankfully, the rift looked low-level. Maybe D, but probably F. The edge-tearing around it and the size would be much more apparent if it were higher. Given the situation? She had a chance if I moved now. A tiny one, but a chance nonetheless.

  I patted the woman on the shoulder and handed her my coffee. “Keep. Warm.”

  “H-huh?” The kneeling mother’s desperate cries cut off in shock. Her trembling hands grabbed the coffee, likely on instinct. It’d give her something to focus on, if nothing else.

  Before I could second-guess myself, I stepped through the rift. My vision went black and an unpleasant sucking sensation covered my entire body. Intense vertigo struck me, confusing up and down, left and right. I fell, then stood, then crumpled into a tiny ball.

  I slammed into a stone brick floor, skidding across it for a moment before my momentum stopped. I flicked to my feet in an instant, drawing Ebonshroud out of my skin to form a shortsword. The sword felt comfortable in my grip. Familiar.

  The rift exited out into a small workshop of some kind. Thankfully abandoned. The monsters hadn’t been drawn here yet. Looked roughly… industrial? Pipes along the walls hummed with flowing steam, and gas lamps provided faint illumination.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The air felt stale- felt wrong. There was a subtle pressure against my skin trying to force its way into my body. It was like a thousand threads slowly cutting into me—the miasma contaminating this place. Bearable for now, but it’d only grow worse with time-

  The door swung open. A person-sized teddy bear lurched into the room. The teddy bear’s paws were tipped with sharp claws, and its maw was wide open with serrated teeth. Oil clung to its fur, and stuffing poked out from cuts like it was some toy made in hell.

  It lunged at me without any hesitation, claws splayed wide. I took a proper sword stance and met the bear’s claws with my sword. String Form, Garrote Riposte. It was a simple, though effective technique.

  My blade caught the bear's claws, forcing them to glance off to the side. I kicked out at its leg. My foot sank into its plush stuffing, making the oily bear stumble. With its posture broken, it couldn’t react to me. I brought my shortsword in an upward slash. My blade slid along its neck, cutting open a trail before cleanly decapitating the bear in one sharp strike.

  The headless teddy bear dropped to the ground; its head joined its body a beat later. I took a breath and watched the door for any other attackers. For the moment, nothing. There was movement out in the distance though. The teddy bear wasn’t alone in this place.

  I closed the door, shoving the teddy bear’s heavy body up against it to stall anything coming in, just in case. It’d probably only buy me a few seconds at most, though the bear was surprisingly heavy.

  With that taken care of, I looked around the room. The child I came for sat under a work table, rocking gently back and forth. Her small form trembled uncontrollably. Her eyes were entirely dilated, staring off into space. Cuts covered her body, rapidly worsening with each moment as she turned bloody. Sharp whines came out quietly; she was far too out of it to fully vocalize the pain.

  She was already being hit by the miasma hard. Poor kid. She made no reaction when I approached, not even when I waved a hand in front of her face. I gently put my hand on her shoulder, careful to avoid the worse of her cuts.

  I focused, pouring out the Ebonshroud within my body. It moved from me, flowing down my limbs onto the girl in a protective layer. My headache grew worse and worse with each passing moment. The threads cutting at me pressed in deeper and deeper without Ebonshroud’s protective layer. It still wasn’t drawing blood, but I could feel it trying.

  First, the dark ooze spread up to her face, then her head, then down to her torso, and eventually her entire body. Her shaking and rocking settled down significantly as the substance took the brunt of the miasma for her. Her breathing calmed down to slow and heavy breathing. Out like a light.

  I manipulated the ooze with razor sharp focus. I carefully filled in her wounds, halting the worse of her bleeding. She was just a step above a critical state. Stabilized for now, but if I had to pull the Ebonshroud off, there was no telling how long she'd last. Minutes at best, moments at worst.

  Once she was fully taken care of, I collapsed beside her. It’d been a long, long time since I used so much Ebonshroud at once. I felt so- so empty. I really had gotten weak, huh? Heh, heh… ugh, this sucked. My everything hurt, and insidious laughter lurked at the depths of mind.

  The contamination didn’t help either. My skin felt unbearably tight. My nerves ached with discomfort. I looked down at my hands. They were slowly but surely taking on a ghastly shade. My teeth started to ache. I licked at my canines. They were noticeably sharper, as if designed specifically to rip and tear.

  The miasma thankfully stopped skin deep, but my symptoms were growing worse by the second. I was already in a bad state beforehand. I needed to get through this quickly before I did something I regretted. Once I was out of here- right, Pursius would have a dose ready for me. Just focus.

  I ignored the sensations and pushed myself up, grabbing the kid to give her a piggyback ride. The black ooze shakily stretched out, creating a harness to keep her on my back. I’d have to be doubly careful of ambushes now.

  Rifts… to get out of this, the core of it—what Bastion called the boss monster—would have to die. The best way to get out of here would be to wait for a fireteam of Wardens to come clear it… There was no telling how long that’d be, though. I wouldn't last forever against the miasma. I didn’t have the protection of the OS like they did.

  My Ebonshroud reserves were also running low. I maybe had enough for a few daggers. Things weren’t looking good… but at least it was a low-level rift. Based on how it looked when I entered, and the teddy bear monster? Probably Feeble rank. I shouldn’t be in too much danger.

  I couldn’t wait for the Wardens to come save us. The rift was also low rank. The solution to my problem was obvious: I’d just have to clear it myself. Definitely not how I saw tonight ending. Heh- Kali would be so surprised when I told her this is what happened after she kicked me out of the apartment.

  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel alive. My heart pounded with adrenaline. Memories of a time long past started to surge, only suppressed by my pressing need to make a move. It'd been a while since I felt so pressured. It was relaxing, almost. So much better than all that peace stuff.

  I gave my shortsword a light, testing swing and moved for the door. My muscles felt stiff like they were resisting the motion. Worse yet, I could feel a deep-seated hunger starting to rise within me. Instincts usually suppressed reared to go, desperate to hunt. Laughter pulled at the back of my throat, though it was clogged up by my condition.

  The door led into a wider workshop beyond, with conveyor belts carrying stuffed limbs and machines creating a maze-like structure. Gas lamps along the walls lit up the space, casting long shadows. Between the machines and conveyor belts, I could hear the sounds of light shuffling steps.

  Spider webs, strings, and strands of silk covered everything in a fine layer like the workshop hadn’t been cleaned in a very, very long time. They wrapped around everything, somehow not halting the operations of the place in the slightest.

  On the far side of the workshop, a grand staircase led up toward a second floor and a balcony looking down. The boss monster could be anywhere, but something told me it was up those stairs. No telling what it was either. It could be a stuffed teddy just like the last one I killed, or it could be the master of this workshop. I hoped for the prior. I didn’t need something living to test my patience more.

  I moved forward, keeping my eyes peeled for threats. It was a bit hard to focus with all the moving pars. Conveyor belts quietly whirled and carried parts all over. Stuffing puffed through a machine, turning gritty and oily with each motion. Claws sharpened on an auto-grindstone, turning even deadlier.

  Around the corner, a stuffed dog pounded on a broken machine with its paws. While its stuffing didn’t do any damage, its deadly-looking claws definitely did. They cleaved through the thin metal, tearing out cogs and clockwork mechanisms. The bipedal dog went still in shock, its shoulder drooping tragically.

  I moved forward, lunging for its head with my shortsword outstretched. Its claw caught in the machine, forcing it to hold still even though it noticed me. My blade easily cut through its head in a spray of gritty stuffing.

  Definitely F rank. The stuffed animals were too weak. They looked like they were entirely maxed out in their claws, though completely lacking in intelligence, defense, and agility. What was the point of being strong if they died in one hit and were too slow to strike back?

  Regardless, it was good news for me as I moved through the maze, clearing out scattered toy animals. There were only a dozen of them, each more difficult than the last. Not because they were dangerous, but because the miasma rapidly ate at me. I drifted in and out of focus, practically teleporting around.

  One moment, I was in the workshop, sword deep into a teddy bear. Then, back in a training yard, sword swinging for the ten thousandth time today. I walked up a staircase, my vision fading at the edges. Then, before a roaring crowd of onlookers as I fought in a fierce battle. The next, on the balcony overlooking the workshop, chopping at webs blocking my way forward.

  The situation wasn’t dire yet. Ebonshroud hid the kid from my senses just as it hid her from the contamination. The creatures here were also closer to constructs too, not actually living. Even if my focus faded, my cursed instincts weren’t starting to overload me, at least.

  I summoned a small dagger of Ebonshroud, stabbing it into my thigh. The familiar pain made my mind sharper, clearing up the hallucinations. My flesh pulled and pushed at the intruding dagger, attempting to heal around it to no avail. I headed down a grand hallway on the far side of the second floor.

  Still, I found my mind drifting. My mind drifted to home. Part of me cheered in excitement that I wasn’t there anymore. Another, larger part feared this was all just a dream. That I was actually still there, wandering the shattered land as just another mindless beast. That even this workshop and the stuffed monsters were all a delusion to make the pain go away.

  Being able to dream, though… That was pretty great, yep. If I woke up and found myself back there? I could feel it in my bones. It’d break me. It was a faint wish, but if this was a dream? I never wanted to wake up.

  A mechanical chime echoed in the back of my skull.

  [Error! Error! Non-awakened! OCP: Fatal!]

  [Scanning…]

  [Ether Compatibility: High!]

  [Code: OP-777]

  [Aux-Code: PSL-1]

  [Awakening…]

  The mechanical tones repeated in my head, feeling ever so pleasant. My world tossed and turned. A light seemed to push back the encroaching darkness. The pressure on my body from the miasma lifted and I found myself slumped against an ornate door. Where- I felt the weight of the kid on my back. She was still breathing lightly. At least there was some good news.

  [OS Initiating…]

  [Code: W3L-C0M3]

  [Fight! Survive! Thrive!]