The masked figure's command echoed in Adam's skull. Run again. Don't stop.
The words were hardly necessary.
The moment Adam turned, the swarm of black-eyed things erupted across the spires, their movements spiderlike, their limbs bending too many ways. The oily water beneath them quaked as though something even larger stirred below.
Adam sprinted, his boots pounding against the uneven stone platform. Ahead stretched a tangle of narrow bridges, tilted walkways, and spiraling staircases that seemed impossible in their construction—buildings that leaned at wrong angles, glowing veins of crystal pulsing through their walls.
The city wasn't just old. It was alive.
As Adam ran, walls shifted. Doorways that hadn't been there before opened with a hiss, only to close the moment he passed them. Bridges twisted and stretched, narrowing until his shoulders brushed both sides. The city was rearranging itself like a maze.
And behind him, the swarm poured after him.
Their claws scraped on stone. Their shrieks tore through the fog. Adam didn't dare look back; he could feel them closing in, every step punctuated by their pursuit.
The masked figure darted ahead, impossibly fast, leaping from one platform to another with perfect precision. Adam tried to follow, nearly slipping as one bridge swayed violently beneath his weight.
"Faster!" the masked figure barked.
"I'm trying!" Adam gasped, lungs burning.
One of the creatures surged forward, crawling along the wall beside the bridge. It leapt, claws slashing for Adam's face. He swung the crystal shard he still carried. It connected, sparks flying as the shard buried itself in the creature's chest. The thing convulsed and fell backward into the oily pit, swallowed instantly.
No time to celebrate. Two more took its place.
Adam pushed harder. His legs screamed with every step, but adrenaline drove him forward. The narrow bridge ended at a tower with a spiraling staircase curling upward into the fog. The masked figure didn't hesitate, bounding up it two steps at a time.
Adam followed, taking them three at a time, his breath ragged. The creatures were right behind him, claws scrabbling against the stone.
Halfway up, a voice cut through the chaos.
"Adam!"
He froze.
It was Lena's voice. Faint, strained, but unmistakable.
He twisted his head, scanning the fog. "Lena?!"
The masked figure didn't stop climbing. "Ignore it," they snapped.
Adam's heart thundered. "She's here! I heard her!"
"It's a lure."
But the voice came again. "Adam, help me!"
The sound wasn't behind him. It wasn't ahead. It was inside the tower walls themselves, vibrating through the stone.
Adam hesitated, torn between instinct and the figure's cold warning. That hesitation nearly killed him.
A clawed hand slashed across his back, shredding fabric and skin. He stumbled, pain flaring hot and sharp. The creature lunged for a killing blow, but the masked figure spun, a blade flashing from their sleeve. They slashed the creature's throat in one clean motion, sending it tumbling.
"Run!" the figure barked again.
Adam staggered upward, clutching his back. Blood ran down his spine, warm against the chill air. He ignored it. He ignored the pain. He focused on Lena's voice.
It's real. It has to be real.
The staircase opened into a wide platform near the top of the tower. From here, Adam could see the city stretched endlessly below—a labyrinth of impossible geometry, bridges looping back into themselves, towers bending at angles that defied physics. The crystals pulsed brighter now, as though reacting to him.
The swarm poured onto the platform seconds later.
Adam backed away, cornered at the edge. The oily pit loomed far below, darkness swallowing everything. The creatures fanned out, hissing, their black eyes fixed on him.
The masked figure stood calmly at his side, blade still dripping with ichor. "Show me," they murmured.
Adam's chest heaved. "Show you what?!"
"Why you're different."
The creatures lunged as one.
Adam reacted without thinking. He drove the crystal shard into the ground. The moment it struck stone, the glowing veins all around flared—bright, blinding white.
The creatures shrieked, reeling back as the light seared their eyes. Some lost their footing and fell into the pit, their bodies swallowed by the oily liquid without a ripple.
Adam stared at the glowing shard in his hand. It pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
The masked figure tilted their head. "Interesting."
Before Adam could demand an explanation, the platform shook violently. Cracks split the stone beneath them, and from below came another sound—the same vast, bone-deep rumble he had heard before.
The giant was rising again.
The swarm scattered instantly, retreating into the fog. But Adam barely noticed them, because a new sound filled his ears.
"Adam… help me…"
This time, Lena's voice wasn't faint. It wasn't distorted. It was right behind him.
He spun.
Through a jagged opening in the tower wall, he saw her. Lena. Or someone who looked exactly like her. Pale, shivering, chained to the inside of the stone like it had grown around her. Her eyes locked on his.
"Please," she whispered. "Don't leave me."
Adam's throat went dry. "Lena…"
The masked figure stepped between them, blade raised. "That's not her."
Adam shoved past them, reaching for Lena's chains. His hand brushed the stone—warm, pulsing like flesh.
Lena's eyes flickered, black veins spreading across the whites. Her mouth stretched too wide, revealing those same rows of needle teeth.
Adam recoiled.
The thing wearing Lena's face lunged, chains snapping like paper.
Adam threw himself backward, barely dodging as its claws ripped through the space where his chest had been. The creature screeched, its voice a perfect mimicry of Lena's.
The masked figure slashed, severing one of its limbs. Ichor sprayed across the platform. "Now do you believe me?"
Adam staggered to his feet, heart pounding. The false Lena writhed on the stone, its voice shifting between screams and whispers of his name.
He didn't answer. He couldn't.
Because above them, the fog split.
The giant's massive hand was reaching down, fingers longer than towers, descending toward Adam like the judgment of a god.
The masked figure grabbed his arm. "Run!"