Frank shivered as the frigid wind whipped around him, a stark contrast to the humid heat of Guangzhou they'd left behind moments ago. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the darkness that enveloped them. The air felt dry, almost brittle, as if it might crack with each breath.
As his vision cleared, Frank took in their surroundings. They stood in what appeared to be an ancient, derelict town square. Crumbling stone buildings loomed on all sides, their once-grand facades now worn and pitted by time. Cobblestones, uneven, paved the ground beneath their feet.
"Where the hell are we?" Alan whispered as he hiccupped, his voice tight with fear.
Frank didn't answer. His attention was caught by the shadows that seemed to writhe on the walls of the buildings. They were darker than the night itself, moving in ways that defied natural laws. The shifting darkness never failed to send shivers down his spine.
Ollie's sharp intake of breath drew Frank's gaze. The young agent was crouched near a broken fountain, his fingers tracing deep gouges in the stone. They were markings of what cold weapons would do such as a sword.
"We're lucky." Ollie murmured. "At least they had the decency to throw us into a rift that's been cleaned out already, or should I say mostly cleaned out."
Frank moved closer, noting the fresh chips of stone scattered around the fountain's base. As his eyes adjusted further, he began to see more signs of conflict. A wooden cart lay overturned nearby sliced in half, its contents spilled across the cobblestones. What looked like claw marks scored the walls of a nearby building.
The wind picked up, carrying with it the faint sound of metal scraping against stone. Frank's hand instinctively went to his weapon.
"We're not alone here," he said quietly, scanning the shadows for movement.
Frank fumbled for his phone, his fingers clumsy in the biting cold. He turned on the phone's flashlight and swept it across the writhing shadows, but the shadows remained stubbornly dark.
The metal scraping grew louder, echoing off the crumbling stone walls. Frank's heart pounded in his chest as he strained to pinpoint the source of the sound.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the inky blackness. Frank's breath caught in his throat as he took in the sight of the creature before them. It stood on four spindly legs, its body a grotesque mass of protruding bones and leathery skin. Its head swung towards them, jaws parting to reveal rows of jaw-like teeth. A string of viscous drool hung from its maw.
"Oh shit, oh shit, maaan," Alan whimpered, stumbling backward.
The beast's muscles tensed, ready to spring. In a blur of motion, it launched itself at Ollie. Frank's hand flew to his weapon, but before he could draw, A rugged shotgun materialized in Ollie's hands, conjured from thin air. Without hesitation, Ollie raised the weapon and fired. The blast released a shockwave and echoed through the square, and the creature's upper half disintegrated with only its lower half remaining, slamming into the side of a nearby building.
Silence fell, broken only by the sound of crumbling stone as the beast's body slid to the ground from the wall.
Ollie lowered the shotgun, his expression grim. "That one was weak," he muttered, his eyes scanning the shadows for any sign of movement.
Frank stared at Ollie, his mind reeling whether there would be more of those grotesque things—certainly there would be. Before he could form a question, Ollie turned and held out the shotgun to Alan.
"Here," Ollie said, pressing the weapon into Alan's trembling hands. "Take this."
Frank noticed strange white engravings etched into the shotgun's barrel and stock. They seemed to pulse faintly in the darkness, emitting a soft, otherworldly glow. Ollie handed Alan a dozen shells, all with the same white engravings.
"And for you, just stick to the rifle." Ollie handed him the rifle, along with a couple of magazines with dim blue glowing etches.
"Let's move. We have to find an exit" Ollie tossed a marble into the air, it fell to the right, pointing to the direction of the castle.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"I don't like the look of that," Frank muttered in a low voice.
"Well tough luck, we gotta follow it. Both of you, follow behind me a couple of steps behind. Make sure to you place your firearms where threats may lurk." Ollie demanded.
Frank blankly stared at Ollie, "Did you forget we're police officers?"
"Hard to tell when you're always making trouble, I thought you'd be a criminal," Ollie's lips curled into a cocky grin as twin Bizon submachine guns materialized in his grasp. The cylinder magazines sported bright blue and crimson designs.
"Time to move," Ollie declared, striding purposefully in the direction indicated by the marble.
As soon as they moved, a dozen or so of the same beasts appeared in front of Ollie.
"Alan, protect your perimeter. I'll handle this!" Ollie shouted.
Alan and Frank put themselves on a wall nearby a broken cart, scanning the corners and where threats may appear while closely monitoring Ollie's situation.
Ollie had jumped up to one of roofs of the houses on the side, firing the dual SMGs at the same time, all the while recoil seemed to not have any affect on him. The bright blue submachine gun unleashed a torrent of dim blue streaks, each trail homing in on a ghoul. Meanwhile, the crimson weapon emitted no visible projectiles, yet countless rays materialized from nowhere, piercing through the creatures' forms, tracking their every movement. Half of the beasts lay dead upon the barrage. The cylinder magazines of each SMG flew off, and new cylinders appeared out of thin air and slotted themselves into their place.
Alan suddenly detected movement near the wall they were pressed against. A crazed creature came barreling towards them, its eyes wild with determination rip them apart.
Frank helped up his rifle, taking careful aim at the beast. He was familiar with the rifle he was given and he knew there was no auto-aim magic applied onto it. As soon as the cross hair matched the beast, he squeezed the trigger. The beast froze in place.
"Alan! Now!" Frank shouted.
Alan lurched forward, aiming the shotgun in the correct direction before pulling the trigger. A familiar shockwave rippled through the area as the creature disintegrated from the invisible force.
Frank watched in awe as Ollie unleashed another barrage from his SMGs. The air crackled with energy as beams of light tracked the remaining beasts, their leathery hides offering no protection against the onslaught. In mere seconds, the creatures were split in half, their bodies crumpled to the ground.
As the echoes of gunfire faded, Frank and Alan regrouped with Ollie. The silence that followed felt almost unnatural after the chaos of battle.
"What the hell,?" Frank bellowed, his voice tight with tension. "I thought you said this rift was cleaned out. Why are there still so many of whatever those things are?"
Ollie gave him a blank look. "This?" he said, gesturing at the fallen beasts. "This is nothing. A real rift would have hundreds if not thousands of these crawling around. Besides, didn't you notice how easily they died?"
"What the hell is a rift anyway, huh?!" Frank demanded with his features twisted with rage.
"You want to know what a rift is?" Ollie laughed, "You, who only has half of of his feet into Aur want to know what a rift is? Don't make me laugh."
"We're in here now, can't we at least know?" Alan asked, seeming to de-escalate the situation.
"I don't know either. They've been here since I've joined this stupid magical or mystical or whatever you wanna call it society." Ollie seethed with rage.
This was the first time Frank saw him with so much emotion.
Ollie continued, "But what we know is that something out there, or this place, or wherever we are now wants something in our dimension. Some of the higher ups saw them before, and they barely managed to get out alive after a fight. For as long as I've been told, the purpose of Aur is to protect Earth and our loved ones against whoever is invading our world. That's why that man… Yu Mo said he didn't want to get civilian blood on his hands."
Frank felt his stomach churn. It was a realization that something much bigger than any of them was at play.
"Frank, you're talented. But you need to quit your obsession. Either become a citizen or just leave our world." Ollie turned his back, tossed the red marble again, then continued walking to the castle.
Frank frowned, unsure of what to say about the information he just heard. His captain had always said if he just got his head out of his ass, he would've made Toronto one of the safest places on Earth. His obsession hindered him from doing his actual job, only meeting the minimum requirements with ease. He felt a pang of guilt.
Looking at Alan, he had a similar expression as himself. Alan tried to sip a drink from a beer bottle only to realize there was nothing there. Everyone's dealing with something. Ollie was also definitely dealing with something. Maybe killing the monsters inside a rift was his way of dealing with his own problems.
Frank shook his head, shrugging off the negativity. They had other matters to attend to, such as to survive this goddamned place.
The group pressed on, moving through the village. The silence grew oppressive, broken only by their footsteps on the ancient cobblestones. Frank noticed the frigid wind had died down, leaving an unsettling stillness in its wake.
As they walked, Frank's eyes darted from shadow to shadow, expecting more creatures to emerge at any moment. But nothing came. The emptiness was almost worse than the fighting, leaving too much room for his imagination to run wild. Alan's hiccups were also getting more frequent, a sign of what's to come.
After what felt like hours but was likely only minutes, they reached the edge of the village. Before them loomed a massive castle, its dark silhouette blotting out the starless sky. Frank's heart sank as he saw what lay between them and the fortress—a broken bridge spanning a deep chasm of dark nothingness below.