Neither combatant made the first move. They stood in silent readiness, their stances speaking volumes. Nile leaned lazily, his posture more reminiscent of a guy loitering at a bus stop than someone about to spar. His feet were spread just enough to provide balance, and his hands hovered at chest and face height, held there more out of habit than discipline. His cocky expression made it clear he was banking on his height and reach to carry him through -just like it had in the past.

Dom, by contrast, was a study in focus. Her weight balanced perfectly in a forward stance, her arms raised in the tight, controlled position of a Muay Thai fighter. Her breathing was steady, her expression sharp and analytical. She knew his reach was an advantage, and that he’d exploit it. But she also knew his weaknesses. While Nile could easily tag her head with his longer limbs, her strategy was to focus on his midsection and legs, whittling him down where it counted.

She shifted her stance ever so slightly, and Nile, almost on instinct, adjusted his own. The small movement turned their standoff into a scene from an old Western -a gunfighter’s pose, where the combatants waited to see who would flinch first. Tension hung heavy in the air, the unspoken pressure urging one of them to break the stillness.

For a few seconds, the fight played out in their minds, imagined sequences of strikes, counters, and openings flashing behind their eyes. Dom’s jaw tightened as she visualized every move Nile might attempt, every counter she’d execute. Meanwhile, Nile grew restless, the waiting game fraying his patience.

And then, like a coiled spring snapping loose, he made the first move.

He lunged forward, a swift jab aimed at Dom’s chest. She sidestepped easily, her counterstrike grazing his ribs. The room erupted into cheers and laughter as the match began in earnest, their movements fluid and familiar.

“Point to Dom!” Kyp called, having seen the strike land. “Fight!”

For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed. But in the back of Dom’s mind, the system’s words lingered, casting a shadow over the playful sparring match.

Nile’s lead hand darted forward, aiming a lazy but calculated strike at Dom’s head. She barely moved, her body a blur as her knuckles deflected his attack with a sharp flick of her wrist. Simultaneously, her other hand drove forward, knuckles raking down the center of his chest with a controlled but firm strike -delivered like a knock on a particularly stubborn door.

Nile stumbled back, a sharp intake of breath betraying his surprise. "Ouch!" He rubbed at his chest, wincing. "Take it easy, huh? That hurt. You win."

Dom tilted her head, a feigned expression of innocence crossing her face. "Oops, my bad. Sorry."

The class snickered softly until Dom shot them a warning look that silenced them instantly.

“Point to Dom. Chest strike,” Darrel called, his voice steady with authority. He stood tall, the senior-most student and the appointed referee for this bout. The other referees, Kyp and Tracy, nodded in agreement, their expressions reflecting admiration and a little sympathy for Nile.

As Nile continued rubbing his chest, Dom observed him carefully. His movements were looser than usual, his strikes less precise. It wasn’t just the rust he’d joked about -something deeper seemed off.

"Hey Darrel, run them through freestyle for a while," Dom said, her voice casual but carrying the weight of command. "I’ll be right back. Class, behave."

She turned, bowed formally to the mat, and grabbed Nile by the elbow. Before he could protest, she was leading him out of the room and down the hall.

“Wow, twice in the same day,” Dom said as they stopped. Her arms crossed, her posture rigid. “Will wonders never cease. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be out with her? Oh, wait -you had a project, right? Mr. Jacob’s if I recall?”

Her words were sharp, each one aimed with precision, but Nile just laughed, though his grin didn’t quite reach his eyes. "You look so cute when you’re angry. Your nose scrunches up like a bunny rabbit."

Dom’s fist shot out, landing a light but pointed jab to his arm. "Keep it up, and I’ll give you something to scrunch about."

“Noted.” Nile rubbed his arm with an exaggerated wince, a half-smile still lingering on his face. "Listen, Dom, I—"

The air shimmered. A faint buzz crackled at the edges of Dom’s awareness, like static from an old radio dialed between stations. Her breath caught as the hallway around them dimmed, its colors bleeding into muted grays. The world felt… wrong.

Nile’s grin evaporated, replaced by an intensity that matched the growing unease clawing at her chest. "Did you feel that?" His voice, usually so confident, wavered as he barely whispered.

Dom opened her mouth, but no words came. Instead, a sudden wave of heat rolled over her, followed by a chill that left goosebumps crawling down her arms. The space around them rippled, warping as if reality itself were fraying.

System Notification

Warning: Unknown Entity Detected

Status: Dormant.

Effect: Connection Instability.

The hallway twisted violently, a kaleidoscope of colors and emotions exploding around them. Dom’s hands instinctively reached for Nile’s, gripping tightly as the ground beneath them fell away. They were weightless, caught in a chaotic swirl of fractured reality.

"Nile," Dom whispered, her voice trembling. "What’s happening?"

"I don’t know," he admitted, his tone tight with strain. "I didn’t mean for this -I just-"

The world shifted again, the swirling void solidifying into something else entirely. The ground beneath them cracked and groaned, the air heavy with the scent of burning metal. They stood on a barren expanse of jagged, sun-scorched earth. Above them stretched a blood-red sky, swirling with clouds that churned like an angry sea.

In the distance, shadowy figures stirred, their forms blurry and indistinct.

Dom turned to Nile, her eyes blazing with fear and accusation. "What do you mean, you didn’t mean for this to happen? What the hell did you do?"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I didn’t do this," Nile snapped, though guilt flickered in his eyes. "At least… not on purpose."

The shadows drew closer, their outlines sharpening with each step. Dom squinted, her breath hitching as she began to make out their features. Each figure was a grotesque chimeric blend of insect and human. One had the jagged, angular limbs of a mantis, its eyes gleaming with a cruel intelligence. Another had the hulking body of an ant, its mandibles clicking ominously. A third -a wasp-woman- hovered just above the ground, her translucent wings buzzing menacingly. Others followed, a nightmare parade of distorted insectoid horrors.

Dom’s stomach churned. “Shit,” she muttered. “This is just like -no, worse than- the tailgate party.” Her fists tightened, knuckles white with tension. “How the hell are we supposed to get out of this?”

“We fight,” Nile said firmly, his jaw clenched. His eyes burned with something deeper than fear -anger, determination. He wasn’t just reacting to the situation; he was hunting for answers. Which one of you bastards is connected to Buru’Enmeli? he thought furiously, though he didn’t dare voice it aloud.

Dom glanced at him, surprised by his resolve. She caught the glint of steel in his eyes and felt a flicker of her own courage reignite. “Yeah,” she said, nodding, her voice steadier than before. She stepped forward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Nile. “I’m glad you’re with me, Nile.”

“Me too, Dom,” Nile replied, sparing her a brief, meaningful glance. "Let’s do this."

The insectoids struck with terrifying speed. The mantis figure struck first, its bladed arms slicing downward with a hiss. Dom barely twisted in time, the air from the strike brushing her cheek as she drove an elbow into its abdomen. The impact cracked its carapace, and it screeched -a high-pitched, grating sound that sent shivers down her spine. It staggered back but didn’t falter. Its segmented legs clicked against the ground as it readied for another attack.

Nile sidestepped the ant-man’s snapping mandibles, his breath coming in short bursts. He pivoted and kicked hard into its thorax. The creature stumbled but recovered too quickly, lunging forward with terrifying speed. Its bulbous, black eyes gleamed with an eerie, otherworldly intelligence.

“Watch your left!” Dom shouted, her voice sharp.

Nile twisted just in time to block the wasp-woman’s stinger-like appendage with his forearm. Pain shot through him as the impact sent him stumbling backward. Gritting his teeth, he brought his elbow up into her wing joint. She hissed and faltered, her buzzing momentarily silenced, but she didn’t retreat.

Dom, her breathing ragged, danced back from the mantis’s next strike. Her movements were fluid, calculated -dodging and weaving with a precision born of years of self-discipline. She countered with a flurry of strikes aimed at its joints, hoping to disable it, but her fists met with its unyielding exoskeleton. The creature hissed in frustration, its attacks growing wild and frenzied.

“This isn’t working,” Dom panted, throwing a glance at Nile. He was barely holding his ground against the ant-man, its relentless strikes forcing him into retreat. “They’re not going down!”

Nile’s mind raced as he ducked under a heavy swipe. He felt the faint hum of his Neural Link tugging at the edges of his awareness, beckoning him. The connection was unstable, but it was there -a thread of possibility dangling before him. Desperation made him reach for it.

System Notification

Neural Link Activated: Hostile Entities

Connection Unstable. Warning: Mental Overload Risk.

The world around Nile blurred as the link opened. A flood of images and sensations washed over him, sharp and alien. He glimpsed flashes of the insectoids’ hive-like minds -each individual a piece of a larger, malevolent will. And beyond them, lurking in the shadows of their thoughts, was something darker. An oppressive presence, ancient and cruel, feeding on fear.

Buru’Enmeli. The name echoed in his mind like a death knell.

“Nile!” Dom’s voice cut through the chaos, grounding him. He gasped, wrenching himself back to reality, the flood of alien thoughts receding. But the connection had left its mark. His head throbbed, and a sickening weight settled in his chest.

The creatures were closing in, their movements unnervingly synchronized. Dom and Nile stood back-to-back, their breaths ragged, their muscles burning.

“We can’t win this,” Nile said, his voice low but firm. He glanced at Dom, his expression a mix of guilt and determination. “We have to go.”

Dom hesitated, her fists still raised. “But how? We can’t just—”

“Yes, we can,” Nile interrupted, his hand closing around her arm. “Trust me.”

Dom’s eyes searched his face, her fear warring with her instincts. Finally, she nodded. With a fierce shout, she spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to the mantis’s head, sending it reeling. Then they ran.

The creatures shrieked in fury, their distorted voices echoing across the barren landscape. The ground cracked and shifted beneath their feet, each step feeling heavier, as though the world itself were trying to pull them down.

System Notification

Escape Protocol Activated: Shifting Reality

Warning: Pursuers Detected. Connection Instability Increasing.

The air shimmered, the blood-red sky fracturing like glass. Dom and Nile dove forward as the world dissolved around them, their bodies jolting against the cold, hard floor of the hallway.

Dom scrambled to her feet, her chest heaving as she stared at Nile. He was still on his knees, his face pale and his hands clutching his head. “What the hell was that?” she demanded, her voice trembling. “What did you do?”

Nile didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t. His mind was a storm of guilt and pain. He thought back to his desperate use of Cognitive Distortion moments before they escaped.

The creatures were too close. The wasp-woman’s buzzing filled the air as she swooped toward Dom, her stinger aimed for a killing blow.

“No!” Nile shouted, extending his hand reflexively. He closed his eyes and reached for the Cognitive Distortion ability, the electromagnetic field around him sparking to life.

System Notification

Ability Activated: Cognitive Distortion

Effect: Altering Target Perceptions.

Warning: Connection Unstable. Risk of Neurological Feedback.

The feedback hit like a tidal wave. Nile’s vision blurred as he shoved phantom images into the minds of their pursuers. The mantis hesitated, its head jerking toward an unseen threat. The ant-man turned sharply, snapping at shadows. The wasp-woman buzzed erratically, her stinger jabbing at empty air.

It was enough to give Dom and Nile a window to escape, but the cost was high. The surge of alien thoughts pushed Nile to his limits, leaving him gasping and unsteady.

Dom’s piercing glare brought him back to the present. “You were doing something back there,” she said again, her voice sharp with accusation. “That wasn’t just luck, Nile. What did you do?”

He hesitated, the truth clawing at him. He could see the hurt and fear in her eyes, and it twisted the knife of guilt deeper into his chest.

“It was nothing,” he lied, his voice barely above a whisper. “Just adrenaline.”

Dom’s jaw tightened. “Adrenaline doesn’t make a swarm of bug monsters freak out and attack each other.”

Nile couldn’t meet her gaze. Instead, he pushed himself to his feet, his body swaying. The lingering effects of the feedback made his head spin, but he steadied himself with sheer will.

Dom crossed her arms, her stance unyielding. “You’re hiding something, Nile. I can feel it.”

Before he could respond, a notification blinked across his vision.

System Notification

Option Detected: Use Neural Link + Cognitive Distortion + Logic Bomb to Reset Event.

Chance of Success: 67%. Risk: Temporal or Neurological Instability.

Nile’s breath caught. He stared at the message, his heart pounding. He had the option to rewrite this moment, to erase Dom’s questions and her pain. But the risks…

Could he do it? Could he manipulate Dom like that?

His gaze flicked to her face, her features hard but vulnerable beneath the anger. He couldn’t let her get hurt because of his mistakes. He wouldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Before Dom could react, Nile activated the sequence. The air shimmered around them, and the hallway dissolved into darkness.

System Notification

Reset Complete. Reality Stabilized. Memory Alteration Applied.

Dom blinked, disoriented. She was standing in the hallway, Nile beside her, his expression unreadable. The strange, oppressive sensation from before was gone, leaving only an eerie silence.

“What just happened?” she asked, frowning.

Nile forced a smile, his heart heavy with the weight of his choice. “Nothing. Just… a close call.”

Dom stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded slowly.

But Nile knew the truth would haunt him long after the moment had passed.