Jake paused, his finger hovering over the trigger. A moment later, he eased off the trigger, watching the mutant reach the circle of scorched earth, the event horizon of the Dark Void, realizing there was no need to fire at the approaching threat. Paying the anomaly no mind, the mutant persisted in running across the blackened ground, but its advance was impeded as the magical entity began pulling the helpless leaper toward itself. The ex-human was gradually dragged back across the scorched earth toward the Dark Void. Then the mutant was suddenly flung into the air, hurtling toward the black hole where it vanished from sight. The anomaly swallowed the ex-human completely, without any visual effects or sounds. In an instant, the creature went from being present to being entirely gone.
Jake’s gaze remained fixed on the Dark Void as he pondered the situation. Understanding the anomaly’s nature, he knew this was not the end of it. According to its description, the anomaly aimed to enhance mutants, indicating that it should release the ex-human subject if the transformation was successful. So he kept his eyes on the Dark Void. He didn’t know how long he needed to wait or what would happen if the anomaly failed to enhance the leaper it’d just consumed. As he waited, the lack of the anomaly’s pull hinted that it could only focus on one subject at a time, which was a valuable piece of information.
A full minute passed. Just as Jake began to entertain the idea that the anomaly might have failed to successfully enhance the leaper, it suddenly ejected the mutant. The creature reemerged from the black hole and plummeted back to the ground. With a resounding impact, the ex-human’s body collided with the earth, causing it to lay still on the blackened ground near the anomaly. After a moment, the mutant began to rise unsteadily to its feet. The creature had undergone a remarkable transformation, appearing significantly larger and stronger, now equipped with longer and more menacing claws and teeth. Its once-human face had elongated into an animal-like snout, bearing little resemblance to its former self. The creature hardly resembled a human being anymore, for that matter.
Jake sensed the reawakening pull of the anomaly as the Dark Void became active once more. However, the beefed-up leaper appeared unaffected by its presence, even though it stood next to the anomaly. It seemed that now that the anomaly had completed its transformation of the mutant, it no longer held any interest in it.
The leaper twisted its head in different directions, seemingly trying to orient itself. Suddenly catching sight of Jake, it emitted a chilling scream before bolting across the clearing on all fours, hurtling toward him with alarming speed. Jake swiftly raised his assault rifle and unleashed a barrage of shots at the oncoming mutant. Much to his astonishment, the ex-human dodged to the side with feline-like agility, causing most of his bullets to miss their target. The ones that did manage to hit the creature appeared to have little to no effect, failing to inflict any significant damage. Jake wondered what level that beefed-up leaper was, but sure enough, he couldn’t risk scanning it with his PDA during the intense confrontation.
The mutant’s rapid movements unnerved Jake, prompting him to cast the Push spell in an attempt to halt its advance. The magical energy surged forth and collided with the ex-human, but it only managed to momentarily stagger the beefed-up creature, proving to be ineffective in halting its progress.
Jake quickly readjusted his aim, but before he could pull the trigger, the mutant leaped forward, crashing into him with great force. With a grunt, he tumbled to the ground, bearing the weight of the ex-human on top of him. Despite the struggle, he managed to position the assault rifle horizontally in front of him just in time to fend off the mutant’s incoming bite. The creature’s vicious jaws clamped down on the weapon, its teeth biting deep into the metal with a screech. In a startling turn of events, the rifle shattered into several pieces as if it were made of plastic. It was at that moment that fear truly gripped Jake. Before he could react, the monster sank its teeth into his shoulder, causing excruciating pain to surge through his body. Overwhelmed by the agony, Jake let out a piercing scream.
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He frantically pounded the creature’s head with his fists, but the mutant refused to release its grip. In a moment of clarity, Jake understood the dire situation unfolding—intentionally or not, the mutant was pulling him toward the anomaly behind it. Half out of his mind from pain, Jake only then remembered that he still had his heavy-caliber pistol secured in its holster on his hip.
Despite the haze of pain clouding his thoughts, he managed to recompose himself. He stopped beating the creature on the head and drew his handgun from its holster instead. With determination, he pressed the muzzle of the pistol against the mutant’s skull. He emptied half the mag into the creature’s head before the ex-human finally collapsed to the ground, dead. Its jaws went slack, and Jake finally managed to pull his bleeding shoulder free of the jaws’ grip.
Breath coming in ragged gasps, he slumped onto the ground, staring up at the blue sky. He wanted to rest for a moment, but he quickly realized there was no time for that because he was still being dragged backward. At first, he thought the leaper was still alive. Only that couldn’t be the case, as the body of the dead creature lay motionlessly on the ground beside him.
A sudden realization struck him like a lightning bolt—he was being irresistibly drawn toward the Dark Void, the ominous black hole at the center of the clearing. Now that he was in much closer proximity, the force of its pull intensified significantly. Jake found himself sliding uncontrollably across the ground, and the speed of his backward descent was increasing relentlessly. He managed to roll on his stomach, desperately trying to grab onto the blades of grass, but they either slipped out of his grasp, cutting his skin, or tore away.
His heart raced in his chest as he attempted to dig his toes into the ground, but it proved futile. Tears welled at the corners of his eyes as he struggled against the unyielding pull, the world beginning to blur around him as he inched closer and closer to the anomaly. As the grass gave way to blackened earth, Jake understood the gravity of his situation. He had reached the event horizon of the anomaly, the point of no return, where the pull intensified even more.
His body scraped across the earth, the ground rough and unforgiving beneath him. His fingers clawed desperately at the scorched earth beneath him, searching for any purchase, any bump or dent to hold onto, but to no avail. Panic surged through him as he came to the stark realization that he was being inexorably drawn nearer to the anomaly with no means of halting his advance.
In a last desperate attempt, Jake reached out for a rock jutting out from the ground, his fingers grazing the rough surface as he tried to anchor himself. But the force tugged at him mercilessly, tearing him away with a strength he could not fight against. Fear clawed at his chest, threatening to overwhelm him as he realized he was completely powerless against the force that was dragging him away.
Suddenly, he felt his body lifted off the ground by the invisible force of the anomaly, carrying him through the air as if he weighed nothing at all. Twisting and turning in midair, he beheld the black abyss hurtling toward him. He opened his mouth to scream, but before a sound could escape his lips, the anomaly swallowed him whole.