Summers stared at the black sliver of sky just visible behind the core of the planet.

  “It knows we did something,” Elias said. “We have hours, at best.”

  “Why’s it still coming? We’re the only ones here.” Summers said. “It’s a fucking God, it doesn’t have anything better to do?”

  “We’re here now, that’s the only thing that matters to it.”

  The group lapsed into silence, all staring at the God that was heading for them.

  “I’m so sorry,” Leah said. “Elias and I will be reborn, as will you two to a degree,” she turned to Synel and Roan. “If I had known this was a risk then we would have never allowed you here.”

  “No, fuck that.” Summers said. “There’s got to be something you can do.” He looked at the core, slowly expanding.

  Nearby, Asle had her hand extended, focused on trying to manifest a portal.

  “There’s nothing,” Leah said. She looked at Asle, “your connection to the anchor was severed from the overload. It won’t respond. I don’t think it could pierce the amount of special distortion we just put out without this world’s help anyway. . .That was the point, to keep the other world safe. Even if you could, we’d be risking it following.”

  “Then that’s it?” Synel asked, voice quiet.

  Leah hesitated.

  “I’m afraid so.”

  Synel looked at Summers, meeting his eyes.

  “I don’t. . .” Summers began but stopped. He didn’t have an answer for her. What could you tell someone in a situation like this?

  Asle kept trying to make a portal, growing more frustrated with every second until Roan took her hand, smiling back at her.

  “It’s okay,” Roan said. “You did enough, you can stop now.”

  Asle’s face twisted into an expression Summers couldn’t read, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

  “It’s not fair! We got this far!” Asle yelled. “I’m. . . we can’t just. . .” her voice trailed off as the tears began in earnest.

  Synel reached for Summers’ hand. That small motion set off a flood of emotions inside him.

  He opened his mouth, trying to think of something to reassure her, but the words just wouldn’t come. She was staring at the empty void that somehow still seemed to be growing larger. Elias was working on the console near the core, clearly frustrated himself.

  “If that moron Wendel hadn’t. . . none of this. . .” Elias stopped, punching a fist into the console.

  Summers’ gaze drifted back to the core, still growing. Part of him wanted to run, but he knew that wouldn’t do them any good. Hell, it might just make things worse. From what Leah and Elias had explained about how their world fell, having their lives snuffed out by something like that would be a mercy compared to whatever this thing had in store for them.

  His hand tightened around Synel’s.

  “. . .Elias,” Summers began, “you can’t do anything?”

  “I can’t take us back-”

  “I don’t mean back.” Summers interrupted. “When we got here, it was because Wendel fucked with the portals, opened something to your world. Anywhere is better than here, right? And maybe you can. . . back those two up as well?”

  Elias paused.

  “I. . .”

  Leah looked at him, Elias stared back, as if asking for permission.

  “What? What are you thinking?”

  “What Wendel did was open a way to a world we fled to after our fall. I can’t do that without the anchor. But we can. . .”

  Elias stopped.

  “What? We have a fucking teleporter the size of a planet, you got to have something.”

  “. . .We can repeat what your military did,” Leah provided. “They broke the machine, opened a rift that scattered such portals everywhere. To thousands of worlds.”

  Elias looked up at the core.

  “It would be. . . unpredictable.”

  “How?” Summers asked.

  “We could technically open a portal into a sun for all we know. Which, before you ask, would kill us all instantly.”

  Summers stared at the man, a mixture of hope and fear intermingling inside him.

  “. . .Do we have anything to lose?”

  “Besides our lives. . ? Well, it would almost certainly destroy this world but that’s happening anyway. He might be able to do it, but it will take time. And. . . that might not be something we have.”

  “What are the odds it’ll work without blowing us to hell?”

  Elias started to respond, but a sharp look from Leah cut him off. He recovered after a moment.

  “There’s a chance. Not a great one, but a chance. You’re leaving your lives up to fate.”

  Summers looked to Synel and Roan in turn.

  “What do you think?”

  Synel shared a look with Asle and Roan. Asle nodded, resolute, even as Synel cast a furtive glance to the void in the distance.

  “If you think it’s our chance, then we should take it.”

  “As he said,” Elias interrupted, “we might not have the time.”

  “Start working, I’ll help as I can,” Leah interjected, moving to the console with Elias.

  With that, the two went quiet, eyes closed in concentration.

  Silence overtook the group, the only sound Asle’s heavy breathing. As time passed, the weight of what was happening set in. This wasn’t like Summers’ usual plans, something happening in the moment. What they were trying was a last, desperate act. The fact they could die at any moment, that was a special kind of anxiety.

  Asle wiped at her face.

  “This sucks.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Yeah.” Summers agreed. “It does.”

  Several hours passed, the core was nearly twice its original size now, every so often spinning as bolts of energy forked out, destroying one of the antennas at the center of the configuration. The void almost seemed to be seeping through the hole in the earth, as if the sky itself was bleeding.

  No, Summers realized, that wasn’t his imagination. It was bleeding. Asle gasped, backing up towards Summers with Roan close behind. The shadows on the wall were shifting, undulating, as if in a gentle wind.

  “That’s. . . different,” Summers said.

  “Don’t look at them,” Leah said. “We’re. . .” she trailed off as concentration showed on her face.

  A hum, low at first, began to build in the back of Summers’ head. He stood, looking around the room, but there was nothing there. The noise grew, slowly, but over the course of minutes it became nearly deafening. Summers couldn’t help but look around for the source, only to find a shadow standing in front of him. Standing. It was a woman, an arms-length away.

  “What-”

  The shadow reached for him, and Summers’ world faded to black.

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  A void, that was all that Summers could see, darkness stretched into the horizon as a woman, small, thin, fragile, stood in front of him. It was his mother, something inside him, something instinctual told him as much. She looked up at him, a gaunt face and fragile, nearly translucent arms stretching towards him.

  “Give up,” she said.

  “What?” Summers took a step back, he hit something, the void receding a bit. They were in the same room, he just couldn’t. . .

  “Give up.”

  Summers turned. She was behind him now.

  “It’s not worth the pain,” his mother said, tears forming in her eyes.

  Emotion, half forgotten flooded into Summers. Images of years spent in a hospital, at his mother’s side, of watching her slowly wither away. More figures began to emerge from the darkness. He recognized Logan, Adams, even Orvar, among hundreds, maybe thousands of others.

  “Give up,” they chanted in unison. “Give up.”

  Summers took an involuntary step back, just as the crowd began to change. Adams’ head sloughed to one side, the ruined hole Summers himself had put there appearing. He’d forgotten that hadn’t he? Logan’s skin began to crisp, burning, as Orvar began to bleed.

  “Give up!”

  More in the crowd began to decay, he recognized a few. Those he’d killed. Some he’d failed to save. All moving towards him.

  And then, suddenly they stopped.

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  The abyss was blasted away as he heard Leah’s voice scream over the noise.

  “It’s done!”

  Summers took a moment to get his bearings, the core in the distance was screaming, sending energy out in chaotic blasts. Leah was looking at him now, as if waiting on his word. The others were in similar states of shock, Synel and Roan leaning over a surprised Asle.

  “What. . .” Summers trailed off.

  Asle and Synel were staring off into the distance, faces pale, while Roan shut his eyes tight. He expected they’d seen what he had.

  “. . .Was. . . were they real?” Asle asked, voice quiet.

  “You don’t want to know,” Leah responded. “It’s distracted, either we move now, or I’d suggest you turn your weapon on yourself.”

  Summers saw something move in the corner of his eye, and it took all his concentration not to look.

  “Now,” Summers decided. “We go now.”

  Leah turned to Elias.

  “Do it.”

  Elias closed his eyes, and the world shook. Distantly, he heard screaming.

  All at once, the core dimmed, only for it to swell to twice its size as tears opened in the world around them. The room seemed to shift as the space around them tore. In the distance, around the core, tears in space opened, a rainbow of color and noise. The planet itself looked like it was collapsing while simultaneously being merged with a thousand others. Spherical craters popped along the edge of the core, as if the world itself was being eaten.

  Hot air blasted Summers from one side, and the smell of sulfur hit them. Beside Elias, where there was once open space, was an almost primordial earth, veins of molten stone ran through the surface, air seemed to drift towards it. The other man’s head lifted from the console with a quick jerk, looking to the newly formed rift that seemed to stretch a mile through the room and beyond. Then, it collapsed.

  Elias’ body fell in wet, square chunks as the space of the original, albeit heavily damaged room reasserted itself.

  “What the f-” Summers was cut off as the ground began to collapse, Leah reached out, her arm stretching impossibly long as she pulled him back to stable footing. Looking down, he could see another portal, this one sucking air in as though it were a vacuum, only darkness visible.

  “Move!” Leah ordered. “Space is unstable, find somewhere!”

  Where?!” Summers yelled.

  “I don’t know!”

  A rumble came from behind him, Summers made the mistake of looking back to see the core of the planet expanding at an impossible speed. He could already smell smoke. They moved into a twisting hall, the sentries nearby collapsing as if their strings had been cut.

  Leah looked back, confused.

  “We’re moving.”

  “Yes?” Summers asked.

  “No, we’re moving towards the surface, space is being distorted in its entirety. Folded in on itself. It’s worse than I imagined.”

  Summers looked to his right, only to see an image of the surface, then the core, then somewhere in between.

  “What the fuck?”

  “There should be a concentration of rifts nearby,” Leah instructed. “Find them, get out, they’ll only last a few minutes before I need to-”

  She stumbled on a sentry, but Summers managed to right her before she fell. The ground below was obsidian rock. It was like the word was becoming a patchwork of itself.

  “I don’t know what’s happening but I think you’re right.” Summers said. He nearly stopped as something hit him. “. . .Grass.”

  “What?” Synel looked at him askance.

  “I can smell grass!” Summers said.

  The obsidian world didn’t have anything like grass, just rock and metal. Which meant, somewhere out there was a portal that led to a world with actual life.

  Summers jerked his head to the left, sensing that the scent was coming from that direct. The only problem being that it was a hole in the hallway. He skidded to a stop and kicked out a section of the wall.

  “This way!” Summers called.

  He burst through the wall, the overwhelming scent of copper hitting him almost instantly. They were in what looked like a cavernous room of metal and a rat’s nest of wiring. Belatedly, he realized his feet were wet. There was a sea of red water spilling from a rift in the distance.

  “Is this blood?!” Synel asked.

  Looking down, Summers had to admit that, yes, that looked and smelled an awful lot like blood.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Summers responded. The existence of a blood world seemed kind of fucked up, but that didn’t matter right now.

  He jumped, sloughing through the liquid, the scent of grass growing stronger. The far end of the room looked to have collapsed, but a portal, shifting and amorphous stood there. Summers kept moving, belatedly realizing the ground was slowly merging into one of a forest at night. If they were going to be stranded anywhere, it needed to be somewhere they could survive. Hope swelled in his chest.

  “We’re almost there.” Summers called to the others, pulling them forward.

  Then, the room faded to darkness.

  Distantly, he’d realized he’d fallen. Dozens of hands grasped him. He struggled against their grip, pulling himself up only to find the form of his mother looking down at him, pity in her eyes.

  “Please, give up.”

  He was face down in the blood-red water, struggling to breathe. The others were just an arms-length away, but those things were keeping their distance from them. Roan had thrown himself over the two, several wounds bleeding freely. When had that happened? Belatedly, he realized they didn’t want to touch him. Did his blood work on this thing too?

  “Give up,” his mother repeated. “You weren’t ever meant for this, come with us.”

  “No. . . you’re not a God. You’re just. . . some fucking monster. She didn’t give up. Neither. . . will I.”

  Summers struggled to his feet, only to see his flesh was melting. The skin those things touched was just. . . giving way beneath their grip. As though he were made of clay. He slammed a fist into an elven man only for it to pass through without effect. He fell, strength leaving him by the second. The water felt warm, and the more he struggled, the deeper their fingers pressed.

  More bodies rose from the knee-high liquid, all staring at him. He focused on what was in front of him, he could still see the portal, but his body refused to move. It was like his will was being drained. Then, unbidden, he took a step forward, arms reaching out to drag the others along.

  Leah stood beside him, her body literally dissolving under the grip of a dozen of the creatures as she held a hand extended towards him.

  “Move.” She said, even as her arm slowly began to melt to bone. “And. . . thank you,” she smiled, “for giving me the chance to do this.”

  She gave him a wicked smile, and Summers heard a distant explosion. As the ground shook, the figures around him twitched, reeling back. He immediately smelled smoke. Summers felt the pressure on his mind ease just a little, he took the opportunity she’d given him, rushing forward, and grabbing the others as he sprinted for the portal.

  The room shuddered as black liquid seemed to rain down onto it, seeping through the walls.

  “Stop. Stop. Stop.” The voices chanted in unison, growing in volume until it was deafening. The most terrifying part was that some piece of him wanted to listen. But his legs moved almost against his own will towards the tear in reality.

  “What. . . did you. . . do?!” Summers managed to yell through gritted teeth, Leah was keeping pace, despite being covered in blood. It was taking every bit of his willpower just to keep going.

  “I detonated the core.”

  “You what?!”

  Summers pulled up short as a wave of the black liquid barred their exit. Summers reached into it, fingers dissolving even as he poured what will he had into it. If Roan’s blood worked on this thing, maybe his power did as well. It didn’t budge, so he pressed harder, putting everything he had into it. Slowly, a small hole opened. Summers fell to a knee, utterly spent.

  “Go,” he told the others, focusing on keeping the opening from closing.

  Synel hesitated before moving for the exit, Roan grabbed Asle who was screaming something, trying to resist as he dragged her towards the portal. He didn’t mind. The tear was already beginning to collapse, they’d be safe, they’d be-

  A hand gripped his collar. He looked to find an almost skeletal Leah holding him.

  “Farewell, Mr. Summers. I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure. . . however. . .”

  Then, she tossed him bodily through the opening.

  Summers twisted, avoiding the black substance as he sailed through the portal, over the heads of the others, and slammed into a tree, splintering it on impact.

  Looking back, he saw Leah’s flesh dissolving in the black liquid, even as the portal they’d just been launched through shivered, tendrils not unlike the hamr’s seeping through. Before it could clear the distance, a blinding light erupted from its space, and the portal collapsed, leaving nothing but endless forest in its wake.

  Summers lay there with the others, staring at the empty spot, feeling the cool grass against his back.

  “. . .Is it gone?” Synel asked.

  “. . .I have no fucking clue,” Summers said in response. His voice came out weaker than he’d expected.

  Looking down, he could see there were clear chunks missing from his body, despite the stone skin that had saved him so many times before. Blood was already pooling around him.

  “Huh. . .” Summers felt cold, he tried to stand, only for the strength to leave his legs. “. . .Well. . . shit,” Summers mumbled.

  “Summers!” Synel yelled as he fell back.

  “Hold his wounds.” Asle said.

  He felt their hands on him, but his vision was already failing. Summers’ body slumped back onto the wet grass. It felt nice. Whatever happened from here on out, happened. At least they were safe.

  As he lay there, staring up at the sky he wondered if they’d be okay without him, wherever this new place was. He discarded the thought as soon as it came, they’d be fine, with, or without his help. A single light blew through the night sky, trailing a cloud behind it. He watched as it flew by, blinking.

  No, he realized, not a light. It was an airplane. A single commercial jet.

  Summers couldn’t help the smile that came to his face. Despite everything, all the pain, the fear, he laughed. A quiet, barely discernable thing that echoed into the night. The other’s voices faded into the background, just as darkness took him.