Holed up in the dimly lit cave, time dragged on without much to do except sit there and wait. After finishing their ration bars and quenching their thirst with a few gulps of water from their canteen, Vera and Brice simply settled back to wait for the storm to pass. I was the first one to break the silence, asking a few more questions to pass the time.

"So, how did you end up working with Dipton?" I asked Vera, turning to her as she leaned against one of the tree roots in our makeshift shelter.

"Dip?" she asked with a chuckle. "I beat him up the first time we met." She had a distant look in her eyes as she reminisced. "About a year ago now, I think. I didn't have anything to eat for almost three days and I saw him digging around an empty flea market." She waved her hand as if to gesture at the scene. "I was starving so I just walked up to him, smacked him across the face, and took his food."

I blinked at her in surprise before replying, "Really?"

She nodded and gave me a crooked smile, "I took his weapon too, but he didn't seem too upset about it." She let out another chuckle as she ran a hand through her hair and added, "He just kind of laughed and said 'It's fine. You look like you could use the food more than I do.'" Vera turned to look at me again, continuing with a shrug. "So yeah, we talked it over, I apologized, and he invited me to come with him."

Brice laughed as he said, "Man, Dip's always like that. Almost the same thing happened when I met him like five months ago. I was scared shitless when I got dumped in here. SCAVs were runnin' around, Riftspawns killin' and eatin' people left and right...I was hidin' out in a garbage dump, starving, and Dip just shows up."

Brice looked up at the roof of our shelter, adding, "You shoulda seen that man then, fresh." He let out another laugh and continued, "That guy was just covered in scrap metal armor...barely anything on him at all but he had some sorta blaster on his back. I hid behind a stack of trash cans and I'm just quivering like a little kid." He let out another laugh, "Man, Dip just walks up and smacks me across the face right away. He said 'You're new here, aren'tcha? You gotta fight out here or you're gonna die' and gave me a blaster. One minute, I was almost pissin' myself then the next minute, I was fightin' with a cowboy back to back like I was some action hero sidekick."

"He's just like that," Vera said with a shrug as Brice went on to describe their encounter in more detail. "Always straight to the point."

"Yeah, he is," Brice said as he leaned against the wall of our shelter, gazing at nothing in particular as he went on with a half-smile. "Not a bad guy at all, just got some crazy shit goin' on inside that head of his, I think. He's either way too trusting of people or just flat-out doesn't give a shit."

Vera let out a short laugh and nodded in agreement. "That's pretty much how he is."

"Huh, my encounter with him pretty much went the same way," I said with a wry smile. "Guess he just has that effect on people."

As we sat in silence for a while longer, I leaned back against the tree roots as well and let out a deep sigh, rubbing my eyes with my palm. "Man, what a day this has been," I muttered, not even trying to suppress my annoyance at this point.

I glanced over at Brice, watching as he was idly tracing designs into the dirt floor of the cave with his finger. Vera was leaning against the wall, her green-brown eyes staring into the hypnotic dance of the small fire we'd managed to light. Outside, the Ley Storm continued to rage on, its vibrant tempest painting the entrance of our shelter with an ever-changing palette of radiant colors.

“Reminds me of Mardi Gras,” Brice remarked with a grim chuckle.

Vera looked up at him, frowning and asking, "What?"

Brice gave her a half-shrug and replied, "You know, those parties people would throw, when they were wearin' fancy, colorful costumes and threw beads around like it was some sorta cheap dollar store candy."

I could understand where Brice was coming from but Vera just gave him a blank stare in response, "Never heard of that."

Brice just shook his head and gave Vera a look of disbelief. "You're kidding right? How have you never heard of Mardi Gras?"

Vera shrugged and turned to me with a slightly puzzled expression, "You know it?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, it's a parade and a party where people get dressed up and throw colorful beads around. They have parades with floats, there's music, it's a whole big deal."

Vera nodded in response, but Brice just shrugged again as he leaned forward, running a hand through his dreadlocks as he muttered, "Man, I miss those days sometimes."

Brice seemed to be in his own little world after that, his gaze distant, like he was watching the memories unfold in his head like some sorta film reel. I just kind of left him alone to it and focused on my own thoughts for a bit.

A sudden change in the sound of the wind had us all snapping to attention. It wasn’t the storm; rather, it sounded like footsteps outside. I turned to Brice and Vera, nodding towards the cave entrance as they both silently stood up and drew their weapons.

An eerie glow cast itself upon the ground outside, and through the opening, I could see something approaching. Ah, shit—Lumivores!

Two luminescent beasts sprung out from the entrace of the cave, their bodies a riot of pulsating colors mimicking the storm outside. The damn beasts were nearly invisible against the luminescent flora. All teeth and claws and predatory cunning, their iridescent bodies undulating in a way that made it seem like they were part of the landscape until they were right up on you.

Brice had his blaster out and fired in one fluid motion. The energy shot refracted off of one of the creatures and bounced off into the wall of our shelter. "Fuck! I knew these shits were immune to beam damage."

I didn't have time to react as one of the Lumivores leaped towards me, its claws reaching out and raking across my vest. I managed to sidestep, just barely avoiding the swipe as it landed on all fours and pounced again with its mouth wide open, sharp teeth gnashing and glistening in the light of the fire.

Vera kicked it in the side, knocking it off course. "We can't fight these in here. We need to leave!"

I turned to Brice and nodded, "We're moving out." I wasn't about to argue with her, we needed to get the hell away from these things if we couldn't deal with them with our current weapons. Evading the beasts, we scrambled towards the cave’s exit, sprinting headlong into the storm.

The world outside the cave was a maelstrom of energy, the air crackling and buzzing around us. The storm had transformed the Whispering Expanse into a phantasmagorical wasteland.

With a deep breath, I took off after Vera, Brice on my heels. The Lumivores pursued us, their ghostly shapes flickering in the chaotic light of the storm.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As we ran through the storm, I kept an eye out for any cracks or crevices we could use to escape into. Unfortunately, this part of the Expanse was pretty flat—no gaps between the trees or any of that shit, so we were stuck with running for our lives while dodging those Lumivores.

“Over there!” Vera called out, her arm pointing towards a flicker in reality. “We need to get inside. It's our only chance.”

What the hell is she talking about? I peered ahead at what she pointed to. A crack in the world—a shimmering tear in space that looked like it might be some sort of portal. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to run even faster, narrowly avoiding a Lumivore as Brice and Vera slipped through the gap in space.

Shit, no choice now then. I ran towards the portal and jumped through it, the world warping and shifting as my body was momentarily sucked into the void.

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The sensation of being sucked through the portal was like being drawn through a straw, except that straw was a tear in the fabric of reality. Colors blurred into a disorienting smear as the world reshaped itself around me. After a moment, I stumbled back to my feet, steadying myself against something solid as I struggled to regain my bearings. Where the hell was I now?

The breath in my lungs froze as I gaped at the sight before me, the very laws of physics seemingly abandoned.

We were standing on the side of a building, but not just any building. This was a skyscraper, a massive one, one of many that floated aimlessly through an infinite expanse of stardust. The architecture was surreal, beautiful in a way that defied logic, all sharp lines and curves, glistening in the soft glow of the nebula that stretched out in every direction around us. It was as if the Manhattan skyline had had a cosmic baby with the Milky Way.

"And here I thought Nexus couldn't get any weirder," I muttered. Brice laughed, the sound a little strained as he glanced around, clearly as awe-struck as I was.

There were other skyscrapers, all different sizes and shapes, jutting out at all angles from each other while disregarding the concept of 'up' or 'down.' Some were vertical, others were horizontal. Some even diagonally. And, judging by the few that seemed to be hanging upside down, gravity seemed to be a pretty flexible concept here.

Yet, the physics of the place demanded our obedience. I could feel the steel girder beneath my boots pull me in, anchoring me to its surface. My foot slipped, and I tumbled, my perspective shifting as my body instinctively clung to the new 'ground.' I stood sideways, the rest of the world oddly tilted, while Vera looked down at me, grinning. Brice was somewhere behind me, or was it above, his laughter a disorienting echo bouncing off the steel canyons.

The sky around us was an iridescent kaleidoscope of colors, shifting and coiling like a living nebula. Clouds of sparkling dust floated in the space between buildings, swirling into miniature galaxies before dispersing again. The far-off structures glowed softly in the neon haze, their windows twinkling like a million distant stars. The very air shimmered with a prismatic glow, casting a soft radiance on everything, like a permanent dawn.

I almost didn't notice that my Interface had already activated and pinged in the corner of my vision, our mission parameters displayed in crisp digital letters:

Riftgate Name: Fractal Bastion Environmental Conditions: Localized gravity fields Objective: Eliminate 30 Riftspawns Reward: 2000 Experience Points, 2 Random Rare Drops, 2 Random Uncommon Drops Time Until Rift Collapse: 4 Days, 17 hours, 45 minutes, 10 seconds

"Um, can someone explain to me where the hell we are?" I asked, my voice slightly strained as I took in the strange sights around us.

Brice let out another strained laugh.

"We entered a Riftgate," Vera began, her gaze scanning the alien environment. "They're like doors to alternate dimensions. The System generates these places for challenges. Different dimension, different rules. The Ley Storm can't touch us here. At least we can use our powers again."

Brice flicked on his blaster, its power charging up with a hum as he started to saunter ahead of us. "Yeah. Think of them like... dungeons. You go in, clear the objective, get out with some nice rewards."

"Great, more strange shit to get used to," I said, grunting. But I was secretly relieved, after the Lumivores and that storm, I'd take weird over deadly any day. Although...this place could be deadlier than that storm in all fairness.

"So...what now?" I asked as I pushed myself upright again.

"Now we just gotta look around and kill some Riftspawn until we clear the mission," Brice said, looking back over his shoulder to reply to me.

"It's gonna take some time getting used to this gravity-or-lack-thereof stuff," I commented, taking a cautious step forward. My foot seemed to stick to the surface like I was walking on the side of a mountain. "Well, better get to it then."

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The initial rush of wonder started to fade as we navigated deeper into the alien cityscape. Each skyscraper was an island in the cosmos, an independent realm with its own gravity and orientation. As we moved from one to another, we were flung into a gravity-free limbo before landing in a new world turned on its side. I felt like a rat in a cosmic hamster wheel.

"Alright, time to climb," Vera said, already setting off towards the nearest skyscraper. I shared a resigned glance with Brice before we followed, scaling up the side of the building.

"I swear I'm gonna toss my lunch," Brice grumbled, gingerly stepping from one skyscraper to another. The buildings' orientations made it feel like we were walking on walls, then ceilings, then floors, and then back to walls again.

Meanwhile, I was discovering that "vertigo" was a gross understatement. My senses were assaulted from all directions, struggling to find solid ground in a world where the concept of 'ground' was as fluid as water. My head swam, and I felt a sense of nausea creeping up my throat.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," I muttered, steadying myself against a wall as the world once again shifted around me.

"Easy, Connor," Vera advised, her voice a calming note amid the sensory assault. "Your body's just adjusting. It'll pass."

Her confidence was reassuring. I hoped she was right.

"Don't look down," Brice advised, keeping his own feet firmly planted on the wall as he made his way up.

Dude, I don't even know what 'down' means around here.

The transition between the gravitational fields of the different skyscrapers was the most jarring. One step, you're walking on what feels like the ground, the next you're falling sideways until you land on the next skyscraper, which becomes your new 'ground.'

Despite the strange new physics, we continued on. I kept my eyes focused ahead, forcing my mind to adjust to the shifting perspectives, trying to ignore the gnawing sensation of gravity pulling at odd angles.

"Keep close," Vera said, her tone serious as we moved from one skyscraper to another. She was clearly experienced at this, moving with a grace that belied the strangeness of the surroundings. Brice and I followed her, trying to match her steady pace.

We came across a particularly large gap between two buildings, a yawning chasm filled with the undulating colors of the nebula. The leap seemed impossible—the other side a precipice of a disorientating upside-down skyscraper.

"Alright, this is going to feel weird," Vera said, a teasing smile playing on her lips as she gauged the distance. "But remember, it's all about perspective."

She took a running start, then jumped into the void. For a moment, she looked as though she was falling upwards, her body rotating in mid-air to meet the gravity of the skyscraper on the other side. She landed smoothly, standing upside down on the other skyscraper, waving at us.

I shared a look with Brice, our expressions mirrored the same thought, "Are you kidding me?"

"You're up, cowboy!" she shouted over the distance, her laughter carrying in the alien air.

Swallowing hard, I backed up, mirroring her run-up, then launched myself across the chasm. I felt the pull of gravity change midway, and I twisted in the air, my stomach lurching.

When I hit the new 'ground', I stumbled but managed to keep on my feet. Turning back, I saw Brice make the jump, a mixture of exhilaration and terror on his face.

He landed roughly, skidding on the new surface, but quickly found his footing. He stood up, grinning broadly. "Now that's a ride!"

We continued, moving from building to building, each transition a test of my nerve. But, slowly, I was adapting to this alien environment. Despite the initial disorientation, the thrill of exploration began to overtake the fear. This place was strange, but it was also spectacular.