The first scream cut through the silence like a blade.

Aiden froze.

He had never heard a person die before.

But he knew instantly—that sound didn't belong to someone still breathing. It was raw, guttural, choked off too soon.

Then came the second scream. And the third.

Squad Eclipse broke.

Boots pounded against concrete, the sound echoing like a frantic drumbeat. Shadows shifted unnaturally, twisting and stretching in ways that defied logic. Aiden turned his head toward the noise, but all he could do was listen.

"What the hell is that?!" someone shouted, their voice cracking with panic.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

Aiden moved purely on instinct, throwing himself against a nearby wall. His pulse thundered in his ears as another shriek tore through the squad, followed by a wet, sickening crunch.

A body hit the ground. Then another.

Something was hunting them.

But it wasn't moving like a mindless beast. It wasn't charging them head-on like the lesser creatures that usually emerged from Rifts.

This was a predator. It was waiting, lurking, striking when they least expected it.

And Squad Eclipse had no idea what to do.

Aiden tried to control his breathing, his chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven gasps. He needed to think.

The mission was supposed to be reconnaissance. No engagement, no unnecessary risks. Yet Dain had pushed them deeper, ignoring every warning sign.

Now, half the squad was dead, and the rest were blindly scrambling to fight something they couldn't see.

Another scream ripped through the air, closer this time, followed by the sound of tearing flesh.

Aiden tensed. That was too close—way too close.

Someone stumbled past him, gasping for breath.

Aiden recognized the voice.

Varon. One of the squad's stronger fighters. C-Rank.

Aiden reached out blindly. "Varon!" he hissed, his voice barely above a whisper. "What's happening?"

A choked sound escaped Varon's lips. "They're—they're inside the shadows." His voice trembled, each word laced with terror. "They don't move like anything I've seen before. They—they don't make sense."

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Aiden's stomach twisted.

Shadow creatures.

That explained why the squad hadn't noticed them at first. Some Rifts produced entities that could merge with the environment, lurking just beyond the edges of perception.

Most Hunters had enhanced vision traits to detect them.

Aiden had nothing.

And yet… he could feel them.

The weight of the air. The unnatural way sound warped and bent. The pulsing pressure in the Rift itself.

The entire space was alive. And it was watching them.

Varon coughed, struggling to catch his breath. "Dain—Dain's lost it. He's trying to fight, but you can't hit them. They move before you even strike. They're—they're toying with us."

Aiden pressed his back against the cold wall, his hands tightening into fists.

He was useless.

No weapons that could harm these things.No power to protect himself.No way to even see the enemy.

The others were dying.

And soon, so would he.

Varon gasped. His breathing grew heavier, more labored.

"Varon?" Aiden whispered, his voice barely audible.

Silence.

Aiden's chest constricted.

Then he heard it.

A slow, wet tearing sound.

A breathy, inhuman whisper, so close it sent ice through his veins.

Then—something dropped at his feet.

Aiden recoiled. His fingers brushed against something warm. Slick.

His stomach lurched.

It was Varon.

No.

Not Varon.

A part of him.

A hand.

A severed hand.

Aiden staggered back, bile rising in his throat. His mind screamed at him to move, to run, to do something.

But there was nowhere to go.

Then, for the first time, he heard them.

Not the Hunters. Not his squad.

The things inside the Rift.

A whisper, layered and distorted, slipping through the air like a phantom breeze.

"One remains."

Aiden's body turned to ice.

Another whisper, lower this time.

"He does not belong."

The presence around him thickened, pressing in from all sides.

The air itself seemed to shudder, as if the Rift was reacting.

Aiden's breathing came fast and shallow. His hands scrambled against the concrete wall, searching for something—anything—to hold onto.

The whispers twisted.

Almost amused.

"Shall we show him?"

Something slammed into his chest.

Aiden's world tilted.

For a moment, he was weightless.

Then—he hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the air from his lungs.

Pain exploded through his ribs. He coughed, tasting blood.

A deep, vibrating growl rumbled through the air. Something shifted above him, the space growing thick with the scent of decay.

Aiden squeezed his eyes shut.

This was it.

This was where it ended.

Left behind. Forgotten.

He had always known he would die this way.

Alone.

The shadows moved.

Something reached for him.

A pressure built behind his eyes, sharp and burning.

A pulse of something foreign, something ancient ignited deep in his skull, like a crack splitting through stone.

A sound, low and distant, echoed through the Rift.

Not a growl.Not a whisper.Something deeper.

Something that did not belong here.

Aiden gasped as his vision exploded into light.

And for the first time in his life—

He saw everything.