The air was heavy with fear, suffocating and relentless. The first Riftborn, massive and monstrous, lunged into the group with a wild, frenzied rage. It tore through them without thought or hesitation, its claws slashing wildly, ripping flesh and shattering bone with horrifying ease. The streets erupted into chaos, the screams of the group piercing the night like a thousand knives. Caleb's voice was among them, shouting incoherent orders that were drowned out by the cacophony of terror.
The Riftborn moved erratically, its jagged limbs flailing as it tore into anything within reach. It didn't hunt with precision it didn't need to. Its sheer size and ferocity made every movement deadly. Bree swung her self-made blade, her strikes desperate and panicked, but the Riftborn's thrashing claws sent her flying before she could land a single blow. She hit the ground hard, her body crumpling like a broken doll.
The group scattered, their earlier bravado shattered into raw, primal fear. They tripped over each other in their frantic attempts to flee, their hands clawing at walls, at the ground, at each other. The Riftborn's guttural growls mixed with the sound of tearing flesh and the wet, sickening thuds of bodies hitting the ground. Caleb tried to rally them, his voice hoarse with rage and fear, but it was useless. The Riftborn didn't tire, didn't falter it only killed.
The panic spread like wildfire. Those who tried to run found themselves blocked by the narrow, twisting streets of the slums. The walls that had once offered shelter now became traps, hemming them in as the Riftborn's frenzied attacks closed in. Those who fought back did so with trembling hands, their pathetic weapons breaking against the creature's impenetrable body. Caleb's voice, once so full of anger and arrogance, dissolved into desperate cries that went unanswered.
And then the rift widened.
The crack in the air grew larger, the oppressive energy radiating from it intensifying. Another Riftborn emerged, its massive form clawing its way into the world with a guttural roar. This one was even larger, its sinewy body covered in jagged, chitinous armor that shimmered like oil in the faint light. Its movements were just as wild, just as frenzied, as it joined the first in the slaughter.
And then another. And another.
The rift spewed forth horrors, each more grotesque than the last. The streets were no longer quiet they were alive with the sounds of slaughter. Screams of agony, cries for help, the desperate sound of feet pounding against cobblestones it was all one relentless symphony of despair. The Riftborn didn't stop, and their victims didn't stand a chance.
Reyn stood frozen, his sharp gray eyes wide with shock and fear. His heart pounded in his chest as he watched the massacre unfold, the air thick with the stench of blood and death. Caleb, Bree, and the others all of them were nothing more than prey in the eyes of the Riftborn. The slums had always been cruel, but this was something else entirely. This was annihilation.
Reyn's instincts screamed at him to run, to get as far away as possible, but his legs felt like lead. He was rooted to the spot, the sight of the slaughter keeping him paralyzed. But when one of the Riftborn turned its glowing gaze toward him, something snapped. Survival took over.
The Riftborn charged. Reyn barely managed to dive out of the way, the creature's massive claws tearing through the air just inches from his head. He hit the ground hard, his chest heaving as adrenaline coursed through his veins. The attack missed him but it didn't miss the bystanders behind him.
The Riftborn's claw slammed into them with brutal force, flinging their bodies like rag dolls. They hit walls and cobblestones with sickening thuds, their cries of pain cut short as they crumpled to the ground in twisted heaps. Blood spattered the street, painting it in gruesome streaks that made Reyn's stomach churn.
He scrambled to his feet, his sharp gray eyes darting wildly as he tried to find a way out. The air was thick with screams and growls, the oppressive energy of the rift pressing down on him like a weight. More Riftborn prowled through the chaos, their frenzied movements turning the crowd into a sea of fear and panic.
The bodies of those flung by the Riftborn's attacks littered Reyn's path, blocking every direction he tried to take. Their twisted forms were sprawled across the ground, faces frozen in terror. And then there were the living the desperate, frenzied horde of people clawing at him, each trying to push past him in their frantic attempts to escape.
Reyn shoved his way forward, his breaths coming in sharp, panicked gasps. He tried to dodge the clawing hands and wild screams, his only focus on survival. But the Riftborn were everywhere. Their guttural growls and frenzied movements left no safe space, no refuge, only chaos.
For a moment, Reyn spotted a narrow alley to his left, just wide enough to squeeze through. He veered toward it, his heart racing as he pushed through the crowd. But just as he reached it, one of the Riftborn blocked the entrance, its massive form filling the space completely. Its glowing eyes burned into him, and its maw opened slowly, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
The beast lunged toward Reyn, its claws slashing through the air. His heart stopped as he braced himself for the inevitable but then, something deep within him stirred. It wasn't adrenaline. It was something else. Something ancient, powerful, and overwhelming.
A voice echoed in his mind, resonant and divine, like the toll of a massive bell. It was calm, yet it carried an undeniable weight, a force that shook him to his core.
"You have been accepted by the rift."
Reyn gasped, the words surging through him like fire. His veins burned with an unbearable heat as a flood of energy overtook him, blinding and all-consuming. He barely registered the Riftborn's incoming claw it was too late to move, too late to react.
And then it happened.
A surge of raw, explosive power erupted from within him, a blinding wave of energy that rippled through the air. The Riftborn's attack was stopped mid-swing, the force of the explosion sending it reeling backward, its guttural growl turning into a roar of pain and rage. The surrounding chaos stilled for a fraction of a second as the shockwave expanded, scattering debris and bodies alike.
Reyn staggered, his vision blurring as the ground tilted beneath him. The adrenaline that had kept him moving vanished, replaced by a crushing exhaustion that dragged him down. He collapsed to his knees, the weight of the energy pulling him into unconsciousness.
The last thing he saw before everything went dark was the glowing eyes of the Riftborn, still standing, still coming for him.