The wind howled over the shattered rooftops.
Valen's coat flapped in the cold as he stared down from the broken edge of a half-collapsed highway bridge. The city below was a graveyard — concrete ribs sticking out of ash, buildings split in half like peeled fruit. No sirens. No lights. No safety.
Just whispers.
"Someone's down there," Lira whispered behind him.
He didn't respond.
Instead, his black eyes narrowed on the flickers of movement in the distance — faint glints of firelight. Maybe torches. Maybe survivors.
Maybe bait.
"I'm going," he said.
"You're injured."
Valen didn't argue. He just started climbing down.
The Settlement in the Bones
The firelight led them to the remains of a subway entrance. Someone had set up defenses — makeshift barricades of cars and barbed wire, with melted signs stuck into the ground like twisted flags.
Valen's boots crunched glass as he approached. His Echo remained silent now, hidden beneath the surface, but his body still burned from the Riftborn's mark. He could feel it — like a brand, tugging at something inside him.
Two armed men stepped out of the tunnel's mouth. One held a rusted machete, the other an old rifle barely holding together with duct tape.
"Stop right there!" the one with the machete barked.
Valen raised a hand — slow and calm.
"We're just passing through."
"Doesn't look like it," the gunman said. "You're armed."
Lira stepped beside Valen. "Please. We're not infected. We're not monsters."
The men looked at each other. Hesitation. Fear.
A third voice called out from behind them — smoother, colder.
"Let them in."
From the shadows stepped a man in a long red coat, clean despite the apocalypse. He had sharp features, white hair tied back, and eyes that gleamed like a serpent's — too calm for this broken world.
Valen's jaw clenched.
This one's dangerous.
The red-coated man smiled.
"I'm Cale Stroud," he said. "Leader of this little sanctuary."
He held out a hand.
Valen didn't take it.
Meeting Cale – The Charmer with Secrets
The subway tunnel had been converted into a survivor den — flickering lights powered by scavenged generators, tents lining the walls, people huddled in corners. About thirty survivors. Men, women, even a few kids.
Valen saw them all, measured their condition, weapons, threat level — all in a few seconds.
Cale walked beside him casually, like they were old friends.
"We found this place a week ago," he said. "Been building it up ever since. Food's short. Morale's worse. But people need hope."
"You're feeding them hope?" Valen asked.
Cale chuckled. "I feed them safety. That's what matters."
Valen didn't trust him.
Too smooth. Too ready.
Too clean.
"How'd you survive the Riftborn surge?" Valen asked quietly.
Cale's smile didn't change.
"I've got my ways."
Lira leaned in. "Valen… these people are scared. We can help."
Valen didn't answer.
Because something was wrong.
The deeper they went, the heavier the air felt. Not just paranoia — something else. Something underneath the noise. A vibration.
A hum.
And then Valen saw it.
A mark.
Burned into one of the wall panels — hastily covered with cloth, but still visible.
A Rift spiral.
Fresh.
Someone here has been touched.
The Marked and the Manipulated
That night, Valen stood alone near the tunnel's edge. He stared into the darkness, Echo flickering faintly on his palm. Not a full weapon — just enough to feel for the corruption.
It was here.
Not a monster. Not yet.
A human.
Someone had been infected by the Rift's influence and hadn't turned… yet.
A Riftbound.
He'd seen it before in the old timeline. Some people who didn't die when exposed. Instead, they changed. Slowly. Their minds frayed. Their bodies warped. And then… they opened doors from the inside.
And right now, one of them was inside this shelter.
He turned to Lira.
"We're leaving at dawn."
She looked confused. "Why?"
He glanced toward Cale, who was talking to the survivors around a makeshift table, smiling like a king.
"There's something wrong here," Valen muttered. "This place isn't clean."
Midnight Revelation
Valen didn't sleep. He never did.
His nightmares were memories.
And tonight, the Rift's hum wouldn't stop.
He wandered the deeper tunnels alone, following the sound. Past the sleeping quarters. Past the barricades.
Until he found a sealed steel door.
And beyond it — a strange light.
He forced it open with his bare hands, Echo strengthening his grip. The metal groaned, but opened.
Inside was a small chamber… and in the center, a Rift Core.
A sphere of black and silver, pulsing like a heart.
Someone had been feeding it — blood, weapons, fragments of monster flesh.
Valen stared.
They're trying to grow one.
Suddenly, the air shifted.
Cale stepped in behind him, slow clapping.
"Knew you'd find it eventually," he said.
Valen turned slowly.
"You're Riftbound."
Cale grinned wider. "Not yet. But soon."
He stepped forward, revealing the faint glow under his collar — a Rift mark spreading across his chest.
"I made a deal," Cale said. "To survive. To rebuild. This world was always going to burn. I just made sure I'd be on the right side of it."
Valen didn't reply.
The Echo surged to life in his hand.
Fight Beneath the City
Cale moved first — faster than any human should. His hand became a blade of light and black energy, slamming toward Valen.
Valen ducked, rolled, slashed up — Echo and Rift energy clashing like lightning.
The chamber shook.
Cale's movements were wild — twitchy, chaotic, fueled by something unnatural. Not as clean as a Riftborn, but strong.
Valen fought with calculation. Every blow controlled. Every dodge measured.
He wasn't winning.
But he wasn't losing.
Finally, he drove the Echo straight through the Rift Core.
It exploded.
A blast of energy flung both of them across the chamber. Cale screamed — his body twisting, smoking, cracking.
Valen rose, limping, Echo flickering.
Cale tried to rise — half his face melting into black ash.
"You think… this will stop them?" he rasped.
"No," Valen said. "But I'll stop you."
One final slash.
Cale's body hit the ground, dissolving into dust.
Valen emerged from the tunnel alone, bloodied, burned, but alive.
Lira saw him. Her eyes widened.
"What happened?"
He looked back into the darkness.
"This place is compromised. We leave. Now."
She didn't ask questions this time.
As they climbed back into the ash-covered world, Valen's thoughts were cold.
This was just one man.
One Riftbound.
But in the future, there had been entire cities that fell from within.
And now he knew…
The Rift wasn't just coming from the sky.
It was already here.