They left the coliseum through the northern gate, weapons drawn, silence heavy around them. The

  static from the last fight still clung to the air, faint sparks crawling along fractured walls as they passed.

  Every sound felt amplified now, echoing down the hollow streets of the ruined city.

  No one spoke. Not because they didn’t want to, but because words might break the thin thread of focus

  keeping them upright.

  The final beacon on the map less than a hundred meters away, the last recorded signature in the city. It

  pulsed faintly, a ghost from another squad’s data log.

  They crossed through crumbling arches and stepped into what must once have been a grand courtyard.

  Broken marble paths stretched toward a sunken plaza, where mirror-lakes had long since cracked and

  dried. Shattered glass and polished stone caught the faint light, scattering ghostly reflections through

  the fog.

  “It’s too quiet,” Nyra said softly.

  They reached the center of the plaza. No movement. No ambient resonance. Just the faint drip of water

  echoing from somewhere unseen.

  Rixor exhaled, lowering his hammer slightly. “Map’s wrong again. We’re chasing ghosts.”

  Calen and Nyra stayed back, rifles up, eyes on the periphery. Bash checked the map again, then glanced

  to S-C’s faint projection in his visor.

  “Any variance?”

  “Negative,” she said in his mind. “Beacon signature is static. No motion detected,...”

  A howl cut through the air, distant but low enough to shake dust loose from the broken pillars.

  Then came another.

  And another.

  Within seconds, the plaza filled with sound, twenty, maybe thirty howls, layered and circling, each one

  echoing from a different direction.

  Bash’s gut tightened. “Formation!”

  The team moved instantly, back-to-back in a loose ring, weapons out, scanning the shifting fog.

  A faint distortion shimmered on the far edge of the plaza. The light bent slightly, air rippling like heat

  off metal. Then it vanished.

  “Anyone see that?” Nyra whispered.

  “Yes,” Bash said grimly. “And it’s not wind.”

  The air bent again, closer this time.

  Then they appeared.

  Dozens of wolf-like shapes flickered into existence, each one distorted and wrong. Their limbs were

  long, jointed at off angles, their hides split by glowing fissures that bled faint violet light. When they

  moved, reality stuttered, like the world couldn’t decide where they belonged.

  S-C’s voice came sharp and clinical in Bash’s mind.

  “Species confirmed: Rift Howler. Blink-type mobility. Estimated count: thirty.”

  Bash’s jaw tightened. “We’ve got about thirty,” he said aloud.

  Rixor’s eyes widened. “Thirty? That’s a damn army.”

  Before anyone could speak again, the first one blinked.

  The sound was like air imploding, a heavy thunk that bent the space around it. Then claws and teeth.

  Before anyone could respond, the first one blinked.

  It vanished with a deep thunk of compressed air, and reappeared in front of Liora mid-step. The swipe

  came faster than reaction time, claws scraping her chest plate and sending her sprawling.

  “Contact!” Bash roared.

  The entire pack surged forward in bursts of light and pressure, flashing in and out of existence as they

  encircled the group. Arrows and bullets flew, but every shot missed by inches, the Howlers blinking

  aside milliseconds before impact.

  “They’re reading sound and motion!” Calen shouted, loosing another arrow that sliced through nothing.

  Rixor swung wide with his hammer, the weapon tearing through fog, but when it hit, the creature was

  gone. It reappeared behind him, teeth sinking into his shoulder guard before blinking away again.

  “Can’t hit what won’t stay still!” Rixor snarled.

  Taren fired both pistols, the glowing rounds streaking through the fog, but every shot hit nothing. The

  Howlers blinked away before impact, their displacements leaving her healing rounds to dissolve

  uselessly in the air.

  “Keep moving!” she shouted, frustration sharp in her voice. “I can’t hit them!”

  Without targets, her resonance couldn’t reach the others. She could only watch as cuts opened across

  armor, as sparks of blood and light marked every hit.

  The air warped, a shimmering ripple right behind Bash. He turned on instinct, knives flashing. The

  Howler appeared mid-swipe, his blade catching its throat before it blinked again. The attack still

  landed; claws raked down his side, armor sparking.

  S-C’s voice threaded through the chaos. “Spatial displacement detectable, pressure differential spikes

  just before reappearance.”

  “Say that again,” Bash panted.

  “You can see them coming,” she clarified. “The air bends before they phase back in.”

  Bash’s eyes darted across the haze. He saw it, a ripple, barely visible, a shimmer before each blink.

  “Watch the air!” he yelled. “You can track the distortion!”

  Rixor slammed his hammer into the ground, lightning arcing outward in a blinding ring. Three Howlers

  materialized mid-blink, caught by the discharge. Their bodies convulsed, locked in place for a second

  too long.

  Nyra fired, two quick bursts. The first shattered a Howler’s shoulder; the second blew its head apart.

  Darik and Liora moved in, blades carving into the other two.

  Each death hit Bash like a heartbeat. The invisible pulse slammed through his chest, heavy and

  rhythmic.

  “Tier 2 Common Blink Step,” S-C confirmed.

  He ignored it and moved again.

  Lightning cracked through the air, Rixor was fighting like a storm given flesh. Each swing sent arcs

  dancing across the plaza, shorting out whatever spatial trick the Howlers used.

  But they were relentless.

  Two blinked directly behind Calen, striking in perfect sync. One clawed his back; the other slammed

  into his knee, spinning him around. He fired point-blank, his wind-imbued arrow tearing through one’s

  face before it vanished. The other blinked again, straight into Bash’s blade.

  Razorvein shrieked as it tore through the beast’s neck, grinding upward before bursting through its

  skull.

  The pulse that followed nearly dropped him.

  Taren shouted over the chaos, “Bash, you still up?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  He twisted away from another blink strike, one knife flashing in a tight arc that caught a Rift Howler

  across the snout. “Still here!” he yelled back. “Keep firing, Rixor’s bleeding heavily!”

  Her guns flared, shots streaking wide through the fog. None landed. “I can’t hit them! They’re gone

  before impact!”

  Bash saw the air fold again, that ripple just before a Howler reappeared. “Watch for the shimmer!” he

  called out, stabbing through the blur. “They blink in right after it bends!”

  “I’ve got him,” she said, sprinting across the battlefield. She slid in beside Rixor, pressed one glowing

  hand to his armor, and fired a healing round over his shoulder into a rippling air. The bullet struck, light

  bursting on impact, waves of restorative energy radiating outward to both of them.

  Rixor groaned, rolling his neck. “That’s better. Don’t stop firing.”

  Another ripple.

  “Left!” Bash shouted. The team pivoted. Liora swung high, her mineral-coated blade colliding with the

  Howler as it blinked in, crushing its skull before it could react.

  The air exploded again, five, six, seven blinks in rapid succession.

  The team scattered. Darik caught one on his cleavers mid-leap, ripping it open. Calen shot another

  through the chest. Nyra’s shots burned the air, each one trailing streaks of essence, fire, and poison.

  Still, for every one they killed, it seemed two more flickered into view.

  “Rixor!” Bash yelled. “Lightning, full sweep! Hit everything that moves!”

  “On it!”

  Rixor planted his hammer into the stone. Lightning webbed outward in a flash, striking half a dozen

  Howlers mid-phase. The light froze them, electricity crawling over their bodies in crackling chains.

  “Attack!” Bash shouted.

  The entire team unleashed everything they had. Fire, arrows, bullets, and blades tore through the

  stunned beasts. Bodies hit the ground one after another, fading into motes of light that dissolved into

  the mist.

  But the Alpha wasn’t among them.

  Its roar split the air like thunder. The distortion before its arrival was enormous, warping everything

  around them. Then it appeared, massive and twisted, its hide split with deep violet fissures that burned

  brighter than the others.

  “Alpha variant,” S-C said. “Enhanced blink frequency. Power output twenty-fold higher.”

  “Stay sharp!” Bash barked.

  The Alpha blinked across the plaza in a storm of motion, each reappearance marked by a shockwave

  that threw dust and shards of stone into the air. Taren fired off a round, but it vanished before impact.

  Calen’s arrows shattered on the ground where it had been.

  “Too fast!” Nyra shouted.

  Rixor moved to intercept, lightning crawling across his armor. “Then I’ll make it slow down!”

  The Alpha blinked behind him, jaws clamping down on his shoulder. Rixor roared in pain, his hammer

  falling from his grip, but instead of collapsing, he grinned through bloodied teeth and triggered his

  lightning burst directly through his body.

  The Alpha spasmed, every muscle locking.

  “Now!” Bash screamed.

  Nyra’s rifle barked. Calen’s arrows followed. Liora and Darik charged in, blades carving glowing

  gashes into the creature’s torso. Bash’s knives hit next, Razorvein activating, grinding deep into the

  exposed muscle.

  Taren, standing ten meters back, emptied both pistols into the Alpha’s skull, each healing round

  doubling as a concussive strike.

  The Alpha jerked once, light flooding from its mouth and eyes, then collapsed in a final burst of static.

  Silence swallowed the plaza.

  The air shimmered faintly, then went still. Thirty-two Rift Howlers lay scattered across the plaza, their

  twisted limbs and cracked hides leaking faint violet light that pulsed once… then faded. The fog

  pressed close again, muffling every breath, every step.

  No one spoke at first. The team just stood there, bloodied and armor torn. Then Bash lowered his blade,

  letting it rest against the fractured stone.

  “Check the bodies,” he said quietly. “Collect everything.”

  They moved methodically, cutting through the remains, pulling free the fragments, prying loose the

  fangs, long, crystalline teeth shot through with threads of light, each one thrumming faintly with

  residual energy. One by one, they sealed them into their pouches until the last was packed away.

  Bash fell to one knee, breathing hard. His armor smoked from a dozen shallow cuts. S-C’s voice

  reached him, low and steady.

  “All essence absorbed. Classification: Tier Two Common, Blink Step.”

  He didn’t answer. Just nodded once.

  Taren moved between them, pressing her hands to armor and skin, her light pulsing with each touch.

  Calen’s leg wound sealed, Liora’s cracked plate fused, Darik’s bruised ribs eased beneath the glow.

  Rixor groaned. “I think I’m starting to hate wolves.”

  Nyra smirked, reloading. “You just hate anything that bites back.”

  Bash finally straightened, blades sliding back into their sheaths. “We need a way for you to heal from a

  distance, Taren. Running through lightning storms and claws every fight isn’t sustainable.”

  Before she could reply, S-C spoke in his mind.

  “When her healing core evolves, ranged restoration will be viable. She’ll be able to transmit energy

  through imbued projectiles.”

  Bash frowned slightly. Evolves? “Another thing that didn’t come with the upload?”

  “Affirmative,” she said evenly. “I’ll explain later.”

  He exhaled, muttering, “Of course.”

  Taren stood, brushing off her gloves. “Everyone stable enough to move?”

  Rixor grunted. “Define stable.”

  “Alive,” Bash said simply.

  “Then yeah,” Rixor smirked. “Barely.”

  They gathered themselves in silence. The plaza, once filled with echoes, now felt hollow.

  Bash looked around at the team, battered, scorched, but still standing.

  “No unlocks,” he said quietly. “But we got what we came for, if all it ended up being was confirmation,

  of no more unlocks.”

  Liora nodded. “And lived.”

  “Barely,” Darik muttered, sheathing his cleavers.

  They turned toward the fog, where the faint shimmer of the return path waited. The last city beacon had

  gone dark, and with it, the last sound of the Howlers.