A red glow pulsed from Kri — a warning, unmistakable.
In an instant, Ria was no longer where she had been. The world around her twisted and reshaped. She now stood outside a four-story building, its structure looming under a heavy, silent sky. The ground was bare, scattered with dry earth and sparse trees, encased by high, crumbling walls. Two more buildings stood in the distance, eerily similar, their windows hollow and watching.
Something was wrong.
Darkness blanketed the place. The air felt stale, the silence unnatural — until the first sharp buzz of a drone broke through. Something — or someone — was attacking. Bursts of light shot across the sky like falling stars. Bullets. Screams. Chaos. The buildings were littered with debris, classrooms torn apart, benches overturned, books scattered like fallen leaves. Every corner felt haunted, as if the place remembered pain.
Figures moved in the shadows — not clearly human, not clearly anything at all. And something was chasing.
A presence. A shape. Not quite visible, but always there.
Then — a snap.
A hand grabbed her, dragged her into a dark room. The door slammed. Silence. Nothing but the thudding of her heartbeat and the ragged sound of breath — hers, and others.
She wasn't alone.
As her eyes adjusted, Ria realized others were there, hidden in the gloom. No one spoke. No one moved. Just the sense of shared dread.
And when she finally opened her eyes fully... she had no idea where she was — or what this place truly was.