Adam staggered back, his breath coming fast. Ombrathrax? How did he get here? He was just in bed, watching Hezme—
He looked at her again.
She was still smiling, still bleeding, but she wasn't breathing.
Adam swallowed hard. "What did you do to her?"
Lore—the man from the mirror—tilted his head, studying Adam like a scientist inspecting a trapped insect. His grin was wide, but his eyes were empty.
"I did nothing. You killed her."
"No." Adam shook his head. "That wasn't me."
Lore took a slow step forward. The ground beneath him shifted. Dark, twisting chains slithered across the floor, coiling around his feet like living things.
"Wasn't it?" Lore whispered. "Or did I just help you see what was already inside you?"
Adam's pulse thundered in his ears. He clenched his fists. He wanted to hit something. To break something.
Then, the chains moved.
They slithered toward Hezme. Wrapped around her limp wrists. Tightened.
Adam lunged forward—
Lore snapped his fingers.
The world tilted.
Adam fell through the floor.
Adam got up and charged at Lore again.
"Left, right, right, left, straight kick," Lore murmured, slipping past every strike with effortless precision.
Adam hesitated. How was he predicting his moves? Was he reading his mind?
Lore sighed. "Ah, a newcomer." He took a step back, his form flickering like a dying ember. "I'll give you one chance to reconsider."
Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he vanished.
Darkness swallowed everything. No room. No walls. No bed. Just an endless void. Hezme's presence faded, dissolving into the black.
"Sern!" Adam shouted. "Get me out of here!"
Silence.
The darkness thickened, pressing in. He waved his hands blindly, searching for something—anything.
His fingers brushed against something wet. Sticky. It smelled like damp cloth left to rot.
A low, slithering voice broke the silence.
"I'm wet," it chuckled. "I guess that means I'm excited to see you."
From the void, something moved.
Adam stumbled back, his breath sharp and unsteady. "Don't come any closer."
The figure dripped as it advanced, water pooling beneath its feet. The air reeked of mildew and something foul, like stagnant water left to rot.
"Lore, I'm warning you," Adam said, his voice shaking as he kept retreating.
The thing didn't stop. Its soaked hair clung to its face, its hollow eyes gleaming in the darkness. Then, it shifted—flesh rippling like something writhing beneath the skin.
Chavah's face stared back at him.
"Don't you remember me?" she asked, her voice a perfect echo. But something was wrong. The smile was too wide. The teeth too sharp.
Adam swung a fist. Her hand shot up, catching it effortlessly. Her grip was like iron, cold and slick.
"Let me give you a ride," she whispered, leaning closer. Water dribbled from her mouth, spilling down her chin. Too much water.
"I won't bite."
She grinned. A black tongue slid across her teeth.
The darkness behind her began to move.
Adam squinted at the dripping woman, trying to place what she was. A mermaid? A siren?
Her form flickered—glitching like a corrupted image.
A weeping bride? Another violent distortion rippled through her body.
Mami Wata? The glitch came again.
Adam's pulse quickened. It happens every time I get it wrong.
She reached him, her arms slick and freezing as they wrapped around his body. Before he could react, the ground beneath them vanished.
They plunged into cold, black water.
Adam thrashed, kicking upward, but her grip tightened like a vice, pulling him deeper. The weight of the dark water crushed against his chest. He couldn't see the surface. Couldn't tell which way was up.
Water nymph? he thought desperately.
She glitched.
For a split second, her hold weakened, and Adam surged upward—but she recovered too quickly, seizing him again.
His lungs burned. His vision blurred. The deep was endless, stretching forever. This is it. He was going to drown in the dark.
Kelpie.
The word flashed through his mind, and in an instant, she vanished.
The black abyss swallowed her whole.
Adam kicked desperately, swimming toward what he hoped was the surface. His limbs felt like lead, his breath just moments from failing him. But no matter how hard he swam, the darkness never ended.
The cold seeped into his bones. I can't make it.
Then, without warning, the water spat him out.
He hit the ground hard, gasping, choking, coughing up thick streams of water. His vision spun as he lay on his back, staring up.
The water above him shifted, twisting like a living thing, then melted into the surrounding darkness.
Adam forced himself to his feet, shivering. "That wasn't a Kelpie. Kelpies are horses. That was a cheat."
A voice echoed around him, smooth and amused.
"Did you just call me a cheat?"
Adam turned sharply, searching for the source.
"I never cheat," Lore said, his voice dripping with something just short of laughter. "Kelpies are shapeshifters, you know. They can take many forms."
The darkness stirred.
Something else was watching him.
A man fell from above, hitting the ground with a sickening crack—but he didn't stop moving.
Before Adam could react, the man charged.
Adam barely had time to think—Lore—before the man glitched, flickering like a distorted image. For a split second, his face was a blur of overlapping features, something wrong.
Then he hit.
Adam was knocked back hard, skidding across the wet ground. He barely got to his feet before steel flashed in the dark—a sword, unsheathed. The warrior swung with deadly precision.
Adam dodged. Then again. Then again—until the blade sang too close. He lunged forward and caught the steel in his bare hand.
"Warrior," he gasped.
The man glitched again, his body twisting unnaturally, like something wearing human skin that didn't quite fit.
The moment of hesitation gave Adam his chance. He yanked the sword free and slashed.
His palm split open, blood spilling—but the wound stitched itself back together instantly.
Adam's stomach dropped. Not human.
Before he could process it, a sharp pain tore through his back.
His breath hitched. Something was inside him.
He coughed, and warm blood splattered the ground. Behind him, the warrior's voice rumbled like distant thunder.
The blade was ripped out.
Adam staggered, eyes wide with pain, barely catching himself before collapsing. He spun, swinging wildly, one hand clutching his open wound. But the warrior was too fast.
His grip snapped around Adam's wrist.
A sickening pop.
Adam's shoulder dislocated.
He dropped to his knees. His arm hung useless at his side. The warrior towered over him, smiling.
Then, without warning, he stomped.
Adam's skull slammed into the ground. Stars exploded in his vision. The world spun.
Brighter, Adam thought weakly, tasting blood. The warrior glowed, unlike the Kelpie. His eyes burned like molten gold.
Lore's voice slithered from the shadows.
"Finish him."
The warrior's entire body ignited, hair standing on end as the air vibrated with energy. Then—
Lightning struck.
Adam's body arched in agony. His vision went white. The pain was beyond pain—pure, burning devastation that shredded through him.
Through the haze, a single word clawed its way out of his mind—
"Zeus."
The warrior glitched.
The energy ripped apart for just a moment, just enough time for Adam to stumble back—
Something whistled through the air.
Adam's instincts screamed. He turned—just in time to see a hammer racing toward him at impossible speed.
"Thor," he choked.
The warrior glitched again.
Right before the hammer could cave in his skull, both it and the warrior disappeared.
Silence.
Adam swayed. His vision blurred. Burnt skin, broken bones, blood pooling beneath him.
Somewhere in the darkness, Lore laughed.
The game wasn't over.
Not even close.