[A harsh fall]
The rift tore open with a crackle of violet energy, jagged arcs of light dancing like a wound in reality. It wasn't a doorway. It was a scream stitched into the air. The warehouse reeked of ozone and scorched metal, and the lights flickered as if the world itself had drawn a breath.
The Black Concord operatives went first. Dureil didn't glance back. His soldiers vanished into the violet haze with machine precision, as if they had already been claimed.
The Americans followed, silver and crimson gear burning bright against the rift's glow. At the edge, Xalith's eyes flicked toward Kai. Sharp violet, calculating. She gave the smallest wink — not kind, not mocking, but sharp enough to cut — then turned and disappeared into the abyss.
Neo shifted forward, his frame blocking Kai's view of her as if that could erase the moment. Meredith shoved Kai anyway, her grin reckless. "Our turn," she said, goggles flashing.
Kai stepped into the rift.
---
The world shattered. Light fractured, sound folded, weight vanished and then came crashing back.
He slammed into ice and stone, snow exploding around him in shards. His body skidded, bounced, ribs burning with each impact.
The mountain screamed. Wind howled like something alive, tearing at his harness, prying at his pack. The cold carved into him, not as weather but as an enemy.
Kai clawed for purchase. Gloves scraped rock, fingers sliding. His chest lurched forward — the ledge ended in a sheer drop.
Nails caught stone. They tore instantly. One bent until it split. Another peeled back with white-hot pain. Blood smeared across the ice. His shoulders shook, arms trembling, every muscle straining as gravity pulled him toward the abyss.
The Sovereign Box ripped free from his harness. The cube pulsed faint azure, like a dying heartbeat, before it tumbled into the dark. His duffle bag followed. Both vanished without a sound.
His heart lurched. The briefing's words echoed: If you die, bleed on it. If you live, feed it. Gone.
His nails peeled further. His grip was seconds from failure.
Nimbus Cloud.
A shimmer of pale light bloomed under his boots, catching him just as his hands gave. Balance lasted for one heartbeat.
The storm laughed.
A gust slammed him sideways. The Cloud spun, shattered. He tumbled, smashing through an ice ridge before burying deep in a snowdrift.
---
Snow engulfed him instantly.
It wasn't soft. It was weight. Suffocating, crushing, pressing into his chest until his lungs screamed for air. Every kick collapsed more snow over him, packing tighter, heavier.
Darkness pressed against his eyes. His arms were pinned. His body thrashed uselessly.
[Warning: oxygen levels dropping. Core temperature unstable. Sleep here will result in termination within minutes.]
Flicker's voice cut sharper, harsher, more alive than the storm itself.
'Don't sleep, Malakai. Don't close your eyes. If you do, this place will kill you.'
His body screamed to surrender, to let the weight finish what it had started. But Sloth wasn't laziness. It was precision. Patience. Control.
He slowed his movements, deliberate instead of frantic. Pushed upward, inch by inch, forcing his arms through the packed snow. Blood dripped hot through his gloves, crusting instantly. His shoulders burned. His lungs clawed.
Minutes stretched into eternities. His chrono blinked three. His body believed hours.
Finally his fingers tore through the surface. Air stabbed them. He dragged himself up, face bursting into the storm.
The blizzard hit harder than death.
---
The world was white.
Snow above, snow below, snow sideways. Curtains so dense he couldn't see his own hand. Each gust flayed skin raw, lashes froze, breath shattered into shards.
There were no landmarks. No horizon. No sky. Only snow. Endless snow.
He staggered upright, legs sinking to his thighs. Boots dragged free like they'd been cemented. Every step a war. His HUD flickered: Core temperature dropping. The words blinked, glitched, blinked again. Even Sovereign didn't know if he was alive.
[Hydration: low. Calorie expenditure: extreme. Recommend immediate shelter. Movement unsustainable.]
Flicker snarled in his head.
'Keep walking. Don't stop. Don't even think about closing your eyes. If you do, you'll never open them again.'
Kai forced one step. Then another.
Ten. Twenty. Fifty.
Time lost meaning. The blizzard erased it. Every moment was white, roaring, endless. His body moved on stubborn will alone.
He thought of the Box, vanishing into the abyss. Thought of Tara's warning: They'll make you a hero. Then they'll erase you. Maybe this was erasure. Maybe they'd known the Old Realm would bury him before anything else.
His legs buckled. He fell face-first into the snow.
[Consciousness failing. Immediate danger: terminal.]
Flicker roared, a blade in his mind.
'Wake! Don't give in! You are not allowed to die here!'
Kai tried. His body wouldn't listen. The snow pressed soft against his cheek, a cradle made of knives. His chest rose once. Twice. The third time, it refused.
Auroral light bled through the storm above, green and red, smearing across the void. For a moment, he thought he saw a figure on the ridge — tall, cloaked, unmoving. Then the light shifted, and it was gone.
The blizzard roared louder.
Velnix tried covering my body like a thermal blanket it helped but kai was already suffering from hyperthermia. The kicker? This all happened in 4 minutes.
Kai's last thought before darkness claimed him was blunt, final:
I'm dead.