The first thing to go was the sky.
One moment, it was the usual storm—a boiling whirl of black clouds tearing at the edges of the city. The next, it cracked open like glass under heat, shattering into strips of color that bled into the roads. Those strips didn't fall—they twisted downward, wrapping around the track like snakes.
Marcel barely had a second to react."Omega, stabilize!" he barked.
The car tilted thirty degrees without warning—left wheels higher than the right—yet the road hadn't curved. It was gravity shifting, pulling them toward the abyss on their side. Adrian's voice fractured with interference.
"New data—Black Horizon is weaponizing physics. Adapting to you."
Another shift. The road ahead wasn't just turning—it was unfolding, each section peeling away and floating into the air like playing cards caught in wind. Some slammed back into place at impossible angles. Others spun slowly, daring him to jump.
The Ghost, still ahead, didn't slow. Their lines were surgical, hitting each fragment of track as if they'd memorized it a century ago. Marcel couldn't see their eyes, but he could feel the taunt in every drift.
"You're going to have to let it take you," Adrian said."What does that even mean?""Stop fighting the pull. Use it."
The next curve was suicide. The road turned vertical, then twisted midair into a corkscrew without touching anything solid. Marcel punched the throttle, Omega screaming as the tires bit into the wall.
Gravity gave up.
For three full seconds, there was no up, no down—just the black-and-red glow of the horizon swallowing the city whole. Marcel's body slammed into the harness, G-forces clawing at his vision, and then—impact. Omega landed sideways, still moving, still alive.
Adrian's voice steadied. "You're learning."Marcel smirked through the sweat. "Always do."
The Ghost looked back—just for a heartbeat—and then they vanished into a collapsing bridge, leaving Marcel to decide whether to follow them into the jaws of the storm… or turn back and survive.
He didn't even consider the second option.