The air smelled of salt and rot. Sid's boots clicked over broken planks and scattered debris as the squad entered the abandoned port city. The remnants of warehouses leaned at impossible angles, their wooden beams splintered and walls eaten away by years of neglect—and by something far worse.
Shadows pooled along the streets, thick and unnatural, moving as if the darkness itself had a will.
"Stay close," Thorne muttered, his voice low, barely carrying over the creak of a hanging sign swaying in the wind. His Hollowbane rifle was ready, its silver barrel reflecting the dim light like a sliver of moon. "Fragments are concentrated here. Expect anything."
Lucien moved ahead, hands raised, eyes scanning with careful precision. "The place is… wrong," he said quietly, his voice almost swallowed by the echoing emptiness. "The Nightroot Fragments have taken hold… It's feel like it's everywhere."
Sid felt a shiver run down his spine. He had fought Hollows before, but something about this city felt alive. Not alive in the usual way—a pulse, a movement—but as if the darkness itself were breathing, watching, waiting. He glanced at Reinhardt, who was methodically clearing rubble with Fortress Breaker active, spectral maws gnashing at every corner.
Kael, leaning lightly against a crumbling wall, had his fists crackling with restrained lightning. All three were ready, but Sid could feel the city testing him, daring him to slip.
A low, almost liquid sound came from the alley ahead—a whisper of movement, too rhythmic to be random. Shadows slid across the walls, folding into one another, taking forms that almost resembled figures.
Sid's heart thudded as the whispers grew louder, faint voices murmuring things he couldn't understand. He knew without looking that Ravh'Zereth's presence was stirring inside him, murmuring, nudging him toward the darkness.
"Sid…" Kael's voice was sharp, pulling him back. "You're… not moving. You stopped."
Sid blinked. He had. For almost ten seconds, he hadn't breathed, hadn't stepped, hadn't thought. The world had slowed, shadows stretching like they were liquid, wrapping around the squad in silent currents.
He forced a shaky breath, realizing how close he had been to… something he couldn't name. The demon inside hummed, pleased. "You felt it, didn't you?"
"I… yeah," Sid admitted, voice low. "Something's here."
"Something's always here," Thorne said, stepping past him. "We just need to keep moving and keep the fragments from spreading. Every second we linger…" He didn't finish the sentence, but the implication was clear. This city wasn't just abandoned. It was infected.
As they moved deeper, the shadows thickened. Lucien paused, his fingers twitching in the air. He muttered numbers and gestures, shaping faint lines of frozen air in patterns only he could see. A Hollow burst from the side, charging with a shriek that split the silence. Sid reacted immediately, raising his hands as black flames danced and twisted, forming chains that shot forward to wrap the creature. It yelped as the chains constricted, but before Sid could adjust, Lucien's Hourfall Counter froze the Hollow mid-leap.
"Delayed strike," Lucien said, calm and detached. His eyes narrowed as he released the frozen Hollow with perfect timing, sending a precise blow into its chest. The creature crumpled, ash scattering like dust in the wind.
"Too easy," Kael muttered, scanning the surrounding shadows. His fists sparked faintly, the hair on his arms standing as electricity danced across his skin. "This city's wrong, but it's still too quiet."
Sid nodded. The silence wasn't safe. Every step made him nervous. Every shadow seemed to pulse, stretch, and shift. The docks were close, he could feel them, though the streets twisted unnaturally. It wasn't a normal city—it felt like the shadows themselves were reshaping the space, guiding them toward some center, some heart.
A sudden scrape of metal made him jump. A Hollow crawled from a broken shipping crate, its limbs bent at unnatural angles. Sid's chains lashed out instinctively, wrapping around the creature and lifting it off the ground. But the chains quivered against something, as if the darkness in the city were resisting. The Hollow thrashed, but Sid felt a pull, a tug from inside. Ravh'Zereth's voice was sharper now. "Break it. Don't hold back."
He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stay in control. No, he told the daemon. He tightened just enough to restrain, not destroy. The Hollow screamed as the black flames bit into its flesh, but the control—his control—held.
Kael moved to the side, launching a brief chain of lightning into a shadow that had lunged too quickly. Sparks lit the dim streets, reflecting off shattered windows and warped metal.
Reinhardt advanced, spectral maws snapping, but the city didn't let them rest. Every alley, every corner seemed to hide another threat. The shadows moved like water, curling, flowing, anticipating their attacks.
"This isn't normal Hollow activity," Thorne said, scanning the horizon. "Something is amplifying them… or feeding them. Keep your eyes open."
Sid's gaze was drawn to the far end of the main dock, where moonlight cut through a thin crack in the clouds, reflecting off the black waters. The shadows there seemed alive, swirling together like smoke caught in a whirlpool. His heartbeat quickened. That's where the whispers were strongest. That's where the city was trying to lead him.
"Sid," Lucien called, voice tense. "Focus. Don't let it get inside your head. Not yet."
He nodded, swallowing hard. The demon was trying, but he had to resist. Step by step, the squad moved forward, clearing Hollows with a mixture of fire, steel, and lightning. The sound of chains clashing against bone and the hiss of black flames filled the city, cutting through the oppressive silence.
By the time they reached the edge of the docks, the air had thickened with a heavy, almost oily stench. Shadows danced on the water, breaking apart then reforming. Something large stirred beneath the surface, moving in rhythm with the unnatural currents of darkness. Sid's skin crawled, and even Reinhardt's face, normally calm under any threat, betrayed a flicker of unease.
Kael's voice broke the tension. "This is it. Whatever's been pulling this place together… it's waiting."
Sid clenched his fists. The chains of his Oblivion Bind still lingered, smoldering faintly in the air, black smoke curling like smoke from a fire. The whispers weren't just in his head—they were around him, in the shadows, in the water, in the empty air of the city. Something alive, patient, and hungry.
He glanced at his squad. They were ready. They were tense. And they didn't yet know how deep the danger ran.
A single, elongated shadow stretched across the dock, moving independently of any light source. The water rippled unnaturally. Sid felt the demon stir in excitement, but he forced his own calm over it. We survive this, together.
The squad stepped forward, black flames, lightning, and spectral steel ready, into the heart of the Shadow City. Every echo, every whisper, every ripple of darkness pushed them onward toward the docks—toward whatever waited there.
The calm before the storm had settled like a weight, and all four knew: once they crossed that threshold, nothing would be the same.