Chapter 7 – Strain in the Shadows
The ruins had grown stranger, darker, more alien with every step. Dust choked the air, and the distant hum of unseen rifts vibrated through the cracked streets. Alex moved behind the group, shoulders slumped, hands scraped from climbing over debris, and every instinct screaming that he was slowing them down.
"Alex, move faster!" Leon barked, voice tight with irritation. Blood from his shoulder wound had begun to stain his tunic. "We don't have time to drag you through this!"
Alex swallowed, cheeks burning. He tried, he really did. But his legs felt like lead, his arms ached, and every instinct told him to run, to hide, to stay out of the chaos. He was powerless. No blessing, no weapon, no magic. Every step was a struggle against the overwhelming sense that he was nothing but a liability.
mara's sharp eyes cut toward him. "You need to keep up, Alex! One more slip, and we'll all pay for it!" Her words weren't cruel, but they were cold, clinical. Fear and frustration laced her tone. She didn't have time to coddle him—not when the Ruins offered no mercy.
tavik glanced at him, her arms still scratched and bruised from the last fight. "It's not that we don't care," he said, voice softer, though tight with tension. "But you have to understand—every step you lag behind could get someone killed."
Alex's stomach churned. He wanted to speak, to defend himself, but no words could make the truth easier: he was weak. Helpless. A boy who couldn't even fight off the creatures that came through the rift. And yet, the group depended on him to survive.
The ruins twisted before them, leading into a collapsed plaza swallowed partially by a new rift. The air shimmered, strange currents of energy tugging at reality itself. From the cracks emerged something different this time: humanoid shapes, taller and more imposing than before. Their skin had a faint metallic sheen, and their black, reflective eyes followed the party like predators tracking prey.
"They're… rift aliens," mara muttered, eyes narrowing. "Not like the others. These… think."
Alex froze again. He could do nothing, couldn't even sense what was coming. The creatures' presence was oppressive. Even their small movements made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Alex, stay behind me," tavik said sharply, grabbing his arm. Her grip was firm, almost protective, but it wasn't enough to cover her frustration. "You need to move with us!"
The aliens advanced with an unnerving coordination, testing barriers and watching their every move. liora raised her staff, her protective sigils shimmering faintly, but even she looked strained. The group had fought rift monsters before, but this—this felt like something beyond experience, beyond training.
kael growled, swinging his flaming sword in a wide arc. "We can't carry you forever, Alex. Keep up, or step aside!" His voice was harsh, frustrated. He wasn't cruel—he was survival incarnate—but Alex felt the weight of his weakness heavier than ever.
Alex's chest tightened. He wanted to run, to hide—but that would mean leaving the group entirely, abandoning the only people keeping him alive. He swallowed hard, forcing his legs to move, even as every step reminded him of how powerless he truly was.
The humanoid aliens lashed forward. One struck at kael, another lunged toward mara, testing the party's cohesion. Alex tripped over debris, falling against a broken column. One of the creatures hissed, its long fingers reaching toward him.
"Alex!" tavik screamed, lunging to push him away. He scrambled backward, scraping his hands and knees, the cold concrete biting through his clothes. He was too slow, too weak, and he knew it.
tavik fired arrows with divine precision, but her eyes flicked to Alex again, frustration written plainly. "Stay out of the way!" she snapped. "If you die, don't let it be because you dragged us down!"
The words cut deeper than any wound. Alex didn't respond, didn't dare. He simply followed, hiding behind walls, dodging the creatures' attacks, utterly reliant on the team. His face burned with shame, his heart pounding with fear.
Despite their combined blessings—kael strength, mara's wisdom, tavik pain-inflicting precision, Liora's protective sigils—the aliens pressed the attack relentlessly. The party was forced to retreat further into the twisting ruins, their formation stretched thin. Rocks fell from collapsed buildings, and Alex barely avoided a crushing slab that would have ended him instantly.
The skirmish left scars: tavik bow arm was bruised, kael shoulder burned, and liora staggered from overexertion. Alex? He was unharmed physically, but the mental weight of helplessness pressed down on him like a vice. He realized something terrifying: he was nothing without them, and the Ruins had already begun to make him understand that.
As the battle ebbed and the aliens withdrew into shadows, the group sank to the ground, exhausted. tavik arrows had cleared their path, kael blade had cut down one of the attackers, and liora magic had held them together—but the Ruins pulsed around them with a life of their own, as if aware of their presence.
Alex slumped against a wall, panting, trembling. The silence that followed was thick, oppressive. He could feel something deep within the rift—a faint resonance, almost like a heartbeat buried in the shadows—but he couldn't understand it. He had no power, no blessing. Only fear, shame, and the bitter knowledge that he was a burden.
liora crouched beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You survived," she said quietly. "That's something… don't forget it." Her eyes flickered to the rift, wary, sensing more dangers lurking.
Alex nodded weakly, swallowing the lump in his throat. He had survived—but survival was fragile, temporary. And as the rift pulsed around them, whispering strange, faintly intelligent currents, he realized one thing: this place was alive. It was powerful. It was dangerous. And it might be more than even the blessings could handle.
The hint of something deeper stirred within the rift, almost imperceptible, but it was there. Something ancient, something waiting. Alex didn't know it yet—but that whisper of power would change everything when the time came.
For now, all he could do was endure. Stay alive. And survive another day in the Ruins.