"What are they doing?" he muttered, more to himself than to her.
Amari didn't answer, instead her gaze remained fixed on the phenomenon ahead, eyes steady, unblinking.
"They're too close, the gate is going to open soon" she said at last, a faint hint of worry permeating her voice.
Aris frowned.
The swirl of mana intensified as he watched, the motes condensing faster now, drawn together by an unseen force. The air around it warped faintly, bending light in subtle, disorienting ways.
It wasn't stable.
That much was obvious.
"Hey," Aris called out, taking a few steps forward. "You might want to-"
His voice carried across the distance easily with the help of mana, but the boys didn't react.
Not a single one of them turned.
They remained exactly where they were, clustered together, their attention locked onto whatever lay at the center of their formation.
Aris slowed.
A faint crease formed between his brows.
"…That's not normal."
He hung his bag of groceries on the bike handle, handing the helmet to Amari.
"I'll go ahead."
His figure flickered in the darkness, and he took off, bolting towards the direction of the dungeon.
He was upon them a moment later, flickering into existence right next to the group of boys.
"Hey, did you not hear-" He paused, his words dying in his mouth when one of them turned around.
It was the boy that had waved at him earlier, though, all of the carefree giddiness in his eyes was gone, replaced by terror.
The crease in Aris's brows deepened, the expression of concern very apparent on his face now. Which was a statement in itself on the absurdity of the situation.
The boy opened his mouth, only managing to make an unintelligible sound. He raised his hand, pointing towards what they were staring at.
The boys hand trembled as he pointed.
Aris followed his gaze.
Amari was by his side a second later, the same concerned expression on her face. She paused when she saw what the boy was pointing to.
"What the…"
The severed human arm that lay on the pavement was still bleeding, dark red pooling beneath it in uneven spreads. The fingers twitched intermittently, curling and uncurling in weak, dying spasms as if some part of it had yet to realize it was no longer attached to a body.
Aris's expression didn't change much.
But his eyes sharpened.
"…Move back," he said quietly.
The boys didn't respond.
Not immediately.
Their bodies trembled, breaths shallow and uneven, but their feet refused to move. It was as if something held them in place—not physically, but deeper than that. A pressure that sank into their bones and told them that stepping away wasn't an option.
Amari stepped forward.
Her gaze lingered on the arm for only a second before shifting past it, toward the center of the distortion.
"…It's already started," she murmured as she pulled the boys away from the severed arm.
The children hesitated at first, but eventually gave into the gentle tug of the woman.
Then something in the gate shifted.
It was like a dam had broken, the motes of mana that had once hovered loosely in the air now surged violently toward that same center, accelerating in uneven bursts. The distortion deepened, space bending in on itself as if reality was being pulled through something too small to contain it.
The pull off the gate got stronger, impossible to shake off now.
"Take the boys away!" Aris shouted before he even realized what was happening.
His legs moved on his own, appearing near the boys, he grabbed each of them by the collar and threw them in Amari's general direction as far as he could, she reacted fast enough. jumping into the air, grabbing all of them, and bolting off into the distance the moment her legs touched the ground.
Aris turned to the gate that was almost finished opening next to him, letting loose a string of curses as he bolted towards it.