The scream lingered long after it faded.
It wasn't just a sound. It was a pressure, a vibration that sank into bone and marrow, commanding my body to collapse in worship or terror. My knees buckled under the weight, palms slamming against the grit of the ruined platform. The tunnel lights, faint as they were, flickered violently, casting jagged shadows across the walls.
Lysander didn't move. His blade was drawn, steel glinting silver even in the half-light. His eyes narrowed, fixed on the glow of something deeper in the tunnel. Something coming.
The air thickened with the stench of rot and iron. A dragging sound followed, wet and heavy, echoing louder with each second. My heart pounded against my ribs. The walls of the station seemed to close in, as if the Devourer's presence alone warped reality around it.
[ Warning: Devourer-Class Aberration Approaching. ]
[ Danger Level: Catastrophic. Escape Impossible. ]
My stomach churned. "It's here."
Lysander's gaze never wavered. "Stay behind me."
The command stung more than it comforted, but before I could reply the darkness shifted. It was not like a figure moving through it. It was like the darkness itself peeled away, revealing something worse beneath.
It crawled into view on limbs too long for its body, joints bending at impossible angles. Flesh rippled, slick and glistening, constantly melting and reforming. Dozens of eyes blinked across its surface, restless and unblinking, rolling in sockets that formed and dissolved at will. Its mouth, or what passed for one, split across its chest, lined with jagged teeth like shattered glass.
The Devourer.
It scraped forward, claws shrieking against the concrete, gouging wounds into the platform itself. Every breath rattled the station like thunder.
My crowbar felt like a toy in my hands, but I tightened my grip anyway though my fingers trembled.
Lysander shifted his stance, low and deliberate. "Don't falter."
As if it were that simple.
The Aberration screamed again, and the station lights died.
Everything went black.
I froze, the void crushing against my eyes, suffocating. I couldn't see my own hand. I couldn't breathe past the weight of its presence.
Then a flare.
Lysander's blade ignited with silver light, a faint glow running the length of the steel. It was not fire or electricity. It was something older. It wasn't bright, but it was enough. Enough to reveal the Devourer advancing, every movement a nightmare etched against the tunnel walls.
It lunged.
I didn't think. My body just moved. I swung my crowbar in desperation, metal striking its slick flesh with a sound like hitting wet clay. The shock rattled through my arms. The creature barely flinched.
Lysander was faster. His blade carved across one of its limbs, ichor spraying black and hissing as it burned holes into the concrete. The Devourer shrieked, its chest-mouth splitting wider, wide enough to swallow us whole.
[ Shared Skill: Predation Instinct Activated. ]
My vision sharpened. The suffocating dark receded, replaced by flashes. I saw glimpses of the creature's next moves before they came. I saw the twitch in its shoulder before it lashed out, the shift in weight before its claw swept through the air.
"Left!" I shouted before I even realized it.
Lysander pivoted, narrowly avoiding the strike. His eyes flicked to me, sharp, almost surprised, before he slashed its flank, driving it back.
The bond pulsed hot in my chest.
[ Bond Synergy: 30% → 35%. ]
I gasped. Our movements weren't just aligned. They were merging. His instincts bleeding into mine. I felt his tension as if it were in my own muscles.
The Devourer lunged, its chest-mouth snapping shut inches from my head. I stumbled back, heart pounding, until Lysander shoved me behind him. His blade clanged against its teeth, sparks spraying.
The creature howled, retreating only to slam its bulk against the tunnel walls. The station shook. Dust rained from above. Cracks split across the ceiling.
"We can't fight this," I choked.
"We can." His voice was iron. "We must."
The bond surged.
[ Shared State Triggered: Dual Instinct. ]
A rush of clarity seared through me. For one terrifying moment I wasn't me. I was him. My heart beat with his rhythm. My breath matched his. My body moved like his weapon.
Our steps aligned.
When the Devourer lunged, we struck together. His blade sliced its reaching limb as my crowbar crushed the exposed joint. The Aberration shrieked, staggering sideways.
The System pulsed.
[ Critical Strike Landed. ]
[ Aberration Stability: 93% → 84%. ]
Not much. But something.
The fight blurred into fragments. Lunges, screams, steel and iron clashing against nightmare flesh. Every strike barely chipped away. Every counter nearly killed us. Its ichor burned holes in stone. Its claws shredded walls like paper. The stench of rot and ozone clogged every breath.
Minutes dragged into hours. My arms trembled with exhaustion, but the bond forced me onward, tethered to Lysander's will. Without him, I would have collapsed. Without me, he'd have been struck from the blind side. Together, we barely survived.
But the Devourer wasn't weakening. It was adapting.
Wounds sealed. New limbs sprouted. Eyes multiplied. Movements sharpened. It was learning.
My chest heaved, sweat burning in my eyes, blood slicking my hands where ichor had splattered. "We can't win—"
"Yes, we can."
His voice cut sharper than his blade, slicing through my despair. For a heartbeat, I almost believed him.
Then the Devourer roared. The sound slammed me to the ground. My crowbar clattered away, skidding across the stone. My ears rang. My body convulsed.
It surged toward me, chest-mouth yawning wide, rows of teeth glinting in the silver glow.
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
Then Lysander was there.
He threw himself between us, blade raised.
The jaws closed around him, swallowing him whole.
My scream ripped through the ruin, raw and endless.
The System flared.
[ Warning: Bond Severance Imminent. ]
[ Catastrophic Outcome Approaching. ]
The darkness swallowed everything.