The girl didn't know what happened. She was in such bad shape to the point that she was beginning to lose consciousness. She had protected Jack through all of this and had suffered so much. Before Kyle even came to the rescue, she had already accepted her fate.
"Don't worry, Jack. I won't leave you behind. We'll die together."
Those were the words she said to Jack as she cried — who, by the way, was out cold.
When Kyle arrived, all she felt was the oppressive heat. Her eyes were covered with blood that came from one of the creatures that had scratched her eye.
The creatures felt the oppressive heat too. Its presence was too much, causing them to retreat and hide back in the shadows.
Kyle had completely changed. His head was now a smoking skull, and there was a small portion of fire igniting. He turned his head back and looked at the girl.
The girl's eyes were playing tricks on her; she was on the verge of losing consciousness. She thought she saw Kyle — or at least she thought she did. It was all fuzzy, and all she remembered seeing was something, or someone, looking different.
Kyle just stood there and watched her as she went unconscious and laid on top of Jack. Then he faced forward again.
The creatures were nowhere to be found. They hid so well that it was like they didn't even exist.
There were five in total, from what Kyle remembered. He looked around, scanning five different directions, before leaving the unconscious girl and her partner, Jack, behind. He walked forward.
As he walked, the small portion of fire that had started to ignite grew bigger and more powerful, eventually turning Kyle's skull into a burning flame.
The chain he had retracted and wrapped around his hand began to steam too, with tiny wisps of smoke coming out of it.
Kyle stood in the middle of the alleyway where the fight had taken place. There was a trash can, ladder stairs on the buildings like the ones New York usually had, and piles of garbage scattered everywhere. Even a pond of brown water lay stagnant in the corner.
He stood directly under the moonlight and took a steady breath. His fiery breath came out again, but this time it split into five different directions. When the flames reached their ends, they disappeared into thin air without a trace.
Then Kyle looked exactly where his flaming breath had ended.
He tried to smile, but for some reason, he couldn't. The only sound that came out was nothing but a sigh.
Kyle flexed his hand — the one wrapped with the chain. Suddenly, without the slightest remorse, he punched what seemed like nothing but air. But the truth was, he was punching one of the directions his flaming breath had gone.
The second his fist made contact, it was as if he broke through something — like a mirror about to shatter into a million pieces. His fist went through.
Unexpectedly, the area beyond burst into flames, and all Kyle could hear were screams — unnatural, inhuman cries.
He pulled his hand out and looked at the direct opposite of that mirrored space.
Kyle walked toward it and stood before it, inspecting the inside as if he were checking whether someone — or something — was there.
He believed he saw a shadow moving around. His next move was unexpected: he stepped away from that portal and walked toward the mirrored one in front of him.
He got there and knocked gently.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Obviously, it wasn't like the creature inside was going to open just because he was polite enough to knock. Kyle knew that — he was counting on it.
He took a few steps back and lifted one finger on his free hand. Then he walked toward the portal and drew a burning orange line across it, perfectly straight, without a single mistake.
The portal sizzled like toast fresh out of the toaster. Kyle blew lightly on the line he had drawn, and the portal's protective layer crumbled into ashes. Inside, it was hollow.
Kyle waited outside patiently. Nothing moved within. No footsteps approached. Yet his hollow eyes never looked away from a certain part of the empty portal.
Then, something came running — fast. To a normal human, it would have felt like nothing more than a gust of wind.
Kyle didn't flinch or retreat. The thing that appeared in his fiery light was grotesque — disturbingly so. It looked human, but at the same time, it wasn't.
The creature came at him at full speed — maybe to attack, maybe to flee. Whatever its intention was, it failed.
As soon as it crossed the threshold of the portal, Kyle stopped it by placing his entire hand over its face. Then, without hesitation, he burned the creature to a crisp.
When it fell to the wet ground, nothing remained but blackened ash.
Kyle then looked toward the three remaining directions where the other portals were.
He stepped inside the open one, took a left, and immediately, one of the creatures slammed against its own protective barrier. Its head exploded into black blood.
At another portal, Kyle choked a creature, lifted it into the air, and crushed its neck. The sound was sharp and brittle, like breaking something hard yet fragile. Its body fell to the hollow floor.
Kyle took its head, looked into its eyes, then threw it outward, shattering another portal's barrier. The head rolled away and landed in the filthy pond water.
Now, only one portal remained.
Kyle was too bored to walk over, so he unwrapped a short length of his chain — maybe three meters long.
He raised his hand and began to twirl the chain. Each spin created hot winds. Fire ignited, and he spun the chain above his head.
A fiery tornado formed around him, circling him completely. The chain's movement was visible, showing exactly which direction it spun.
The last creature peered from its portal, watching helplessly. Its siblings were dead, all killed by this being. It was stronger than the rest, yet it still chose to hide.
Then, it felt the ground beneath its feet begin to heat up. Smoke rose, forming a circular pattern like the tornado above. The floor melted, becoming soft and sticky — like glue left too long in the sun.
The creature didn't understand what was happening. It looked around desperately, trying to escape, but there was nowhere to run. The more it struggled, the faster it sank.
Then…
A hand erupted from the floor. Then another.
Something crawled out — like the dead rising from a grave.
The creature realized, too late, that it was Kyle himself.
He stood behind it, molten lava dripping from his skeletal frame like maggots falling from a corpse. Kyle looked like an undead revenant now — his whole body reduced to bone and fire.
The creature was halfway submerged, its arms trapped beneath the molten ground. Kyle stared silently at it, then opened his mouth wide — his jaw dislocating from the rest of his skull.
He grabbed the creature's arms, helped it out of the melting floor… and then bit off its head.
When he walked out, all five portals turned to stone and crumbled before him.
Kyle then walked over to the girl and saw that, though she was barely awake, she was still alive. He left her and Jack as they were.
Then Kyle spun his chain again, creating a fiery portal of his own. He stepped through it, and it closed behind him.
Another portal opened elsewhere. Kyle stepped out — finding himself back in the same room where he had been punished before.
The second he emerged, his body changed back. Flesh and skin returned to his face.
Half a minute hadn't even passed before Kyle collapsed to the floor, unconscious.