Isaac sprinted through the crumbling streets, heart hammering in his chest. The city was no longer familiar. Concrete had cracked under the force of energy blasts, fires burned unchecked, and the distant wails of the injured and dying filled the air.
Home… I have to get home… he thought, desperately. His family might still be alive — he had to make it back to them.
Around a corner, a wall of flickering shadows coalesced into a figure. Its form was impossible: humanoid, yet elongated, with jagged limbs that shimmered between realities. Eyes like black voids scanned the streets, and it grinned — a cruel, predatory smile.
Isaac froze for a moment, realizing too late that the being had been watching him, waiting for prey to run.
With a guttural screech, it lunged. Isaac bolted.
The predator moved unnaturally fast, its claws slicing through streetlights, shattering windows, and leaving scorched trails of destruction. Isaac dodged behind a overturned car, gasping. The creature tilted its head, amused. Run all you like, it seemed to think, I'm having fun.
Instinct took over. He twisted around a corner, tripped, rolled, and dove behind debris. For a brief moment, panic gave way to the familiar warmth of resonance. Flashes of Irithel's memories surged — dual blades spinning, elemental fire igniting everything around him, a battlefield awareness he didn't yet understand.
Isaac's hands trembled, and he tried to focus. He didn't know how to fight, but he remembered enough: move, dodge, use the environment. He kicked over a barrel, sending it rolling toward the creature. It swatted it aside with one claw, laughing at the futile attempt.
I can't fight it… I just… have to survive.
He darted into a narrow alley, weaving between collapsed walls and burning vehicles. Sparks of strange energy flickered at his fingertips — a ghost of Irithel's power. It wasn't enough to attack, but it gave him speed, reflexes, precision. He slid under a fallen street sign as the being smashed through the alley, its roar shaking the ground.
The city around him was chaos incarnate: rifts opened in walls, otherworldly creatures slithered from them, fires consumed blocks of buildings. But Isaac didn't stop. His only goal: get home, find his family, survive.
Yet the predator followed. It was clever, relentless, and enjoying the hunt. Every corner, every alleyway became a gauntlet. Isaac realized something chilling: the dimensional invaders weren't here for conquest alone — they delighted in watching life break.
And somewhere deep inside him, a whisper of Irithel's memory told him: you will have to fight someday. But not today.
For now, running was survival, and survival was all that mattered.