Eiara didn't answer. She grabbed my arm—her grip surprisingly strong—and hauled me toward a crumbling concrete stairwell leading beneath the ruined market.
"It's the reason we don't stand around talking. If you want to survive your first five minutes, you run when the ground starts shaking."
"They're Coming."
She shoved me down the stairwell, which opened into a dark, debris-filled basement carved beneath the old marketplace. The air was colder here, heavy with the scent of stagnant water and old fear. The thump-thump-thump was deafening now, vibrating through the cracked concrete floor, rattling loose dust from the ceiling. It wasn't just heavy; it was irregular, savage.
"Where are we going?" I gasped, channeling the Eternal Core to give my weak new body enough stamina to keep moving. I felt the infinite well of energy surge, a cool contrast to the heat of the fear.
"We're in Vorg's Abandoned Zone—Wraith territory," Eiara hissed, pulling a thick, crude knife from her belt. "The nearest safe place is the Outpost Village, three kilometers west. That thing out there... it's a Wraith. They don't patrol; they hunt. If it stops, it means it smelled us. And those things feed on flesh and even remains of the dead."
A sharp, violent impact struck the ruin above. The ceiling groaned, and a cascade of concrete dust and broken rebar rained down. The Wraith was no longer coming; it was here.
"RUN, LORN!"
We scrambled through a narrow service corridor, Eiara using her knife to clear hanging debris. I was barely keeping pace. The Ghost Step I copied in the cemetery was silent, but it wasn't fast enough. I needed a new skill, and I needed it now.
We burst from the basement and onto a deserted, ash-covered road flanked by the skeletal remains of apartment blocks. The sulfurous sky pressed down like a lid.
"Stay close to the shadows!" Eiara yelled, moving in a low, efficient crouch.
Suddenly, a massive shadow fell over us. The Wraith had cleared the marketplace ruin in a single, terrifying bound.
It was immense—an armored titan of chitin and cracked bone, vaguely humanoid but with four segmented arms ending in razor-sharp blades. Its eyeless skull radiated a profound, Lovecraftian wrongness.
The Wraith didn't scream; it simply moved.
Get down! Eiara fired her crude rifle. The round struck the creature's armored shoulder, doing nothing but sparking the obsidian chitin.
As Eiara turned, preparing to lead the escape, I focused on her desperate form—the concentrated tension in her legs, the shift of her center of gravity, the absolute, practiced necessity of her movement.
The Omni-Mimicry flashed in my mind, not as a voice, but as a surge of understanding:
[SKILL ACQUIRED: RUNNER'S BREAK (E-RANK)]
Source: Observed desperate movement of the survivor, Eiara.
Description: A low-grade mobility skill focused on endurance and quick lateral sprints, designed to break enemy line-of-sight.
Mastery Level: 10%
"Go!" Eiara shrieked, shoving me hard as the creature's enormous shadow engulfed us.
I channeled the Eternal Core and triggered Runner's Break. A surge of Mana flowed into my legs. My weak body moved with impossible efficiency, not with speed, but with endurance and focus. I was gliding over the rubble, maintaining pace with Eiara.
The Wraith swung one of its massive, bladed arms—a crushing gesture intended to flatten us both.
CRASH! The blade missed me by inches, destroying a ruined car and sending a shockwave of sound and debris. The wind of the impact alone nearly ripped my arm from its socket.
"North-West! Find the old rail line!" Eiara screamed, now pulling her knife and desperately trying to create a diversion by throwing rocks to distract the beast.
We ran, weaving through the close ruins. The Wraith was too fast for sustained escape, but its massive bulk struggled to maneuver through the tight, rubble-choked streets. My Runner's Break was the only reason I wasn't being outpaced.
I watched Eiara again, noticing the impossible verticality she added to her leaps over obstacles.
Omni-Mimicry responded instantly, giving me a fighting chance at survival:
[SKILL ACQUIRED: KICK SPRING (E-RANK)]
Source: Observed basic combat jump technique of Eiara.
Description: A Mana-assisted technique to add explosive verticality and dampen impact shock.
Mastery Level: 10%
I didn't hesitate. We reached the crumbling edge of a raised freeway. It was a drop of thirty feet, and then a long, open plain before the next patch of cover.
"Jump!" Eiara screamed, throwing herself over the edge.
I channeled the Kick Spring into my legs, slamming Mana down. It wasn't perfect; the force was awkward and poorly timed, but it launched me forward, clearing the distance and softening the landing enough to keep running.
We sprinted across the plain, our lungs burning, the rhythmic thump of the Wraith gradually falling behind as it struggled to clear the ruined highway.
Finally, a shadow emerged from the swirling ash: a wall of rough, dark timber reinforced with sheets of rusty metal. Smoke curled from the tops of several squat, low buildings. The air immediately felt safer, protected by a dim, pulsing blue glow—a low-grade Mana barrier.
"The gate!" Eiara choked out, pointing to a small, heavy iron door barely visible in the fortified wall. "They have to let us in!"
We slammed against the iron gate. Eiara hammered on the metal with the butt of her rifle, screaming for help.
A slot in the door slid open, revealing a suspicious, fearful eye.
"Who are you? Did you bring that thing with you?" a gruff voice demanded.
"Clork! We ran it off the highway! We need in, now! Before it comes around the back!" Eiara pleaded, desperate.
The eye glanced at Lorn, covered in graveyard dust, looking impossibly weak. A moment of hesitation—a moment that felt like an eternity.
Then, with a heavy, grinding sound of gears, the massive bolt securing the door was retracted.
We were in.