A sharp jolt yanked Neon from unconsciousness like a hook behind the sternum. Electric claws raked through his nerves—his body seized, locked in place for a breath too long.

A groan rasped from his throat, raw and sluggish. His skull throbbed, each heartbeat a hammer behind his eyes. His eyelids felt soldered shut—hot and heavy.

Something small and frantic pounded against his chest—sharp and jittery, like the buzz of a trapped insect. Static crackled over his skin, leaving behind the ghost of a shock.

Mechanical servos whined: click-chk-click whrrr, click-chk-click.

Neon forced his eyes open.

Dim amber light bled through cracked brickwork, casting fractured shadows that skittered like ghosts.

S.A.B.R.E. scrambled over his chest, metal legs tapping in urgent panic. Its optic lens pulsed crimson.

"Ugh… what?" Neon rasped, throat dry as scorched paper.

The bot tugged at his coat, limbs jittering with clawing urgency.

KRACK—

A violent crash above, like a tree torn in half or a wall buckling under something massive.

Then, a shriek.
Not human.
Long. Piercing. Wet.

It split the silence like shrapnel. Dust rained down from the beams, catching light like suspended ash.

The air turned bitter—cold and electric, like a storm breathing down his neck. The scent shifted—blood, mold, scorched metal, wrongness.

Heart hammering, Neon pushed himself up. His limbs felt like deadweight, pins-and-needles buzzing through them.

He staggered to the door, bare feet slapping stone.

The iron-lined basement door groaned as he cracked it open.

Outside: chaos in lightning.

The street was drenched in rain so thick it fell like chains, clattering against stone. The sky—a fractured bruise pulsing with purple lightning—illuminated silhouettes that should not exist.

A sound rose again.

A chorus of warped shrieks, layered like broken records at warping speeds—shrill, guttural, inhuman.

Through shattered glass above, a hulking shadow slithered. Its mass shifted with no consistent shape. It dragged itself across the plaza—limbs trailing wet stone, sloshing like meat.

The air warped around it, distorted like desert heat.

S.A.B.R.E. huddled against Neon's leg, trembling. Tiny servos whined.

Even the bot knew this thing wasn't meant to be seen.

---

Neon’s breath caught.
"What the…"
A whisper, drowned by storm and something older riding it.

The atmosphere was wrong. Not just cold—hollow. Like the world held its breath.

Neon’s hand found the mask’s latch.
Click.

Dark plates unfurled, curling around his face in seamless layers. Each segment locked with a soft chk. The final piece sealed with a whisper-sharp click. Goggles flared to life.

Twin orbs of amber sliced through the dark, casting jagged ribbons of light across rubble.

His fingers sparked—a flicker like a match in wind. It steadied. A thin ember hovered over his skin, twitching in foul air.

With each heartbeat, the fire pulsed.

It grew into a gold-orange orb, veins of blue threading through it. It cast crawling shadows along stone columns. Dust spiraled around it like ash caught in moonlight.

The silence deepened.

Outside, the storm screamed—thunder, wind… and something watching.

Then—

Creak.

Low, long. Like rotting wood under weight.

Neon stilled.

The flame flared in response. The hairs on his neck rose.

Something emerged.

Writhing. Shifting. It refused to settle into a shape. Limbs bent the wrong way, dragging like wet ropes made of bone. Reality seemed to recoil.

A low hum rose—not sound, but pressure. A vibration in the lungs. A crawl behind the teeth.

The flame in Neon’s hand crackled, reacting to the dread inside him.

He turned.

A monstrous tangle of sinew and oozing black muscle twitched in the dark. It pulsed—wet, angry, incomplete.

Eyes blinked open across its form. Dozens. Hundreds.
Lidless. Glassy. Wrong.

No symmetry. No face.

Only gaping mouths gasping sound—not words. Not screams.
Just pure, weaponized noise.

---

Neon’s pulse thundered.
He gripped tight.

The shadow lunged.

It moved too fast—a blur of glistening limbs.

Neon didn’t flinch.

He hurled the flame.

It surged, transforming into a roaring comet.

Heat seared the air, streaks of orange and blue trailing like a star’s dying breath.

WHOOMPH!

The orb struck the creature’s chest—

A flash.
Then fire.

Light exploded in a searing ring, consuming the monster’s center.

Shockwaves rocked the cathedral.

Stone cracked. Dust erupted.

The creature reeled, form unraveling, screeching so unnaturally it sounded like a warped cathedral pipe—
metal bending,
glass shattering,
nerves breaking.

The scream shook the walls.
Shook Neon.

And the silence that followed was even worse.