Chapter 81: Shadows of the Schism
The moment Ryan’s fingers closed around the cold, heavy metal of the Void-Phase Engine Core, the entire Foundry screamed.
It wasn’t a sound that you could hear with your ears. It was a silent, psychic shriek that resounded directly inside their skulls, a sound of pure, ancient panic.
The lights in the massive, dead factory flickered wildly, casting long, dancing shadows. The dormant machinery all around them began to whir and clank, ancient emergency systems kicking into gear thousands of years too late.
The air grew thick and heavy, crackling with a strange, dark energy. Ryan felt it instantly. The same chaotic, broken energy from the Reality Schism was pouring into the room, drawn here by the power of the Engine Core he now held in his hand.
"Oh, that can’t be good," Hale, the medic, muttered, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of his weapon.
"What’s happening?" Griz, the big Iron Wolf, growled, planting his feet and raising his shield.
"The Foundry’s emergency alarm just went off," Scarlett said, her eyes wide as she stared at a point in the center of the room. "And I think it just called for the manager."
A spot in the middle of the chamber began to warp and distort. The air grew dark, not like a shadow, but like a hole had been punched in the world. The darkness swirled and grew, pulling in dust and debris. It was a vortex of pure, unmaking chaos.
From the center of that swirling void, something began to emerge. It didn’t have a solid shape. It was a shifting, glitching mass of broken code and raw power.
One moment it looked like a towering giant made of static, the next it was a swarm of screaming, fractured faces, then it was just a column of pure, shimmering darkness. This was a being that had been born from the Schism itself.
The god Warden’s identification flashed in Ryan’s mind, cold and clinical, but for the first time, he could almost sense a hint of fear in the Warden’s tone.