Cracked Pillars of Fate

Chapter 9: Light at the Edge of the Abyss

Joe tested the sharpness of his makeshift machete's edge with his thumb. The scrap metal, sharpened to a shine, reflected the fading campfire light. Around him, the camp was silent, save for the roar of an alien wind that occasionally carried flakes of purple dust.

"Joe, are you really going to do this?"

Sarah stood behind him, clutching a backpack filled with water bottles and a few remaining cans of rations. Beside her, Vance was tying on shin guards made from pieces of hard plastic. The stocky man's face was tense, his eyes repeatedly glancing toward the blue light splitting the sky in the distance.

"We don't have a choice, Sarah," Joe said, sliding his machete into a homemade leather sheath. "The system gave us twenty-four hours. If I stay here, we're just waiting our turn to be devoured. I'd rather find a way out than die hiding behind this wall of junk."

"But who will lead them if you don't come back?" Sarah whispered.

Joe looked toward the civilians huddling under makeshift tents. Miller was watching the barricades with an iron pipe in his hand. This burden... it feels heavier than lifting the entire contents of a flea market by myself, Joe thought.

"Miller knows what to do," Joe replied, patting Sarah’s shoulder. "And you, Vance, I need your eyes to stay sharp. Don't attack anything unless I give the order. We’re going to find out, not to commit suicide."

Vance nodded stiffly. "I'm with you, Joe. Besides, sitting still here makes me feel like livestock waiting for slaughter."

Joe took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. System, show me the path, he whispered internally.

[Opening Area Exploration Interface...]

[Mapping Rift Zone Coordinates...]

Instantly, a transparent holographic map appeared in Joe's vision. Glowing lines showed a route through the ruins of office buildings. At the end of that path, a red dot pulsed with a label that made Joe's heart race.

[Object Detected: Defense Energy Core (Synergy Type).]

[Function: Generates a permanent static shield for the settlement.]

This is it, Joe thought. If I can get that Core, this camp will be safe forever.

"Let's move," Joe commanded.

The three of them stepped out from the Crossings Market barricades, piercing through the thick fog that shrouded the now-unrecognizable city streets. Reality around them seemed twisted; several cars floated statically in the air, while the asphalt of the road cracked into intricate fractal patterns.

The closer they got to the blue light, the denser and more vibrating the air felt. A low-frequency humming sound made their teeth chatter. Suddenly, Joe stopped and held out his hand, signaling Sarah and Vance to immediately duck behind the ruins of a city bus.

"What is it, Joe?" Vance whispered, gripping his iron spear tightly.

"Listen," Joe replied.

The sound was strange—like the sound of paper being massively crumpled mixed with a deep sucking noise. From behind the fog in front of the glowing gate, a terrifying creature emerged. The creature had no face, only a pulsating mass of gray matter with hundreds of small tentacles constantly touching the ground. Every time a tentacle touched concrete debris or iron, the matter vanished instantly, sucked into the monster's body.

[Warning: Matter Consumption Specimen Detected.]

[Status: Cosmic Hunger.]

"It's eating its environment," Sarah covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide with fear. "Joe, it's eating the street."

"Don't move," Joe activated Environmental Adaptation. His vision changed; he saw the flow of energy connecting the monster to the blue gate behind it. The monster was a guardian, or perhaps the remains of a system failure trapped there.

Vance accidentally stepped on an empty can. The small clink sounded like an explosion in the silence.

The monster stopped abruptly. Its hundreds of tentacles stood upright, vibrating to find the source of the sound. In an instant, the gray mass lunged toward them with unreasonable speed, sucking the surrounding air until it created a vacuum pressure that hurt their ears.

"Run toward the building on the left! Now!" Joe shouted.

Vance and Sarah jumped just as the monster slammed into the bus where they had been hiding. The metal bus didn't explode or shatter; it simply vanished, as if erased from existence, leaving a hollow hole in the air that was then filled with dust.

"Our weapons won't be useful against that thing!" Vance exclaimed, panting. "It eats metal, Joe!"

Joe looked around quickly. He needed something that wasn't pure matter to stop it. His eyes caught an electrical transformer hanging precariously on a cracked pole right above the monster's path.

"Vance! Draw its attention toward that pole! Sarah, get ready behind me!"

Joe took a huge risk. He ran into the open, exposing himself completely. The monster immediately turned, its tentacles extending like hungry whips.

"Come here, you pile of trash!" Joe roared.

The monster lunged. When it was right under the power pole, Joe didn't dodge. He waited until the monster was only a few meters away, feeling the sensation of the suction starting to pull at his clothes.

"Now!"

Joe hurled his iron pipe not at the monster, but at the unstable transformer. Environmental Adaptation helped him calculate the angle of its fall with absolute precision.

BOOM!

The transformer fell right into the center of the monster's gray mass. An explosion of pure electrical energy—energy that had not yet been fully integrated by the system—erupted. The monster shrieked, its voice sounding like millions of broken radio signals. Its body, which usually sucked in matter, now convulsed, unable to digest such a massive sudden load of electrical energy.

The gray mass began to fade, breaking apart into harmless particles of light.

Joe collapsed into a sitting position, his lungs feeling tight because the oxygen around them had momentarily thinned. He stared at his trembling hands. He had just risked his life in a matter of seconds. If he had missed by even a little, he would have vanished without a trace.

"Joe! You're crazy!" Sarah ran over, helping him up. "You almost got sucked in!"

"But we're still alive," Joe smirked bitterly, wiping the sweat from his face. "And the path to the gate is open."

They walked toward the source of the blue light. The closer they got, the more Joe felt a massive power, a pulse of energy that felt incredibly familiar, as if he had known it in another life. The gate wasn't just light; it was a rift in the fabric of reality showing the other side of the world.

Joe stood before the threshold of the vibrating dimensional doorway. He placed his hand on the cold surface of the blue energy. Beyond the rift, he didn't see city ruins.

He saw a vast, alien territory. On one side, there was a zone with a red sky where a giant was rampaging amidst crushing gravity. On the other side, a digital labyrinth shimmering with millions of lines of code moving like river currents.

And in between it all, Joe felt the presence of two other souls. Two pillars just as strong, just as tormented, and just as determined as himself.

"They're there," Joe whispered, his eyes shining, reflecting the light of the gate.

"Who, Joe?" Vance asked, confused by his leader's expression.

Joe didn't answer. He looked back, staring at the fog hiding the Crossings Market camp and the people he protected. He knew that if he stepped in here, the world he knew would be gone forever. But if he didn't step in, there would be no world to live in.

"You two go back to the camp," Joe ordered firmly. "Bring this Core with you. Miller knows how to activate it."

Joe handed over a small blue crystal that had just crystallized from the remains of the monster—the Defense Energy Core.

"Lalu bagaimana denganmu?" Sarah mencengkeram lengan baju Joe, matanya berkaca-kaca.

"I have to go get the other pillars," Joe gently released Sarah's hand. "Wait for me. I'll bring them home."

Without looking back, Joe stepped into the rift of the gate. The blue light swallowed him completely, pulling him into a vortex of energy that transcended human logic.

On the other side of the gate, just before his consciousness was pulled toward the meeting point, Joe saw the silhouette of a large man slamming the ground with his fists, and a young man with glasses cutting through code with his hands.

"So this is the beginning," Joe's voice echoed in the dimensional void before everything turned into a blinding pure white.

[Achievement: Transcending the Matter Threshold.]

[Pillar Synergy: 33% Detected.]

[Entering the Threshold Zone – Crossroads of Fate.]