The sky clung to the last dregs of night, a bruised navy smothered under layers of ash-smog drifting from the Rift. Dawn hadn't so much broken as it had stumbled into existence, the sun a dull smear behind the haze.
The wind howled across the abandoned fields, rattling the skeletal remains of farmsteads long since gutted by Rift-spawn or GCC cleansing. Dust devils spiraled over cracked asphalt, hissing against the black transport van that had carried them here.
The evacuation had been swift, brutal, and—like all things involving Rifts—permanent. Faded DO NOT ENTER signs flapped from broken fences. Emergency barriers, once bright orange, now stood rusted and ignored. The air smelled of ozone and something faintly metallic, like old blood on the wind.
And ahead, pulsing like an open wound, was the Rift itself.
Fifty meters out, hovering two meters above the earth, the tear in reality hummed—a deep, resonant frequency that vibrated in Kai's teeth. Jagged edges of purple-black energy flickered at its borders.
Then the Rift breathed.
Two creatures slithered from the scar, their bodies a grotesque fusion of chitin and exposed muscle. They moved like dogs, if dogs had too many joints and mouths where their eyes should be. Nostrils flared, scenting the air.
Sylvie cracked her neck, rolling her shoulders like a boxer stepping into the ring. "Wakey wakey, fuckers," she muttered, her voice still thick with sleep but her grin razor-sharp.
Her arms shifted.
Muscle fibers twisted, veins darkened and split open like overripe fruit, unfurling into long, serrated whips lined with hooked barbs of calcified tissue.
Serrated Vein Whips—a mutation stolen from something called a Wailer Spinecat, a Rift predator that lashed its prey into submission before eating them alive.
She struck first.
The whip snapped forward, slicing through the air with a sound like tearing canvas. It wrapped around the first creature's face—yanked.
An eye-cluster popped free, dangling from the hooked tendril before Sylvie flicked it away with a wet smack.
The creature screamed.
Ash didn't make a sound.
He stepped forward, his scarf—woven from his own shed chitin—fluttering in the wind. Then his spine rippled, vertebrae rearranging as a second jaw erupted from his back, teeth serrated and glistening.
Jawed Bone Layer.
Harvested from a Burrowjaw, a thing that lived underground and waited for prey to stumble into its maw.
He grabbed the second creature, slammed it into the dirt, and let the spinal jaw crunch down on its skull.
Bone splintered.
Kai watched, his stomach churning.
They moved like this was normal. Like their bodies were nothing more than weapons to be reloaded.
Am I supposed to do that too?
The parasite inside him stirred, pressing against his ribs like a hand testing a door.
Yes.
Grin's mask tilted slightly, recording everything.
The wind howled. The Rift pulsed.
And the real fight hadn't even started yet.
The air near the Rift was unnaturally still, as if the world itself was holding its breath. The sky had lightened to a dull, ashen gray, but the cold here had nothing to do with morning—it was the kind of chill that seeped into bones.
Kai flexed his fingers, half-expecting frost to crackle on his skin. The two Riftborn corpses lay nearby, already dissolving into blackened sludge—standard for lesser spawn.
Marin stepped up beside him, her armored boots crunching on brittle grass. She didn't look at him, just tapped her wrist-mounted scanner, and a holographic display flickered to life between them.
"Crash course," she said, voice flat. "Don't interrupt."
Kai swallowed his sarcasm.
"Rifts aren't just holes," Marin began, zooming the hologram into a cross-section of the tear. "They're ruptures between our world and a parallel ecosystem—think of it like shoving your hand through a soap bubble into another dimension. The inside can take any form, but it's always hostile."
The display shifted, showing warped landscapes—forests with trees that pulsed like lungs, caverns lined with teeth, skies that rained liquid metal.
"Each Rift has a 'theme' based on the dominant species' biology. If the controlling organism is a burrower, expect tunnels. If it's a flier, prepare for vertical traps. You're not just walking into another world. You're walking into a predator's dream."
Kai's stomach tightened. "So we're basically lunch."
Marin adjusted her glasses. "Only if you're slow."
She swiped the hologram, and three pulsing crystal icons appeared—each a different shape, each glowing with eerie light.
"These are Rift Cores. We call them 'Gemstones.' They're dimensional anchors—the things holding the tear open. Destroy all of them, and the Rift collapses."
Kai leaned in. "How?"
"However you can," Marin said bluntly. "Bullets, blades or your teeth. But each one has a defense field." The hologram highlighted the first crystal—a jagged shard. "This one emits infrasound. Get too close, and you'll start hallucinating your worst memories."
The second core, smooth and spherical, pulsed. "This one spawns guardians. Kill them fast, or they'll multiply."
The third flickered like a dying star. "This one, no one knows. New Rifts evolve new defenses. That's why we scan first."
She snapped the display off. "Break the last core, and the Rift slams shut—ejecting anything still inside. Including us."
Sylvie, who'd been sharpening one of her vein-whips against a rock, snorted. "You're making it sound like a tutorial." She stood, stretching. "Here's what matters: Your parasite isn't a vending machine. You don't just press 'mutate' and get a cool power."
She tapped her temple. "It's a negotiation. The more you use it, the more it wants. Push too hard, and it'll rewrite you permanently."
Ash, silent as ever, rolled his shoulders—his spinal jaw flexing under his scarf. A warning.
Kai's throat went dry. "So how do you—"
"Control it?" Sylvie grinned. "You don't. You bargain. Give it a little blood, a little pain, and it'll give you a weapon. But never let it think it's in charge."
Marin added quietly, "And never use the same mutation twice in a row. Variety keeps it… distracted."
Kai exhaled, staring at the Rift's pulsing maw. "So, break the crystals, dodge monsters, and pray not to mutate into roadkill. Got it."
Sylvie slapped his back, her fingers lingering just a second too long. "Welcome to the team."
Grin's mask tilted, recording.
The Rift shuddered. It was time.
The Rift gate dilated like a living thing—an iris of torn metal and wet cartilage, veins pulsing with violet light. One by one, the team stepped through: Sylvie first, Ash, Marin, Grin.
Kai hesitated at the threshold.
Here we go. Parasite's first field trip.
He stepped in.
The world dropped out from under him.
It wasn't like falling through air—it was like drowning in velvet, thick and suffocating. His skin went numb. His lungs forgot how to breathe. The gene interface Marin had given him flared to life against his chest, its pulse frantic, trying to stabilize his DNA as reality unraveled around him.
Impact.
Kai landed hard, knees buckling as he skidded across something slick and fibrous. The air stank of copper and burnt sugar.
The device that Marin handed to him lit up.
---
[SYSTEM ALERT: RIFT ENTRY DETECTED]
Zone: CAVERNETHE
Type: Subterranean Rift – Fungal Caverns
Threat Level: E+
Visibility: Low (Bioluminescent spores)
Atmosphere: Thin, mutagenic
Known Riftborn:
Gnawspore Thralls (F-) – Rabid swarm rodents
Glowleeches (F) – Hallucinogenic parasites
Shellback Burrowers (E-) – Armored diggers
Chitterlungs (E+) – Sonic gas-insects
Rancid Mauler (D) – Toxic apex brute
Gene Yield: Low–Mid
Mutation Risk: Moderate
---
E+. Great. Just enough to get me killed if I breath wrong
He was in a cave—if caves were made of striated muscle tissue and volcanic glass, glowing faintly blue from bioluminescent spores drifting like mist.
Marin said find cover. Find cover. Find—
A crunch behind him. Kai dove behind a jagged spine of rock, pressing himself flat.
Don't move. Don't breathe.
He peeked over the edge.
Two Rift creatures stood—no, not stood, writhed—in a clearing of pulsating flesh-floor.
The first had seven asymmetrical limbs and a tongue that split into grasping, finger-like tendrils. The second glowed faintly, emitting a high-pitched metallic moan that vibrated in Kai's teeth.
They were.
Uh.
Occupied.
Oh my god.
Kai's face froze in pure, existential horror.
Is this a mating cave? Did I just Rift-crash an alien honeymoon?
The creatures moved in a rhythm that was both hypnotic and deeply, profoundly wrong. The glowing one's moan hit a crescendo—
"Uh!"
A rock crunched under Kai's boot as he shifted.
The seven-limbed creature's head snapped toward him, four eyes locking onto his hiding spot. Its expression was… complicated. Somewhere between rage and mortification.
I'm going to die because I saw alien sex. I'm going to be the guy who dies because of that!
Kai didn't wait for it to decide whether murder or shame came first.
He ran.