When the sun began to disappear behind the living walls of the Labyrinth City, something changed in the air. It wasn't just the natural fall of light: it was a reversal of direction. Brightness seemed to flow upward, pulled by the sky, while the ground gained shadows that stretched upward as gleaming reflections descended. The city was preparing to turn.
Rai'kanna stopped walking. Her wings tensed, almost rigid, as if her body itself had sensed what was about to happen. "Night is coming… but not like before."
Liriel flipped through the grimoire, trying to stay calm. "The inversion begins when the city decides to change the rules. The sky trades places with the ground. Gravity becomes unstable. Nothing stays in the same place."
Vespera rubbed her face. "Great. As if walking buildings, fleeing shadows, and a duplicate trying to kill us weren't enough… Now the sky is going to fall on our heads."
Elara raised her bow and pointed upward. "Look."
The horizon flipped.
Stars appeared on the ground, reflected as if trapped in an inverted lake. The moon crossed the sky in reverse, slowly descending. The surrounding buildings tilted a few degrees, as if they were about to topple.
Lyannis moved closer to me, gripping my arm. "Takumi… is the ground breathing?"
It was. The pavement rippled like water under a gentle wind. And the strangest part: we neither sank nor floated. We remained stable, held by a force that chose who stayed and who would be pulled upward.
The city was beginning to turn inside out.
"We need to cross this area before the inversion becomes complete," Rai'kanna said, planting her feet firmly. "If we get stuck in the center during the peak… we'll end up on the wrong side."
Vespera raised an eyebrow. "Is there a right side?"
"There's the side where we don't die," Elara replied.
We kept moving forward. Every step required control. If we stepped where the reflected light was stronger, the body became too light and began to rise. Liriel drew runes to stabilize the path, but part of the street rippled and launched Vespera upward.
"Hey, HEY, HEY! I don't want to turn into a balloon!"
Rai'kanna opened her wings and pulled her back. "Focus. The inversion amplifies fear. If you lose emotional balance, you lose weight."
"Calm… calm… this is not helping me stay calm!" Vespera pointed at the sky.
And we saw why.
Creatures swam through the inverted sky. They looked like fish made of luminous dust and distorted traces. They moved in schools, diving toward the city like living rain.
Liriel recognized them. "They're Stellar Currents. Creatures that only exist during inversion. They aren't aggressive… unless someone touches their light."
One of the creatures dove so close it almost brushed my head. The flame inside me reacted. The glow flickered. And that was enough for it to change trajectory and come toward me.
"Perfect," Vespera said. "Now we have homicidal space fish."
The creature attacked. I dodged, but the unstable gravity pulled my body backward. Rai'kanna raised a barrier of fire, and the creature retreated.
"Takumi," she said firmly. "Your flame drew attention. Don't touch any inverted light."
"I'll try."
"Don't try. Do."
The Currents swept over the area. Some brushed the air so close that we felt their cold on our skin. The ground grew more unstable. Suddenly, the world snapped.
Gravity changed.
Rai'kanna floated. Vespera rose with her. I lifted off the ground, but Elara pulled me back.
"Stay with me. If you go up now, you might not come back."
Lyannis held me tightly. "I don't want to be separated from you."
A vibration ran through the street. Liriel raised the grimoire. "The Cult of the Immobile Order is nearby."
"Here? During the inversion?" Vespera asked. "Don't these people ever rest?"
"They use imbalance to attack."
Hooded figures emerged from the alleys, wearing symbols of inverted triangles and rigid lines on their clothes. The leader raised a pointed staff. "You advance without permission. Turn back. The city must not be disturbed."
Rai'kanna stepped forward. "We're not here to awaken anything. We're trying to prevent the worst."
"The worst began the moment you arrived," the leader said. "And it's getting worse."
He drove the staff into the ground.
Gravity flipped.
The sky descended like a tide. The ground rose as if alive. We were thrown sideways. The street twisted, creating impossible angles. Liriel lost the grimoire for a moment, but Lyannis caught it in midair.
The Stellar Currents went mad. The cult advanced through the chaos, moving as if nothing affected them.
I was thrown against a wall. The flame inside me reacted violently. Rai'kanna tried to reach me, but the inverted air currents pulled her upward.
The leader advanced. "The city doesn't want you here."
"I'm not the reason it's awakening!"
"Your flame is."
He attacked. I rolled to the side. The world spun. Light from the Currents passed so close that I had to close my eyes.
When I opened them, I saw Elara protecting Lyannis, Vespera fighting the wind, and Liriel trying to stabilize the street.
And Rai'kanna…
Rai'kanna dove.
She cut through the distortion, fought against gravity, and reached me at the very moment the cult was about to attack again. Her wings beat hard, and for a second, the ground stabilized. She pulled me close to her.
"Don't lose yourself," she said in a low voice. "Never lose yourself from me."
The cult leader stepped back as he felt the city shudder. "You don't understand. To continue is to free what sleeps."
"If we don't continue, everything dies," Rai'kanna replied. "We won't stop."
The cult retreated, disappearing into the shadows. The inversion began to recede. The Currents returned to the sky. The buildings straightened.
But something pulsed beneath the city.
Liriel closed the grimoire. "The inversion wasn't natural. The city reacted. Something… pressed against the subsoil."
Rai'kanna looked at me. "Takumi… did your flame feel that?"
I nodded.
And the flame trembled inside me once more.
The city was warning us.