Cedric took another leap.
His boots slammed into a floating section of the marble staircase with a dull, heavy thud. The impact sent a sharp jolt of discomfort through his injured side, forcing a ragged gasp from his throat. His bruised ribs protested violently against the sudden strain, sending a wave of heat through his chest.
Pain flared across his lungs, but it was now only a dull, manageable burn rather than the bone-shattering agony from before. He bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, tasting copper, and refused to let even a small grunt escape.
[Easy, Cedric,] the System whispered gently inside his head, her voice a calm, synthetic anchor in the middle of the whirling chaos. [Focus on the next platform. It's stable for now—three meters ahead. Breathe through your nose. In for four, hold for two. Don't let the pain break your concentration.]
He didn't answer. He couldn't afford to waste even a single breath on words right now. His vision was still clear, but the world around him continued its slow, silent rotation, making everything feel strange and unreal.
Below them, the Atrium had become a kaleidoscopic tunnel filled with shattered storefronts and pieces of debris drifting lazily in the air. A grand piano floated past them slowly, falling upward toward the huge, shimmering sphere of water that hung at the center of the Hollow like an impossible moon.
"Next… one," Cedric forced out, his voice a low, tired rasp. He raised his hand and pointed toward a wide ledge that jutted out from the second floor, leading into a darkened part of the mall.
Without hesitation, he jumped. For one long, weightless second, gravity disappeared completely. He hung suspended in the thick violet haze, feeling like a puppet whose strings had been cut. His stomach tightened with a primal fear of the endless void below.
Then, with a sudden, stomach-dropping tug, gravity returned all at once. He hit the ledge hard and quickly tucked into a roll. His shoulder took most of the impact against the grit-covered floor. He slid across the cold, dust-covered tile and finally came to a stop. His muscles were stiff and sore, but they still worked.
Howl landed beside him just a heartbeat later. The big dog used his powerful muscles to pull himself up onto the ledge, his claws clicking sharply against the tile. Immediately, Howl pressed his warm, solid body against Cedric's leg, offering steady comfort in this broken world. The dog felt alive and grounding, a single point of reality in a sea of distortion.
They quickly crawled away from the dangerous open edge and slipped into a long, narrow corridor. It stretched ahead like a dark throat ready to swallow them whole. As they moved deeper into the corridor, reality itself began to stutter and break.
Cedric took one step, and a full second later, his own translucent reflection snapped forward to catch up with his body. The lag in the universe was deeply unsettling, making his head spin.
"System… what is… this?" Cedric rasped, leaning heavily against a wall that was vibrating under his hand.
[Spatial desynchronization,] she replied simply. [The Ether density here is extreme. It's warping your local timeline by over a second. Don't trust your eyes, Cedric. Trust your senses. Trust the rhythm I'm feeding you.]
The walls around them seemed to weep a thick, dark liquid that hissed when it touched the floor. Every shadow stretched toward them like long, hungry fingers, but they quickly pulled back whenever the Aromatherapy pulse from the System cleared a safe path.
Cedric moved forward carefully. He followed the faint, acrid scent of burnt plastic that lingered in the air, letting it guide them through the gloom. Finally, the narrow walls opened up like curtains pulling back, revealing the massive, open space of the Food Court.
It was a sad graveyard of plastic tables and chairs that had been melted and fused together into strange geometric shapes. The silence in this place felt alive and dangerous, broken only by the distant, irregular sound of something thick and sticky dripping onto the tiles from high above.
Suddenly, a brilliant, harsh white light flashed from the far end of the Food Court, near the darkened kitchens. The System's voice screamed inside his mind without warning, sharper than he had ever heard it.
[CEDRIC! HIDE NOW! THEY ARE ETHEREALS!]
Instinct took over immediately. Cedric dove behind a heavy stainless steel counter, dragging Howl down with him in one fast, desperate motion. They hit the cold floor hard.
Cedric pressed the dog's large body flat against the ground and curled his own body protectively around Howl's head. He tried to shield the animal as best he could, feeling the dog's heart racing against his own.
"Shh…" Cedric hissed very quietly, his heart hammering wildly against his bruised ribs like a trapped bird. From the blinding white light, two figures stepped out.
The Ethereals walked with heavy, deliberate steps that made the floor vibrate beneath them. They were roughly human-sized, which made their movements feel strangely real and grounded in this ruined place.
The first one was a hunched, bulky figure. Its body was a dark mass of hardened ether. Its head was a glowing yellow crystalline funnel with a pitch-black core that seemed to swallow all the light around it. A strange structure that looked like a broken traffic light was fused into its spiked shoulders, with red and green lenses flickering weakly.
It gripped a long, mangled metal pole and dragged it along the floor with a slow, rhythmic, agonizing scrape… scrape… scrape…
Behind it came the second creature. Looking at it through the gap in the counter, Cedric felt a cold sweat break out. This one was a smaller Ethereal but its torso was broad and heavy, covered in jagged shards of black ether that looked like armor.
It carried no weapon, but it didn't need one. Its arms were thick and corded with muscle, ending in heavy, glowing green fragments. Its entire frame hummed with a raw, aggressive energy. Every muscle-like cord on its body was tensed as it prowled through the wreckage, its broad shoulders shifting with a natural, lethal grace.
[Ether Exposure: 3% | Aromatherapy: Active Suppression,] the System reported, her tone urgent. [Stay down, Cedric. Do nothing. Their sensory range is fluctuating.]
The first one stopped just a few feet away from the counter where Cedric and Howl were hiding. The scraping sound of the metal pole suddenly stopped. The silence that followed was so heavy it felt like it was pressing down on Cedric's eardrums.
The second moved closer, its heavy, clawed feet clicking against the tile with a predatory rhythm. It didn't glide; it prowled with the weight of a top predator, its funnel-head twitching as it tasted the air.
Cedric pressed his back harder against the cold stainless steel. The pain in his bruised ribs had now become a sharp, violent throb that matched every desperate beat of his heart. Each shallow breath he took felt like sandpaper scraping inside his chest. The air tasted of dust, old grease, and burnt plastic.
He felt terribly exposed. No weapons. No tools.
'System... what are these things? Give me names.' Cedric thought desperately.
[Archival data cross-referenced,] the System answered right away, her voice calm and steady. [The heavy one dragging the metal pole is a Faun. It's a strong brute built for physical power. The muscled one beside it is an Alpeca. It is an aggressive close-quarters Ethereal. Do not underestimate its strength; it can strike with overwhelming force.]
[Technically, you could defeat them,] the System added, her voice dropping into a chillingly serious tone. [Your current abilities are enough to put them down if you played it perfectly. But I strongly advise against it.]
[A battle here would attract other Ethereals. If you engage, you won't just be fighting these two—you'll be calling every Ethereal in this wing of the mall straight to our position. There would be no escape.]
[And don't try to look at them with your eyes, Cedric. Use the rhythm instead. Push your [Rhythm Sense] as far as you can. I will help filter the noise.]
Cedric squeezed his eyes shut tightly. White sparks danced behind his eyelids. He pushed his [Rhythm Sense] to its limit, letting the System guide him.
In the darkness of his mind, he could "see" them through sound and vibration. The Faun appeared first as a heavy, slow metronome — thump… scrape… thump… scrape… Its footsteps hit the floor like heavy hammers, sending low vibrations through the tiles that he could feel in his bones.
The Alpeca had a more intense, rhythmic pulse. Its powerful footsteps hit the floor with a solid, bone-shaking thud... thud... thud... He could hear the ether on its body grinding together like tectonic plates.
One of the Alpeca's heavy, glowing hands brushed lightly against the far side of the metal counter — clink... The vibration traveled through the thin steel and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He could feel the creature's immense, muscular presence just inches away.
He froze completely, not daring to move a muscle. A single bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple, stinging the cut on his forehead. Beside him, Howl was trembling hard, but the loyal dog stayed perfectly quiet. Not even the smallest whimper escaped him.
Cedric needed a distraction, and he needed it now. His eyes dropped to the floor beneath the counter. Half-hidden under the frame, he spotted an old, faded plastic serving tray.
He waited, counting in his head, matching the slow rhythm of the Faun. Then, somewhere far away in the Food Court, a large chunk of concrete finally broke loose from the ceiling and crashed to the ground with a loud sound.
In that exact moment, Cedric used the toe of his shoe to flick the tray. He didn't throw it hard — he slid it carefully so it would spin quietly across the slanted floor until it reached a row of empty soda cans in the far corner.
Clang! Clang-clang!
The sudden noise shattered the heavy silence like a gunshot. Both Ethereals turned instantly toward the sound. The Faun let out a deep, angry growl that shook the hanging light fixtures above. It swung its heavy body and began moving toward the noise.
The Alpeca followed, its massive body thudding heavily across the tiles as it prepared to crush whatever had made the sound.
"Go… now…" Cedric whispered, his voice shaking from the effort.
He and Howl began crawling as quietly and quickly as they could toward the kitchen area, staying low in the shadows. Every inch hurt his bruised ribs badly, but the rush of adrenaline helped dull the pain enough for him to keep moving.
They headed for a small, unassuming steel door tucked away in the far corner — an old service elevator, the kind used for moving food and supplies. Cedric shoved the sliding door open with all the strength he had left. The rusted tracks groaned loudly, making a harsh metallic sound that cut through the air.
Instantly, the Alpeca stopped in the distance. Its broad head snapped toward them at an unnatural angle. Its funnel-head core ignited with a fierce, predatory glow. It had spotted them.
"Get inside! Fast!"
Cedric pushed the big dog into the cramped elevator shaft first, then scrambled in after him as quickly as he could. He curled his injured body into the tiny metal box, trying to make himself as small as possible.
Just as he slammed the door shut behind them, the Alpeca lunged forward with terrifying speed and power. Its heavy, muscled fist slammed into the steel door with the force of a wrecking ball.
BOOM!
The impact left a deep, jagged dent in the metal, stopping less than two inches from Cedric's shoulder. The old pulley system could not handle the powerful blow. The support cable snapped with a sharp twang.
Cedric's stomach lurched as the metal box suddenly plunged into freefall down the pitch-black shaft. They dropped fast. The walls blurred past in total darkness. The impact at the bottom was violent and bone-jarring, with metal screeching loudly against metal.
In the complete darkness that followed, Cedric lay sprawled in the wrecked elevator, gasping for air. The smell of old grease and thick dust filled his nose. Howl pressed his warm, trembling body tightly against Cedric's chest and let out the smallest, softest whimper.
For one brief moment, Cedric allowed himself to hope they had escaped. The silence felt like a small sanctuary.
But then, in the pitch-black void of the shaft, directly in front of his face — less than a hand's width away — a pair of eyes suddenly snapped open. They glowed with a cold, haunting light and stared straight into Cedric's soul without blinking.
Cedric's heart seemed to stop completely. He couldn't even draw a breath. The air in the shaft suddenly felt like solid ice.
Whatever was waiting in the darkness with them had been there long before they fell.