We weren't the only ones brought here.
And wherever the others were—
it was already worse.
---
Somewhere else in that same broken world—
far away, a much larger group of people had appeared in another area under the same twilight sky.
The ground there was a wide open plain. Behind them stretched an endless pit filled with rushing dark water.
The pit wasn't just deep.
The water didn't flow downward.
It moved sideways—
like gravity had forgotten which direction mattered.
One man took a step too close to the edge—
his body tilted sideways for a second, like gravity tried to pull him into the flowing darkness.
Ahead of them stood a long stone bridge stretched across the abyss like a spine of stone.
The civilians gathered near the edge of the bridge looked completely lost.
"Weren't we just at a traffic signal?"
"How did we get here?"
"Someone explain what's happening!"
No one understood anything.
And that lack of understanding was exactly what made it worse.
Fear spreads fastest
when there's nothing to understand.
But one thing was certain.
The moment the road disappeared beneath their feet, panic began to spread.
A child started screaming somewhere in the crowd.
A woman pulled him close to her chest.
"Where are we?!"
Another man stumbled backward, staring at the endless pit behind them as if he might fall into it.
"What kind of cursed place is this?"
Around forty-three people stood trapped there. Some were children, some elderly, and the rest ordinary adults—each of them just as frightened.
Among them stood a strange group of people wearing black coats and sunglasses.
There were eleven of them.
Something about them felt different from the others.
While everyone else looked confused, they seemed… prepared.
Not like survivors.
Like participants.
Not calm—
ready.
Like they had been waiting for this moment.
The group gathered together and spoke quietly among themselves. After a moment one of them stepped forward.
He looked around thirty-five, his expression steady in a way that suggested he had seen disasters before.
"Everyone, listen carefully. Do not panic," Helmith said—his voice steady enough to cut through the noise.
But that was impossible.
This place was completely unfamiliar.
Voices immediately rose in protest.
Someone dropped their phone. The sharp crack of it hitting the stone echoed across the empty plain.
An elderly man collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest as he tried to breathe.
"Is this some kind of disaster?!"
"I've never seen a place like this in my life!"
Another person said, "Maybe this is a dream."
People began shouting over each other as fear spread through the crowd.
One of the men in black whispered something to the one who had stepped forward. The man nodded and raised his voice again.
"We understand your situation. But this is not the time to panic."
A civilian shouted back immediately.
"Why should we listen to you?"
The man calmly reached into his coat and pulled out a badge.
He held it up for everyone to see.
"My name is Helmith. We're from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs—BSA."
"Never heard of it," someone said.
"You weren't supposed to," Helmith replied.
The same man who questioned him laughed.
"What kind of story is that? I've never heard of a department like that!"
Another person shouted, "Are you filming some kind of movie with us?!"
Helmith remained calm.
"We handle things… normal authorities don't touch."
"Things you're not supposed to see."
Which meant—
situations normal authorities were never meant to deal with.
Even hearing this, most civilians looked doubtful.
"Then stop explaining and get us out of here!" someone shouted.
Helmith's expression hardened.
"…That won't be easy."
The crowd erupted again.
Several people tried to run away from the bridge before stopping suddenly when they realized there was nowhere to go.
Someone began praying under their breath.
Others simply stood frozen, too terrified to move.
"What do you mean it won't be easy?!"
"Are our lives just part of your job?!"
"Please stay calm," Helmith said, raising his voice slightly.
"This situation is not ordinary. There are realities that exist beyond what human eyes can normally perceive."
"Sometimes… another reality overlaps with ours."
Silence spread through the crowd.
"When it happens—
we handle it."
A college-aged boy spoke up.
"I've read about that. Distortion Realities look like our world—but slightly different."
Helmith nodded.
"That's correct. But within those layers there are things humanity has never encountered."
"Distortion realities—"
"Stop talking like that!" someone snapped.
"Just tell us if we're going to die!"
Another man shouted impatiently.
"Fine! Then fix the problem and get us out of here!"
Helmith hesitated before answering.
"To be honest… we don't know what this place is."
The crowd fell silent.
"This place," Helmith said slowly,
"is not a Distortion Reality."
He looked toward the dark horizon.
"This… isn't our world."
No one spoke.
No one argued.
Because everyone felt it.
And the way he said it—
wasn't a guess.
It sounded like confirmation.
Something about the way Helmith said it—
wasn't uncertainty.
It was recognition.
His voice sounded calm.
Too calm.
But his eyes told a different story.
Helmith's voice stayed steady—
but his thumb pressed harder against the edge of his badge.
Not the kind that comes from confusion—
but the kind that comes after understanding.
The fear of someone who already understood—
this was worse than expected.
If even they didn't know where this place was…
then who did?
The civilians grew angry again.
"What's the point of you being here if you can't help us?"
Helmith took a slow breath.
"For now, we need to find a way out. Please cooperate with us."
The wind stopped—
completely.
The air grew heavier.
Not around them—above them.
Before anyone could respond—
something fell from the sky.
The air suddenly grew hot.
Blue flames tore through the sky—
ripping through the clouds like something forcing its way into this world.
They crashed into the ground nearby.
The ground didn't just shake—
it resisted, like something unnatural had forced its way into it.
The shockwave hit the ground—
several people lost their footing, collapsing onto the stone as screams broke out.
The BSA officers reacted instantly.
Several raised strange weapons and fired at the flames, while others lifted their hands toward the sky.
"Grave Barriers!"
Dark energy spread outward—thin at first—
then thickening into a curved dome above them, like glass forged from shadow.
The falling flames struck the barrier and scattered harmlessly.
The air vibrated violently when the fire hit the dome, sending ripples across the dark surface like waves across glass.
For a moment—
it looked like they had been saved.
But then—
a horrifying sound rose from across the sky.
A roar thundered above them.
The roar didn't come from one direction.
It came from everywhere at once.
Not the cry of a monster.
Something beyond that—
High above them, something enormous shifted in the darkness above the clouds—
Not flying.
Not falling.
Just… existing.
Like it had always been there—
and the sky had only just revealed it.
Large enough to swallow even the faint red glow of the sky.
It didn't block the sky.
The sky bent around it.
Like the world refused to place it anywhere—
so it existed… without a position.
And for the first time—
everyone understood the same thing.
Whatever this world was—
something was already inside it.
End Chapter 3 — BSA