It was quiet after GORJINA passed.
The sky returned to a pale gray. No more mouths. No more screams. The food on the streets had melted into black sludge, and it felt like the world had collectively flinched.
I didn't sleep.
I didn't cry.
I just waited.
When my phone buzzed again, I was almost… relieved.
Until I saw what was on the screen.
---
đźś‚ PROGRESS: 4 / 10 ENTITIES SURVIVED
> LEVEL 1: INITIATION
REMAINING: 6
After the tenth entity, the Trial will evolve.
All survivors will be notified.
Questions may be submitted now.
—LUCIEL, THE FALLEN ONE
---
4 out of 10?
Wait.
Out of ten?
I scrolled up and down. No, it still said 1,000 warnings, but this one used the word "Level." And "INITIATION" was glowing faintly in red.
What happens after ten?
I tapped the message. A prompt appeared:
> "All valid questions regarding this message will be answered. Ask."
I didn't hesitate.
Q: What happens after we survive 10 entities? Will we be given weapons to fight back?
I held my breath. The screen blinked.
Then came the answer.
---
A: After surviving 10 entities, all remaining survivors will be granted their first tools of resistance.
Until then, survive. That is your only function.
---
So we will fight back.
But how?
How do you fight against nightmares?
How do you aim a weapon at something that lives in the sky?
Because that's where the next horror came from.
My phone buzzed again.
---
⚠️ WARNING #0005 ⚠️
> ENTITY CODE: PHALORGE
TYPE: COSMIC PATTERN
TIME OF ARRIVAL: IN PROGRESS
ABILITY: ECLIPTIC SHADOW – Entity exists in low orbit and covers the sun with its enormous patterned body. Its shadows are not inert. Any living being stepping into PHALORGE'S shadow will be violently pressed to the earth and suffocated.
PHYSICAL TRAITS: Visual resemblance to a repeating black floral curtain pattern. No defined limbs. Moves like a virus across the sky. Can be seen from space.
SURVIVAL TIP: STAY IN DIRECT LIGHT. DO NOT TOUCH SHADOWS. If shadowed, remain calm and crawl toward pure sunlight.
NOTE: PHALORGE IS STILL ABOVE YOU. HE SEES YOU AS CREASES TO BE IRONED FLAT.
---
I didn't believe it at first.
Until I looked outside.
There was no sun.
Just… shapes.
The light was dim and strange, like walking through the inside of a burned photo. The buildings were warped in the heat, and the ground looked like it had been printed with old ink.
People were walking through the streets again.
And then they stopped.
One of them—someone across the street—stepped into a section of shadow.
The second his foot landed—
A hand made of solid blackness rose from the street and grabbed his leg.
He screamed as he was yanked flat onto the pavement.
And then—
He couldn't move.
He couldn't breathe.
He thrashed like a pinned insect as the hand pushed down with impossible force. His eyes bulged. His ribs bent. And then—
Silence.
More screams echoed as people stumbled into dark patches, dragged down by unseen hands.
It wasn't just one hand.
It was dozens.
Hundreds.
Anywhere there was shadow—even the small line under a car, or the sliver behind a lamppost—Phalorge could reach.
I looked up.
And I saw it.
A black pattern stretched across the sky—billowing, endless. A pattern. A massive, living pattern. Folds of something that pulsed gently, like a heart too big to understand.
It covered the sun like it belonged there.
Like it had always been there.
I stumbled back inside.
The light was fading in my room.
Every shadow was suspect.
My phone buzzed one final time.
---
YOU SURVIVED WARNING #0005
> REWARD UNLOCKED: HANDHELD BEACON (1X) – EMITS CLEAN LIGHT FOR 10 MINUTES. USE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY.
NOTE: SHADOWS ARE NO LONGER SAFE SPACES.
---
Five down.
Halfway to ten.
And now I'm scared of the dark in a way I never was before.
Not because something might be hiding in it…
…but because now I know something is.
And it's looking down at us.
Like we're stains.