The shelter's cracked ceiling moaned under the weight of chaos above.
Kaela pressed her ear against the cold wall, listening: gunfire. Explosions. The shrill whine of surveillance drones slicing the sky.
No way back.
No way forward.
"We can't stay here," Riven said grimly, reloading his battered rifle.
Arin kicked a loose brick across the floor, frustration boiling over. "Yeah? And where the hell do we go? We can't outshoot an army!"
Kaela didn't answer.
She stared at the Core glowing faintly on the floor between them — like a heartbeat in the darkness.
The relic had brought them nothing but death.
And yet…
Somewhere deep inside, Kaela felt it calling to something else. Something bigger.
"Undercity." she said quietly.
Riven and Arin looked at her like she was insane.
"Down?" Riven said. "Where the Hollowborn nests are?"
Kaela nodded. "It's the only place they won't chase us. Not yet."
The Journey Downward
It wasn't a decision. It was survival.
Within minutes, they slipped through an old service hatch, climbing into the forgotten depths of Neo-Terra.
The air grew colder.
The walls tighter.
The distant scraping and howling of Hollowborn filled the tunnels.
Kaela kept the Core close to her chest, its glow their only light.
Every shadow moved.
Every sound threatened to become a nightmare.
But still… they pressed on.
Meanwhile — The Surface Burns
Above ground, chaos blossomed like fire:
Council Hunters clashed with Blacksite troops in brutal street battles.
Cultists set fires across government buildings, screaming sermons of annihilation.
Warlord gangs seized checkpoints, extorting anyone who passed.
Hollowborn packs erupted from the cracks, dragging screaming victims into the sewers.
It wasn't war.
It was the end of the city, happening in slow motion.
First Encounter — The Hollowborn
Deep in the undercity, Kaela, Arin, and Riven paused at a massive cavern where the floor dropped into endless black.
The Core's light flickered violently.
"Something's coming," Arin whispered.
Then they saw it.
Crawling along the ceiling like a spider, a Hollowborn Alpha unfolded itself from the shadows.
Twisted flesh. Bone-like claws. Eyes like glowing pits of hunger.
And it had friends.
Three smaller Hollowborn skittered behind it, snapping and hissing.
"Kaela, MOVE!" Riven barked.
Battle: Undercity Clash
The cavern lit up with gunfire.
Arin threw precision shots at the smaller Hollowborn, trying to pin them down.
Riven blasted a shotgun slug straight into the Alpha's chest — it barely flinched.
Kaela, heart hammering, drew a salvaged energy blade, dodging a claw swipe by inches.
The Alpha roared, a sound like splitting stone, and charged.
Kaela rolled left.
Riven took a hit — claws raking across his side, blood splattering the wall.
"We can't kill it!" Arin shouted.
"Then stall it!" Kaela screamed back.
They fought like cornered animals, barely staying ahead of the monstrous speed and strength.
At one desperate moment, Kaela stabbed the energy blade into the Alpha's shoulder — it shrieked but didn't die.
Suddenly — a flare shot up from deeper inside the tunnels.
Blue and green fire lit the caverns.
Someone else was down there.
Someone powerful.
The Hollowborn froze, their senses caught by the new energy.
It bought Kaela and the others the moment they needed.
"Go!" Riven yelled. "RUN!"
End of Chapter Scene
They stumbled deeper into the tunnels, panting, bleeding, desperate.
Somewhere in the darkness, the mysterious flare-caster was waiting.
An ally?
Another hunter?
It didn't matter.
The city was gone.
Only the ashes remained.
And if they wanted to live, they'd have to fight through the darkest heart of it.