They didn't stop running until the roar of the Director had faded into the distance.
Alpha Delma was a labyrinth of steel and glass, but it was hollow. The streets were populated by people who walked in circles, staring at the sky or fumbling with simple objects. It was a city of ghosts who hadn't realized they were dead yet.
"In here," Sai said, veering off the main avenue.
He pointed to a structure that stood out against the sleek skyscrapers and domes. It was a church. Old stone, stained glass, and a heavy wooden door that looked like it predated the Ending Times.
They slipped inside, Sai closing the heavy latch behind them. The silence of the sanctuary washed over them.
"It's empty," Lucianna whispered, her voice echoing slightly in the vast hall.
She walked down the center aisle, looking up at the dusty pews and the altar at the front.
"Churches are always the first to empty out when the world actually ends," Sai muttered, dusting off his jacket. "Or the first to fill up. Depends on what they're selling."
Religion had evolved strangely during the Ending Times.
When the first Rifts tore the sky open, the old world's religions died almost overnight. Billions had prayed to their gods for salvation, but when the monsters ate their children and the heavens remained silent, faith turned into despair.
But humanity, desperate for meaning, didn't stop believing. They just fractured.
Some splinter groups rose from the ashes, worshipping the very things that were killing them. They called themselves the "Enders" believing that the monsters were divine agents sent to cleanse the world. They prayed to the Ending Times itself, offering sacrifices to the Rifts in an plea to not be eaten alongside others.
Then, there were those who worshipped the new logic of the world.
"This is a System Church," Drex said, peering behind a pillar. "Like from the book"
He pointed to the statue standing behind the altar. It was a tall, faceless woman carved from white marble, holding a sword in one hand and a glowing blue orb in the other.
The Goddess of the System.
She was the only deity that mattered now because she was the only one who answered. She didn't offer salvation through prayer; she offered it through Skills, and strength. She was the Administrator who had gamified the apocalypse to give humanity a fighting chance.
Sai frowned at the statue. It was the same entity he was hiding from. The same one that had dragged humanity into this war.
"Let's catch our breath," Sai said, looking away from the marble figure with disdain and sliding into one of the front pews. "We need to figure out what just happened."
Lucianna sat down heavily, leaning her father's Great Lance against the pew. She looked shaken.
"The Director," she said softly. "He remembered. For a second."
"He did," Sai nodded. "He mentioned an 'Abomination.' He knew the city was under siege. But the moment he tried to articulate it... snap."
"A mental block?" Drex asked, sitting on top of the altar table and swinging his legs. "Like a curse?"
Sai rubbed his temples. The Director's strength was also a problem. If everyone in this city was that strong, fighting their way to the answers without killing anyone is going to be a problem.
"So, we are in a city where everyone has dementia," Drex summarized. "And if we try to communicate with them, they may try to kill us."
"Exactly," Sai said. "Which means we can't ask for directions. We need to find the source of the memory wipe. An effect this massive must be a…"
"A monster," Lucianna finished, gripping her knees. "The Director called it an Abomination. It must be inside the city."
"Or running it," Sai mused.
They sat in silence for a moment, the weight of the situation settling in. They were trapped in a fortress city designed to keep enemies out, but now it was keeping them in with millions of sleepwalking soldiers that can't kill.
Eeipp.
The sound was faint, but in the dead silence of the church, it sounded like a gunshot.
Sai froze. Lucianna grabbed her lance. Drex vanished, slipping instantly into the shadows of the pulpit—his ability activating on instinct.
"Did you hear that?" Lucianna whispered.
"Came from over there," Sai said, nodding toward the side of the sanctuary.
There was a row of wooden confessionals against the wall—small, enclosed booths where people used to admit their sins to the System priests.
Thump. Scrape.
Something was moving inside the middle booth.
Sai signaled for silence. They moved like ghosts. Lucianna flanked the left side, her lance ready to sweep. Sai took the center. Drex materialized on top of the boot, ready to drop down.
Sai reached for the handle of the confessional door.
If this was a monster, he would crush it instantly. If it was the Director coming back for round two... well, they would run.
Sai gripped the handle.
"On three," he mouthed.
One. Two.
Three.
Sai yanked the door open.
Inside, huddled in the corner of the cramped wooden box, was a girl.
She couldn't have been older than eighteen. She was wearing a traditional black-and-white nun's habit, but it was stained with soot and dust. She was clutching a totem so tight her fingers were purple, her eyes squeezed shut, trembling like a leaf in a hurricane.
The sudden flood of light made her eyes snap open.
She looked up and saw Sai—a tall man with a dark aura. Behind him, a woman with a massive lance. Above her, a boy leaking darkness.
The nun took a deep breath.
"AAAAHHH!"
She screamed. It was a high-pitched, ear-splitting shriek of pure terror.
"AAAAHHH!"
Drex, startled by the sudden noise, screamed back, falling off the roof of the confessional and landing in a heap on the floor.
"AAAAHHH!" The nun screamed again, throwing her totem at Sai's face.
"Stop screaming!" Drex yelled, scrambling back.
"Stop screaming, both of you!" Sai shouted, catching the totem mid-air.
Silence returned to the church, broken only by the nun's hyperventilating and Drex clutching his chest.