One of the other wraiths noticed me. The tendrils left the cat, and they turned towards me.
The first now above me. Hungry. Ready to strike.
My fear returned as the two wraiths approached slowly...
Above me, something moved.
A shadow folded inward, then stretched, like smoke pulled by an invisible hand.
The first wraith hovered directly over me.
[Warning: Hostile entity in lethal range.]
"No shit" I gasped.
A tendril snapped downward.
I rolled just in time. The tendril struck the floor where my head had been, the tile cracking with a dull, hollow sound. Cold rushed past my face, sharp enough to sting my skin.
My knife slid out of my grip.
I scrambled backward on my elbows and heels, heart slamming against my ribs. The corridor felt narrower now, the walls pressing in, the flickering lights stuttering overhead.
The second wraith drifted closer from my left, its shape unstable, warping as it moved. The third stayed near the kitten, thinner than the others, feeding greedily.
I felt it then.
Fear.
Not mine.
The kitten's.
My Perception flared violently, pressure spiking behind my eyes like someone tightening a vice around my skull. The world sharpened against my will. Lines appeared where they shouldn't exist. Distortions. Emotional density layered over physical space.
[Perception: Overdrive.]
I sucked in a breath and forced myself upright, ignoring the pain screaming through my shoulder. My gaze snapped to the floor.
The knife lay a few feet away.
The first wraith lunged.
I dove.
Its tendril tore through the space where my chest had been, missing me by inches. I hit the ground hard again, fingers scraping against tile until they closed around the knife's handle.
Cold.
Solid.
Real.
I rolled onto my back and slashed upward.
The blade passed through the wraith like it wasn't there.
For a terrifying moment, nothing happened.
Then the wraith recoiled violently, its form warping, folding inward like fabric being twisted too hard.
It reacted.
Not to the blade.
To me.
To intent.
[Insight gained: Wraiths respond to soul contact.]
I didn't have time to think.
The second wraith attacked from behind.
I didn't turn.
I felt it.
A sudden spike of pressure in the air, a sharp pull behind my right shoulder. I twisted instinctively, the tendril slicing past my neck close enough that frost crawled across my skin.
I slashed sideways, not aiming for the center of its body, but for the dense knot my Perception highlighted—an anchor point where grief and regret overlapped.
The knife met resistance.
A sound like ice cracking underwater echoed through the corridor.
The wraith convulsed.
Pain slammed into my head, a shrill pressure that made my vision white out. I dropped to one knee, blood trickling from my nose.
The wraith screamed.
Not with sound.
With emotion.
Regret. Panic. Rage. Desperation.
It all poured into me at once, threatening to drown my thoughts.
[Warning: Mental strain detected.]
I bit down hard, teeth grinding.
"Get out" I snarled.
I drove the knife deeper, pushing through the resistance, focusing on the feeling of the anchor instead of the shape.
The wraith collapsed inward, unraveling into fragments of dim light that dissolved into the air.
[Wraith defeated.] [XP gained: +15]
I barely registered the notification.
The first wraith surged forward, enraged now, its form thicker, darker, stabilized by the weight of emotion saturating the corridor. It slammed into me before I could react.
We crashed into the wall together.
Pain exploded through my ribs. I felt something shift wrong, a sharp internal crunch that made me cry out despite myself. My grip loosened, the knife nearly slipping from my hand.
[Minor injury sustained.] [Condition: Bruised ribs.] [Breathing impaired.]
The wraith pressed closer, its presence crushing, suffocating. Images flooded my mind—patients begging, doctors shaking their heads, flatlining monitors.
I couldn't tell which memories were mine anymore.
Focus.
I forced my Perception outward, anchoring myself to the environment. The cracked ICU door behind the wraith glowed faintly in my mind, thick with unresolved guilt.
That was it.
Its anchor.
I shoved with everything I had left, slipping sideways as the wraith lashed out. The tendril caught my arm, slicing deep.
I screamed.
Warm blood spilled down my forearm, dripping onto the floor.
[Laceration detected.] [Bleeding ongoing.]
My arm went numb almost immediately.
I didn't stop.
I stumbled forward and drove the knife into the anchor point I felt rather than saw.
Once.
Twice.
The resistance thickened, like stabbing into tar.
The wraith thrashed violently, slamming me into the wall again. My head cracked against tile, stars exploding across my vision.
"Die," I hissed, voice shaking.
I stabbed again.
The wraith shattered.
Its form collapsed inward with a violent implosion, fragments tearing away and dissolving into nothing.
[Wraith defeated.] [XP gained: +15]
I slid down the wall, gasping for breath, ribs on fire, arm slick with blood. My vision swam. The world tilted.
One left.
The third wraith hovered near the kitten, thinner than before, its movements sluggish. It had fed—but not enough to fully stabilize.
The kitten whimpered softly.
That sound cut through the haze.
I forced myself to stand.
My legs shook violently. Every breath felt like dragging glass through my lungs. Blood dripped steadily from my arm, pooling at my feet.
The wraith turned toward me.
It hesitated.
It knew.
[Enemy morale: unstable.]
Good.
I advanced slowly, knife held low, not threatening—deliberate. My Perception locked onto the faint anchor inside its form, weaker than the others, stretched thin by hunger.
The wraith lunged.
I sidestepped clumsily, pain screaming through my ribs, and slashed across the anchor point.
The knife connected immediately.
The wraith dissolved almost instantly, collapsing with a faint, whispering sigh that felt more like relief than death.
[Wraith defeated.] [XP gained: +15]
Silence fell.
Not the oppressive silence from before—but something lighter. Cleaner.
[Dungeon cleared.]