The world exploded in blue-white light and a deafening roar that felt like it resonated inside my skull. The shockwave hit me like a physical fist, throwing me stumbling, off-balance, through the narrow fissure entrance Cipher had disappeared into moments before. I landed hard against the rough rock wall inside, the impact jarring through my already aching body. Darkness pressed in, absolute for a moment, filled only by the fading echo of the blast and the high-pitched whine filling my ears.
My first conscious thought was a fragmented diagnostic: Internal systems rebooting… please wait. Auditory sensors experiencing temporary overload. Visual sensors experiencing critical overload. Cognitive function… ha! Good one.
Slowly, painfully, sensory input started filtering back through the internal static. The whining in my ears subsided, replaced by Anya's sharp command echoing slightly in the confined space, "Ren! Leo! Sound off! Status!"
"Here!" Leo coughed, his voice choked with dust, somewhere just ahead of me in the pitch blackness. "Okay… I think."
"Present… mostly," I managed, pushing myself upright, leaning heavily against the wall. My vision swam. Opening my eyes revealed not darkness, but swirling vortexes of angry purple and green static, overlaid with flickering geometric patterns that pulsed in time with my headache. It was like trying to see through a kaleidoscope designed by a malicious glitch. Okay, definite hallucinations. Check. My limbs felt heavy, distant, and a faint tingling, like phantom static cling, danced across my skin.
Then, light flared. Anya had activated her shoulder light again, its beam cutting through the dust-filled air of the passage. We were crammed into a narrow, natural-feeling tunnel, rougher than the aqueduct bypass, the walls slick with moisture and coated in patches of the other kind of fungus: dull grey, stringy stuff that looked vaguely unpleasant but thankfully wasn't glowing or buzzing. The air here was thick with the smell of ozone, burnt cinnamon, and vaporized rock dust – the lingering perfume of the spore explosion.
Anya quickly swept the beam back towards the entrance fissure. It was partially blocked by rubble dislodged by the blast, but thankfully not sealed. No immediate sign of pursuit. She checked her gear with quick, sharp movements, brushing dust from her armor, her jaw tight, a faint tremor in the hand not holding her flashlight quickly stilled. The controlled façade was cracking slightly under the pressure.
"Everyone functional?" she demanded, her voice tight but level. "No new holes? No bonus limbs?"
"Think I'm okay," Leo repeated, wiping dust from his face. He looked shaken but otherwise unharmed.
"Functionality… debatable," I grunted, blinking hard, trying to force the swirling static patterns to recede. They faded slightly, leaving faint, shimmering afterimages. "Head feels like someone tried to defrag it with a hammer. Might be seeing things that aren't there."
Anya frowned, playing her light over me briefly. "Hallucinations? Damn spores. Drink water. Try to focus on concrete details. Usually fades unless you got a heavy dose."
Easier said than done when the rock wall occasionally seemed to ripple like water or sprout fleeting fractal patterns. I took a long swig from my water flask, the cool liquid doing little for the pounding headache but maybe helping ground me slightly.
Cipher was nowhere to be seen. Presumably continued deeper into this passage during the explosion.
"Where's our ghost guide?" I asked, scanning the darkness ahead.
"Probably halfway to Sector Six by now," Anya muttered, annoyance flashing across her features. "Or maybe that temporal distortion they mentioned snagged them." She swept her light deeper into the passage. It seemed to continue steadily onwards, twisting slightly. "Come on. Staying here isn't an option. Blast probably attracted attention, spores or no spores."
She took point again, moving cautiously, testing the ground ahead with each step. Leo followed, still casting nervous glances back towards the rubble-choked entrance. I brought up the rear, focusing intensely on placing one foot in front of the other, trying to ignore the way the shadows seemed to writhe just beyond the flashlight beams, trying to differentiate real sensory input from the static fireworks display still going off behind my eyes. The metallic taste in my mouth was stronger now, coppery and unpleasant. Definitely pushed something too far back at the garage.
The passage wound deeper, descending slightly. The air grew cooler, the sound of dripping water more pronounced. After about fifty meters, the rough rock walls gave way to smoother, almost polished surfaces, ancient and worn, as if by centuries of flowing water. We seemed to have entered a natural watercourse, long dry.
Then, Anya stopped abruptly, holding up a hand. "Hold up."
Ahead, maybe twenty feet away, the tunnel shimmered. Not like the minor instability pockets before, but a distinct, visible warp. The air within a roughly circular area about ten feet across seemed to twist and refract the light, making the tunnel wall behind it ripple and distort like a reflection in disturbed water. Faint, multi-colored motes of light drifted lazily within the distortion field. It was eerily silent, absorbing even the sound of our footsteps.
"Temporal field distortion," Anya confirmed Cipher's warning, her voice hushed. "Small one, but potent. Step into that, you might come out five minutes ago, five years from now, or maybe just… smeared across the timestream."
My already fragmented perception recoiled from the visual wrongness of the distortion. It felt… slippery. Like trying to look at something that actively resisted being perceived correctly. Even without active [Perceive Glitch], I could feel the dissonant hum of mismatched timelines grating against the local reality.
Leo stared at it, fascinated and terrified. "So… how do we get past?"
Anya studied it, her flashlight beam playing across its surface, revealing subtle eddies and currents within the distortion. "Usually, these things pulse. Periods of higher and lower intensity. If we time it right, during a low ebb…"
"Or," a calm, filtered voice stated from beside the distortion, making all three of us jump violently.
Cipher stood there, leaning casually against the tunnel wall just past the temporal ripple, having apparently emerged from the shadows or perhaps… stepped around the distortion somehow? There was no sign of exertion, no dust on their dark suit. One moment empty space, the next, Cipher. Their cyan lenses swept over us. Did I catch a faint, flickering scorch mark near the collar of their suit, almost hidden by shadow? Hard to tell with my vision still playing tricks.
"The field is currently stable, exhibiting minimal temporal shear," Cipher continued, seemingly unperturbed by our startled reactions. "Passage is viable, provided trajectory avoids the central vortex." They gestured towards the shimmering edge of the distortion. "Maintain proximity to the outer perimeter. Transit duration: approximately 1.8 seconds at current velocity."
Anya stared at Cipher, then at the distortion, then back at Cipher. "You just… walked through it? Or around it?"
"Navigated," Cipher replied simply. "The perceived risk was calculated as acceptable." They paused. "My internal chronometer experienced a desynchronization event of 0.03 nanoseconds upon exiting the field. Negligible, but confirms localized temporal displacement."
Negligible temporal displacement. Right. I just wanted my headache to stop.
"Okay," Anya said slowly, still clearly suspicious but seeing little alternative. "Lead the way, ghost guide. Show us the 'acceptable risk' path."
Cipher nodded almost imperceptibly and stepped towards the shimmering edge of the distortion field. "Maintain single file. Minimal deviation."
They stepped into the ripple. For a fraction of a second, their form seemed to stretch, blur, colors smearing like wet paint, accompanied by a faint, high-pitched whine that vibrated in my teeth. Then, they were through, standing calmly on the other side, waiting.
Anya took a deep breath, gripped her sidearm tighter, and followed Cipher's exact path, disappearing into the shimmering distortion with a grimace. A second later, she reappeared on the other side, shaking her head slightly, looking momentarily disoriented.
Leo hesitated, looking from the distortion back at me. "You okay to go through that, Ren?"
"Define 'okay'," I muttered. But staying behind wasn't an option. "Just… follow Anya. Exactly."
He nodded, took a breath, and plunged into the warp. He vanished in a similar smear of distorted light and emerged beside Anya, looking pale and slightly nauseous.
My turn. Staring into the swirling, silent chaos felt like looking into the raw, uncompiled code of time itself. My brain screamed warnings. The visual static behind my eyes pulsed violently. Taking a step forward felt like stepping off a cliff.
Calculated risk, I told myself grimly, channeling Cipher's unnerving calm. Just 1.8 seconds.
I stepped in.