the horizon of giants

The metal grating groaned as Litus kicked it open, crawling out of the suffocating darkness of the tunnels. He collapsed onto the ground, his lungs burning as they tasted something he hadn't felt in years: fresh, cold air.

Kael climbed out behind him, his face bruised but his expression uncharacteristically soft. "Look up, Litus. We’re outside the walls."

Litus stood, brushing the black dust of the Tako off his jacket. They were standing on a cliff of shattered concrete, overlooking a world that had been reclaimed by nature and madness. Colossal vines, glowing with a soft violet light, twisted around the skeletons of skyscrapers. But it wasn't the ruins that stole his breath.

At the edge of the world, piercing through a crown of dark clouds, stood the Mountain.

It was more massive than any building Litus had ever seen, its peaks jagged like shards of obsidian. Around its summit, massive rings of stone and metal floated in defiance of gravity, slowly rotating like the gears of a dead god.

As Litus watched, the silver pendant around his neck grew warm. In his bag, the book—the one that had once belonged to the boy who worked with him in the disposal unit—began to hum. The mountain engraved on its cover pulsed with a rhythmic, blue light, identical to the veins on Litus's arms.

"It's calling you," Kael said, standing beside him. "The Instinct isn't just a power to survive the beasts, Litus. It’s a key. And that Mountain is the lock."

Litus gripped the strap of his bag, his eyes fixed on the distant peak. The "Wealthy Elite" were behind them, but the true mystery of why the world fell three years ago was waiting up there, in the clouds.

"Then let's go," Litus said, his voice firm. "Let's see what the Mountain is hiding."