The Unholy Four—Lilith, Tenshin, Necros, and Zephyr—were not just monstrous beings. They were the embodiment of something Dylan couldn't name, something ancient, primal, and utterly alien. Their cruelty wasn't random, and their madness wasn't without purpose. They moved with the grace of gods and the laughter of lunatics, always one step ahead, always playing a deeper game. Dylan had crossed paths with demons, killers, and monsters in his time—but never anything like them.
Fate, it seemed, had cursed him to walk beside them. Not as an equal. Not even as a guest. But as a pawn. A chained flame they'd chosen to keep alive for reasons still hidden beneath twisted grins and cryptic murmurs.
Zephyr had seen something in Dylan—something the others ignored or mocked. A spark. A buried inferno. Dylan didn't yet know if it was power, madness, or a curse, but Zephyr's interest wasn't casual. It was obsessive. Purposeful.
After a grim, dreamless rest beneath the skeleton tree, the five of them moved onward, deeper into the forbidden wilderness of the Red Valley. The terrain grew more vile by the minute. Thick, tangled bushes tore at their legs, and the trees bent unnaturally, their branches curling like skeletal fingers. Dylan couldn't help but notice the strange red hue beginning to illuminate the area. A crimson moon hung low in the sky like a dying eye—bleeding light across the forest floor. It wasn't sunlight, but it was… something. And after so long in pitch-black voids, even red light felt like a sliver of hope.
They formed a loose, tense cohort—Lilith in front with her bloodstained shotgun, eyes scanning every inch. She motioned toward something ahead. "The trees… look inside them."
Dylan approached one and squinted. There were hollow holes in the bark—filled with thick, pulsing blood. Crows perched above the openings, but these weren't normal birds. Their feathers shimmered oily black, and from their heads protruded twisted, crimson horns. They dipped their beaks into the blood like it was the only nectar that ever existed.
"This place doesn't thirst for water," Zephyr murmured. "Only blood."
Tenshin abruptly stopped, staring at what looked like a massive boulder or mountain-like object looming out of the trees. The rest followed, their expressions shifting from weary curiosity to bored irritation.
Lilith rolled her eyes. "What now, statue boy? We gonna just stand here admiring rocks?"
Necros snorted. "Maybe it's a sealed gate to another dimension, or a cursed dungeon that hands out random powers. That'd be useful."
Zephyr said nothing, but his glowing red eyes sparkled with mischief as he stared at Tenshin.
Dylan squinted at the formation. "It kinda looks climbable. Maybe there's something useful at the top? A vantage point?"
Tenshin, who had been staring silently, finally snapped. "You damn fools. It's not a dungeon, or a portal, or some magical mountaintop. It's just a rock. A big, useless, painful rock."
Lilith scoffed. "Then what are we supposed to do, genius? Hug it? Or just keep asking questions like a toddler?"
Tenshin exhaled through his nose, calming himself. "Look at the ground. Something's wrong."
Dylan knelt and pressed his palm against the soil. It felt like normal earth—dry, cracked, solid. Then, without warning, the ground fractured under his hand with a thunderous crack.
"Wait—!" Tenshin barked.
But it was too late.
The earth gave way like a collapsing ribcage, and in the blink of an eye, all five of them were plummeting into a black abyss.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Tenshin's voice echoed as they fell. "Who told you to TOUCH it? Ask first next time—this isn't your backyard!"
Lilith followed with venom. "I swear to the gods, Dylan, I will shoot you in the kneecaps if we survive this. You're a walking disaster. I bet even your mother hated you!"
Necros, unfazed, calmly spoke into the darkness, "It's just the void. Just embrace it."
Above them, the sky they had fallen from closed like an eye shutting for the last time. The world went silent except for Zephyr's deep, rhythmic laughter.
Lilith screamed up at him, furious. "Why the hell are you LAUGHING, demon?! We're going to die!"
Zephyr didn't respond. He simply looked down, smiling like a lunatic who knew exactly how this would end.
The fall ended with a soft impact—like landing in mist. But there was no ground, no sky, no trees. Just black space. Endless. Cold. Breathing.
They stood—or floated—in a plane of nothingness. A shadow realm.
"Where the fuck are we?" Dylan whispered, his voice swallowed by the void.
No one answered right away.
Zephyr finally broke the silence. "Now it begins."
Dylan felt a chill run up his spine. Because deep down, past the fear, past the confusion—he agreed.
This… this was only the beginning.