Chapter 5 CHAPTER 5 — MISALIGNMENT

“Defensive formation, now!” I barked, snapping out of the frozen moment as the Gate’s pulse still echoed through the terminal. “This isn’t a standard seal anymore. Ren, left flank! Lian, stay right beside me. Zhao Yun, I need everything you’ve got on retreat options.”

Ren spun into position, axe raised high. “What the hell is going on, boss? One second you’re glowing like a damn beacon, next the whole place is shaking. That voice you mentioned before… is it back?”

“Not now, Ren,” I snapped. “Eyes on the Gate. Lian, tell me what you’re feeling. Right now.”

Lian pressed close, her voice shaking. “It’s not just watching anymore, Wei. It’s… calling. Like it knows exactly who you are. I can feel the pull in my chest too. We should fall back. This feels wrong. Really wrong.”

“Captain,” Zhao Yun cut in, his tone clipped. “Retreat probability at sixty-two percent and dropping fast. Whatever synchronization just happened, it’s feeding on your Thread activity. I’m running new models but the numbers keep shifting against us. We need to move. Now.”

“Moving isn’t an option yet,” I said, rifle trained on the swirling vortex. “We’re already too deep. If we run blind, it’ll chase us through the distortions. Ren, you holding steady?”

Ren laughed, but it came out forced. “Steady? After what happened with that last beast? I still don’t remember half of it, but I’m ready to smash whatever comes out. Just don’t ask me to play it safe. That never works down here.”

Lian grabbed my arm again. “Wei, please. Your Thread is lighting up everything around us. I can feel the others’ fear mixing with something else. Something hungry inside the Gate. It’s not a normal mid-tier anymore.”

Zhao Yun’s voice rose. “Confirmed. A Calamity-class distortion is forming inside the Gate. Energy signature shouldn’t exist at this Gate level. Probability of full manifestation in the next ninety seconds: seventy-eight percent and climbing. Captain, we are not equipped for this.”

“Talk to me about the retreat path,” I demanded, stepping forward despite the warning. The golden threads still wrapped around me, thick and insistent. “Can we make it back through the corridors without getting folded into a wall?”

“Forty-one percent and falling,” Zhao Yun answered immediately. “The spatial distortions are locking down behind us. If we run now, we lose at least two of the squad. Your Thread adjustments earlier… they accelerated this.”

Ren cursed loudly. “Then we fight it! Boss, you always pull us through. Do that thing you do. Tug the damn strings and let’s end this freak show.”

“Ren’s right about one thing,” I said. “We can’t just run. Lian, keep pushing calm toward the Gate. Try to slow whatever’s coming. Zhao Yun, keep feeding me numbers. I’m going higher this time.”

Lian’s breath hitched. “Wei, no. You already look older from the last pulls. I can see it in your face. Don’t…”

The terminal fractured before she could finish.

Gravity flipped sideways. Water that had been lapping at our knees shot upward in thick, impossible streams, crashing against the ceiling like reverse rain. The air screamed with distorted sound, our voices stretching and warping like broken recordings.

“Shit!” Ren yelled, his shout dragging out unnaturally long. He grabbed a bent railing to anchor himself as his feet left the ground. “What the fuck is this? Boss!”

Lian screamed, tumbling through the air toward me. “Wei! I can’t… everything’s spinning!”

I lunged and caught her wrist, pulling her against me as the world tilted again. “Hold on! Zhao Yun, status!”

“Gravity inversion confirmed,” Zhao Yun’s voice warped through comms. “Sound distortion at maximum. Calamity distortion at ninety-three percent formation. Captain… you have to use it. Survival probability without intervention: nine percent.”

I felt the threads explode around me. Hundreds more. I reached deeper, pushing the Fate Thread harder than I had in months. Time slowed to a crawl. The roaring water froze mid-fall. Ren’s shout hung in the air like thick syrup. Every golden line burned bright in my vision, multiplying so fast it hurt to look at them.

My bones ached instantly. The years piled on, five, maybe seven in just these few seconds. My shoulders felt heavier. My skin tighter. But the world stabilized enough for us to move.

“Ren, grab the pillar on your left!” I shouted, my voice sounding strange even to me in the slowed flow. “Lian, I’ve got you. We push toward the core and slap the emergency seal. No more talking. Just move when I say.”

Lian clung to my arm, eyes wide with terror. “It hurts, Wei. Whatever you’re doing… I feel it tearing at you. And there’s something else in there with you. She’s… she’s happy you’re using more power.”

“Save it,” I growled. “Ren, you with us?”

Ren fought through the distorted space, muscles straining. “Barely. Feels like my body’s moving through mud. But I’m here. Whatever you’re paying for this, boss, it better be worth it. I’m not dying in some flooded hellhole because a Gate decided to breathe funny.”

Zhao Yun’s warped voice broke through. “Distortion peaking. Calamity entity forming. Captain, your Thread is the only thing holding the collapse back. But the cost… your biological markers just jumped another four years. We need to extract immediately after sealing.”

I kept pushing, dragging Lian with me through the frozen chaos toward the Gate. The threads sang in my head, too many to control perfectly. My vision blurred at the edges.

Then, in that slowed pocket of time, I looked straight into the heart of the Gate.

Something looked back.

A shape inside the violet swirl. Humanoid. Watching me with eyes I almost recognized. It smiled, slow, knowing, almost gentle.

My blood ran cold.

“Wei?” Lian whispered, voice distorted and small. “What do you see?

Your face… you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The smile widened.