Liminal 4: End Of The Line

The Breach

The night sky above the abandoned house glowed a furious orange, thick plumes of smoke rising as flames consumed the cursed place. The ASYNC officials raced against time, their boots pounding the dirt as they rushed toward the inferno, their radios crackling with overlapping orders.

"Get her out! Now!" an officer shouted, his voice barely audible over the roaring fire.

Inside the blaze, two figures in protective gear pushed through the collapsing framework of the house, searching for her. Adaliya had vanished into this infernal tomb, determined to end it all. The heat was unbearable, but they couldn't leave her behind. Not her. Not after everything.

"There!" one of the officers cried, spotting a limp figure half-buried beneath debris. They moved quickly, hauling her out from the wreckage, her body burned and slashed almost beyond recognition. Her clothes were torn, her skin blistered and raw. A deep gash ran along her side, the blood already dried against the soot.

"She's alive—barely," the medic muttered, checking her pulse. They hoisted her body up, dragging her through the broken door and out into the cool night air. As they laid her on the grass, the officer looked back at the burning house, its windows shattered, flames licking through every corner like the place itself was alive.

And then he saw it.

A towering figure stood in the doorway, glitching in and out of existence as though reality struggled to contain it. The creature's limbs were unnaturally long, its form twisting and flickering like static on a broken TV screen. A hollow face, a void where its eyes should be, stared out at them, emotionless and still—too still.

The officer's breath caught in his throat. "Oh God..."

The creature took a step forward, its movements jerky, as though it was struggling to exist in this world.

"Open fire!" another officer screamed.

Gunfire erupted, bullets tearing through the air toward the thing, but it barely flinched. The bullets seemed to distort as they entered its form, dissolving into nothingness. The officers fired again, the sound deafening, but the creature didn't stop. Its body twisted and contorted as it glided through the smoke, unphased by the fire or the attack.

"Fall back! Fall—" the officer's voice was cut off by the creature's sudden, erratic lunge.

Adaliya lay on the grass, unconscious and oblivious to the chaos unfolding around her. As the fire raged on, she was unaware that the nightmare she had fought so hard to contain had just broken free.

And the worst was yet to come.