Salt battered the buildings of Dubai.

The rain fell in coarse grains, striking the windows with tiny, resounding taps. Sen saw them gather atop his balcony, swept aside by the wind. They swelled up into the corners like pale piles of sand, while some scraped across the concrete roads outside, sweeping over cars and curling around lamp posts in fine, salted clouds. And as he and Em watched the salt fall, so did the other entities hiding in Dubai.

Monsters peeked out from the corals, and Sen watched a thousand scuttling shapes crawl out of the shadows, one by one by one. He saw curling, segmented beasts: centipede-like crawlers with thick mandibles, standing upright to catch the falling salt in their mouths. Swarms of dog-sized shrimp stood atop the corals, their backs bursting open to reveal sets of long, dragonfly wings. They leapt off the corals and into the sky, circling.

And as Sen watched the world come alive, golden text flared across his vision.

A Salt Storm has begun. Prolonged exposure to Ardor-charged salt will cause Dessication [Stage 1] to all entities below the 2nd Tier.

Ambient essence increased. Essence density is moderate.

Absorbing essence [7/???] – Salt Storm [Tier 2].

Sen stared at the notification as he felt essence flow into him. It was a slow, steady trickle. Enough that if he basked in it for an hour, it would grant him a few hundred Tier 1 essence. It was a boon. And yet, Sen and Em paled as they watched it happen through the curtains, watching the world shift outside.

They weren’t the only ones who could absorb the essence in the air.

Together, they watched the creatures crawl out of the shadows. Beasts drank in the salt and the essence, their bodies bulging and mutating. Sen watched one of the Tier 0 Coral Crawlers—the shrimps—convulse, passing an unseen threshold as its body pulsed with inner power. Its shell cracked. Its flesh swelled.

And over the course of another minute, Sen watched it transform into another creature entirely.

[Elite] Lumbering Creepback – Tier 1

“They’re evolving,” he whispered, and Em nodded.

“And they’re leaving humans like us in the dust. They’re out there gathering essence and killing each other faster than we can do either.”

“We need to leave,” Sen said. “Get to Maladh, where we can rely on other people. And we need to get there as soon as we can.”

“We aren’t going to wait another day to let Bali and his daughter rest?”

“We’ll carry his daughter if we have to. But I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

Sen pointed out of the window, at the landscape plunging deeper into the heart of Dubai. Even with his Darkvision, it was nothing but shadows there. Dark, looming silhouettes. He saw the titanic spire that was the Burj Khalifa, and the Burj Al Arab, both deformed shapes in the night, infested with corals that dwarfed the surrounding buildings. Between the corals and around the skyscrapers, Sen saw gigantic, flying shapes sail through the mist. Serpents; long, slithering titans with dark exoskeletons and many, many writhing arms.

There were dozens of them, flying where the city was closest to the coast. And below, dangers clustered in the shadows, hidden away from sight. Compared to the area they were in, the heart of Dubai was a dangerous wilderness, and it was only a matter of time before that danger crept out.

It was going to expand, he knew. The longer they spent near the beating center of this living ecosystem, the sooner it would catch up to them. Already, Sen saw the corals shivering outside. Sponges crept outward from their clusters, growing centimeter by centimeter. Barnacles sprouted from the sides of buildings, forming out of nothing, and from humongous anemones, Sen saw tiny, crawling shapes hatch out of glowing, green eggs. They started mutating as soon as they touched the salt falling from the sky.

“I’m going to tell Bali to get ready,” Em said. “Let’s pack up everything we need and head out as soon as the salt stops falling.”

Sen nodded to her. “You go ahead. I’ll help you in a minute—I just need to check something first.”

“Don’t do anything risky.”

“I won’t.”

Em gave him a final look, before nodding and striding out of the room, reaching for an empty duffel bag by his bed. “I’m going to leave a few non-perishables behind,” she said, stopping by the door. “It’ll be useful to have a place like this stocked up in case we ever pass by in the future.”

Sen put a hand against the window as he smiled. He sent her a glance. “You watch too many zombie movies.”

“And you watch too few. See you in a minute.”

“See you.”

Em stepped out of the room, and through the thin walls, Sen heard her start a muffled conversation with Bali. Quickly, the sound of them shuffling through the house mumbled through the hallway, stacking clothes and food into bags for the three of them carry. Meanwhile, Sen stood in front of the glass, frowning. He unlocked the window; pushed.

It opened with a creak, and the salt rain plinked through, bouncing off the wooden floors of his home. Sen held out his hand to catch the crystals, letting them fall onto his palm.

And as soon as he did, he felt it.

Heat.

The salt crystals on his hand were hot to the touch—like embers, except they neither glowed nor set his floor aflame. It was strange, to feel the heat that would have scorched him days ago without fearing any burns. Fiendish Resilience allowed him to hold the scorching crystals in his hand, but there was something else about them that Sen noticed. Something familiar.

Despite his immunity to flames below the 3rd Tier, Sen saw his skin turn black after a few seconds of contact with the salt. It spread through his flesh like ink through water, and as it crept along his palm, Sen saw familiar, embered lines pulsing into his skin.

It wasn’t burning him. It was a type of energy—like Flow and essence—changing him.

He pulled his hand back inside the house as he felt his Flow reserves drain away. Sen stared down at the thing in his hands.

Ardor Crystal Granules [Tier 2] – Decaying

Absorbing Essence [1/3] – Ardor Crystal Granules [Tier 2] x67

Sen watched the blackness spread through his skin. It didn’t hurt. Not yet. Instead, it felt warm—an itchy, agonizing heat. Like standing in front of the fireplace with a sweater on, unable to sweat or breathe. It was an uncomfortable sensation.

...And it was exactly the same as the feeling he got when his Flow was overdrawn.

As a test, Sen channeled the energy swirling around his heart. He sent it down his arteries, and a wave of minty cold passed over his lungs. Flow traveled into his arm. It flooded into his hand, where the salt was, and Sen saw the spreading embers on his skin hiss. Steam rose from his pores. The dark, burnt-looking flesh faded away, leaving his skin undamaged.

Sen kept it up, until finally, the salt in his hand no longer felt warm. He looked down at the dead crystal grains again, but no notification came up. Nothing but a ping about the essence he’d absorbed appeared.

Essence Absorbed [3/3] – (Depleted) Ardor Crystal Granules [Tier 2] x67

He swallowed.

If he were completely honest with himself, Sen had no idea what the fuck he was doing. And yet, despite only gaining more questions than answers, Sen finally had a name to give to the energy smoldering in his heart. It was the flame inside of him, constantly waiting for his Flow to deplete. Waiting to take over and turn him into charcoal from the inside.

It was Ardor. An energy on the complete opposite spectrum of Flow. He wasn’t a hundred percent certain, but the guess was the best he had. And whatever it was inside of him, it had been charged into the crystals; decayed by Flow, broken down into essence he could absorb.

He understood, without really understanding. There was the hint of an answer in his mind: the first piece of a massive jigsaw puzzle, sliding into place.

Sen released a low breath.

This mystery would be for later. Once he was safe to think and ponder, secure behind the walls of a sanctuary made by other humans trying to survive. But out here—inside the concrete, coral-infested jungle of Dubai’s urban corpse—this much was enough. Just knowing something new was a good thing, even if it filled him with a million unanswered questions. Sen closed the windows and scooped the salt off the floor.

Hundreds of granules touched his hand, and Sen used Flow to combat the spreading scorch of Ardor-intrusion. It was costly, for the essence it gave him. Sen ended up sacrificing a tenth of his Flow just to break down the Ardor in the crystals.

And all-in-all, it only made him forty-seven essence richer.

He pursed his lips and glanced out of the window again, where the creatures outside were no doubt devouring the salts like giant vacuum cleaners. It was so very tempting to stay—to open the window and let the salt flow in, spending days just consuming Flow to convert the Ardor into essence. But he couldn’t do that. Sen had many, many things to do, and every day wasted was another one where he wasn’t on his way to find his aunt in Spain. Sen couldn’t afford to use Flow on the crystals. He would need a full tank and every scrap in his arsenal if they were going to get to Maladh as soon as possible.

So… Sen turned away from the window and joined Em and Bali in the living room. They fussed about the house, stuffing supplies into bags as Bali’s daughter slept soundly on the couch. Sen joined Em in the kitchen as she shoved cans of Spam and corned beef into a duffel bag.

“Do you still have that Skill Orb you looted from the creepback?”

“I do. Wanna see it?”

“Yeah.”

She flicked it towards him and Sen caught it.

Red Skill Orb [Tier 0] – Power Strike

Sen raised an eyebrow at it, noting the new color they received. The red Skill Orb seemed to be an offensive Skill of sorts—the generic, easy-to-understand kind that explained its function from the name alone. And as tempting as it was to simply hoard it all for himself, Sen knew his role.

He was the shield, and Em was the spear. Sen held it back out to her. “You’ve only got three Skill Orbs slotted, right?” he asked, as Em blinked and took the orb from his hand. “Go and absorb that one. It’ll go well with your Ability.”

“You sure? You might be able to use this well with that Shield Bash thing.”

“I’ll have another offensive Augment soon enough. Take it. It’ll serve you better.”

She didn’t argue with that. Em gave him a thanks as she pinched the orb between her fingers, letting it shatter into fine, red smoke. It sank into her and Sen felt the skill integrate itself with a quick flash of essence.

With a nod at each other, the two of them got back to work. As they did, Sen explained what he learned to Bali and Em. The things about Ardor and the salt rain; why the monsters were suddenly waking up when they were supposed to be asleep. Then, within ten minutes, Sen, Em, and Bali were finished—each of them sporting two bags, with the heaviest resting with Sen. Outside the Salt Storm continued to pour, even stronger than before, and through the roar of the salt crystals striking the world outside, Sen heard low, rumbling roars and piercing shrieks outside. And then—

Boom!

Sen heard Tasha cry out as she jerked away from the window, the little girl immediately bursting into tears as she rushed into Bali’s arm. She hid behind him, shivering.

“God-bloody-damn it,” Em cursed. “What the fuck's happening now?”

Sen rushed to the window and looked outside to the find the vampires fighting against the coral beasts. Giant, hulking monstrosities of dried flesh tore into creepbacks and swarms of coral crawlers. And far away, crashing into buildings and destroying the landscape, was a familiar shape.

He tightened his jaw as the skin on his entire body prickled. His hands shook. A surge of nausea flashed through him as Sen looked at what had crawled out from underground.

[Commander] Child of Kulv’arash – Tier 3

It stood on five deformed, infantile legs. Each one was massive, and the creature loomed over the cars and the buses, spewing acid and roaring its terrifying shriek. It fought against a gigantic centipede as it coiled around the child, stabbing into bubbling flesh with its massive, spear-like legs. Mandibles tore into skin. Acid melted through carapace. Together, the two Tier 3 monsters ravaged through Al Warqaa, and in the middle of their battle was a giant, towering crystal.

It was white, and fiery energy pulsed deep within it. The crystal sat in the middle of a crater that was once a mosque, and ember-lines spiderwebbed all around the rubble even as the tarmac turned molten under the heat.

The massive Ardor Crystal’s fall from the sky had been the source of the boom. It blazed in the darkness, full of energy so potent that Sen felt the temperature in the room go up from even a mile away.

All the monsters ran towards it in droves, flooding the street in a chaotic swarm of chitin and shriveled flesh, all desperately warring for essence.

Sen closed the curtains and gulped.

“Alright,” he said. “We need to leave now. While they’re distracted, and before the fighting reaches this building. We might be able to slip away.”

“But how?” Bali asked, his face pale as he pulled his eyes away from the sight outside. “You told us the salt from the sky would burn—and maybe even kill—us if we touch it for too long. You two might survive, my friend, but my Tasha—”

Sen put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Relax, Bali. Don’t panic. As long as it doesn’t touch us, we’ll be okay. You said you had a car? Can you drive well?”

The man blinked. “I—yes, but the roads are dangerous! A car will attract too much attention, no? The monsters will come for us!”

“Most of them are too busy fighting each other for essence to chase us.”

“But what about the few that are not? What if some follow?”

He and Em exchanged a glance, and Sen activated his Bone Armor, letting Bali see the exoskeleton erupt out from his arm. Sen channeled Bone Manipulation to make it look as vicious as possible—all jagged ends and fierce, clawed fingertips. He clenched his clawed fist as Em gave Bali a nod. He and his daughter stared at Sen, the latter terrified.

It hurt to be looked at like that by such a small kid, but Sen kept the gauntlet of Bone Armor on to prove a point. Em stepped up next to him.

“You aren’t trying to escape by yourself anymore, Bali,” she said, crossing her arms beside Sen. “You have us, remember? And while you handle the driving—”

“—We’ll handle any monsters that come,” Sen finished.

Bali’s trembling lips cracked open to reply, when a deafening scream burst through the air outside. Their eyes swiveled to the window just in time to see a building—one just a few streets away—crumble in a massive pillar of dust as the giant monsters crashed into it. The rest of the house shattered with a swipe of the infant’s arm.

They watched the fighting draw closer with every second that passed. Bali clenched his jaw and turned to them, giving Sen and Em a stiff nod.

“I will drive,” he said, hugging his daughter. “But if something goes wrong, please—”

He looked down at Tasha, then up at the two of them. His eyes were pleading. Sen nodded in silence, agreeing to the unspoken request. Bali gave him a final nod of thanks as Em opened the door.

The four of them rushed to the ground floor.