Envy! The voice thunders inside EV’s head. EV’s eyes shoot open and he sits up abruptly. His hands brush across the grass under him and he looks around frantically. He turns to see the others standing up nearby but only hears his heart beat thumping in his ears.

Move Envy!

EV starts again and glances up, just noticing that the bridge isn’t overhead. His breath catches and he looks back out, away from the bridge. A shadow, like a wave, is sweeping across the landscape. When EV notices, it’s almost like the wave is moving slowly or not at all. As realization sets in, it hastily rushes forward and he panics. He flails and skitters backwards on his hands, butt and feet. The wave is moving fast, impossibly fast. His eyes are locked on the approaching wave as two hands grab under each arm. He resists them at first but they pull him back into the shadow of the bridge just before the wave collides with the bridge’s shadow, passing over them. EV’s breath is still coming in quick gasps but he realizes that the threat has passed.

The concrete, asphalt, gravel and every other surface material around them explode upward—fragmented. The pieces of landscape suspend in the air, something like holograms. The group looks around to one another and then Pride turns to see Lust standing on the opposite side of the bridge. He’s brushing the muzzle of his hand gun against his forehead. As Pride meets his gaze, Lust slowly and deliberately drags his foot back to a place that would have been under the bridge.

“Dammit Lust,” Pride exclaims. “Everyone on me.” The party quickly gathers into a loose huddle and Lust casually joins. They all brandish weapons, seeming to be ready for an attack. “Everyone just stick together. Make sure you don’t get separated. Let’s just figure out what we’re up against and then find some place to dig in. We don’t want to be caught out in the open and we don’t want a drawn out fight where reinforcements can join in. Don’t get separated,” he yells, as the landscape starts to slam back into place. It locks in like a jigsaw puzzle forming the landscape of a new world around them. The parts fly into place with a force that seems like it should be jarring or deafening, but land in silence.

The puzzle solidifies and this world gains motion. The party is standing in the center of a city intersection with commercial buildings all around them. A blur of glass and fire whirls through the center of the party. All of their eyes follow it and see it crash on the ground in front of a group of people spanning the width of the street. The group is wearing uniforms and helmets. It is a police force and they have a wall of clear shields in front of them as they move forward in a line.

Lust fires a shot in the opposite direction and the party spins to face it, a Molotov exploding in the hand of someone mid-throw. Fire rains down over one end of an opposing group and the whole formation shifts and breaks apart as the group turns to aid its members. Another group member steps forward to throw and is answered by a shot to the abdomen. The thrower slumps forward and the glass bottle rolls out across the ground. Lust shoots it as well and the flames splash outward and spread to form a barrier.

“This way,” Pride yells, turning to run a street perpendicular to the two converging groups. There are buildings on fire all around them and there are other people loosely spread out along storefronts. Some are throwing bricks and other solid objects throw large display windows. A few of the rioters notice the party. One starts to throw a brick towards them but the person violently crashes to the ground. The force of Lust’s shot to their chest is so great, it looks as if a giant, invisible hand had smacked the person down to the pavement. A woman runs up to the group with something held in the air. Greed brings the blunt end of his spear around and the attacker is batted over onto the hood of a nearby car. Pride cuts down another figure as they rush from the opposite side. They pass an open alleyway and someone collides with EV, catching him off guard. The two of them turn and separate as EV’s dagger retracts from the attackers abdomen. EV has it clutched with both hands in front of his own abdomen and backs away, stunned.

“Let’s go,” Gluttony says, grabbing EV by the collar.

The party continues to run down the sidewalk and knocks away or cuts down any attackers that approach. Other gunshots ring out from somewhere nearby. Some shots whiz and zip past, causing the group to get pelted by brick fragments from the wall running alongside them. A car vrooms past them from an intersecting street, swerves and bursts through a storefront. Cheers erupt and people pour into the new opening before leaving again with various electronics.

The party turns down the street the car came from and away from the site of the collision. The area is becoming less commercial here and seems to have fewer people moving about. They find an unlit city park and jog into one of its sparsely wooded areas. Pride stops the group but continues to pace around the area, looking in various directions.

“What do we do now,” Sloth asks.

“Just hold here for now,” Pride says. “The Rift should collapse before too long.” Lust fires a pair of shots and a couple of passersby collapse while others run away. “Lust,” Pride calls out. “Let’s not stir up things more than they already are. Only shoot at any rifters that try to head our way.

“EV,” Greed says, gently smacking his face before pushing his cheeks together and forcing EV’s eyes to meet his own. “Forget about that,” he says, gesturing to the blood that EV had been looking at on his hands. “It’s nothing. You hear me? It’s not real. We need you to focus in here, alright? Say you understand me.”

“Yeah,” EV says, absently. “I understand.”

“Good,” Greed replies, then ruffles EV’s hair.

They remain on guard in the park and try to only focus on the moment. “We’ll talk about it after,” Pride says, simply. Lust periodically shoots others that venture too close to the park but no one else gets close enough to fight hand to hand. The landscape around them finally starts to crack and flake away. It falls away as if the environment is made of the stuff on a lotto ticket. Someone is scratching it away and revealing their world hidden underneath. “Pay attention,” Pride yells. “Make sure you’re not standing inside anything solid when our world returns.” The rift completely deteriorates and the party is once again standing in the world they know. The Jaaku are all around and a treetop canopy stretches overhead as they stand somewhere in the wilderness. Their running through the rift had caused them to travel to another location in their own world so it’s unlikely that they can find their way back to the bridge for the night.

EV looks down at his clothes. He pats his front to verify that all the blood is gone. He looks at his hands, the clean blade of his knife, and then touches his face with both hands. It really is all gone, like it had never even happened. The soreness in his shoulder and abdomen is still there though and so is the tenderness around his cheek bone. Everything from a rift will leave when the rift collapses but personal injuries and death don’t leave with them. He replays the memory of the person colliding with him. If his feet hadn’t lifted off the ground for a moment, he probably would have collapsed backwards with that person landing on top of him.

Pride walks over to stand in front of EV, his presence like a shadow looming over him. “What were you doing out there? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

EV is genuinely at a loss. “I—I don’t know,” he says, shaking his head. “I woke up and saw the dark phase coming at me. I was under the bridge when I went to sleep.”

“Do you sleep walk?”

EV continues shaking his head while looking down. “Not that I know of. That’s never happened to me before.”

Pride exhales, exasperated. “From now on, sleep closer to the rest of us so we can keep an eye on you.” Pride then turns around to Lust, jaw tightening. “And you,” he says, gesturing to Lust. “You are not indispensable. If you get one of the others needlessly killed, I. will. end. you.” He clips each word and glares at Lust’s blank stare a moment, not expecting a response. He then takes one last look at their surroundings. “At least we’re not in the mud or water. Let’s just finish resting up here. We’ll find our way back in the morning.”