Hollow Twilight - A LitRPG Novel

Chapter 23

The landscape never really changed no matter where Reid moved within Hollow Twilight. It was an unending cityscape, somehow always a shattered downtown core of crumbling skyscrapers and mid rise buildings. There were some single homes, from time to time, but it was nothing like his city in his dimension. There were practically no parks, no breaks in the monotony. The style of the buildings might shift slightly but they were mostly the big blocks of glass or concrete he was used to. He wouldn't suddenly encounter a suburb of small homes.

Kari and Tim seemed to be unphased. He could see the trepidation in Maple's face, and Issac's usual dorky smile was replaced with an increasingly nervous one, shaky on the edges. Their prior bright chatter was dwindling down to a remark here or there and a little chuckle.

"How do you know where to go?" Maple finally asked, tapping Kari on the shoulder.

"We divide it into grids." Kari turned around to show the screen on her phone. Her maps app was filled with little pins everywhere of various colours. The brightest ones were in a pattern that started to emerge as Reid stared, a perfect grid formation. "We go out and explore a bit and mark the edges. Used to just mark landmarks but it still got too confusing since it's all like this." She waved at a pair of buildings, one of which had toppled over and smashed through the side of the other, leaving the two permanently fused together.

"That's a good system," Tim cut in, pulling out his own phone. "Let me copy it, I'm going to start using it."

"Like hell you will," Kari said, recoiling from Tim's gaze. "I don't know you, you're probably going to die in a sec anyways." Maple snickered. Tim deflated and slunk away. Mr. Crawford only shook his head in disappointment.

"Nobody will die." Reid folded his arms across his chest to try and feel more imposing as he said it. "Except for Gurn." He saw Kari biting her bottom lip, eyes wide as she held back some laughter or joke. He decided to ignore it, switching focus to his friends who all shared a similar excitement in their own eyes, particularly Tim who appeared like he was about to burst out of his skin in joy.

Reid blinked. He had paid attention to the shadow on the corner of his vision for a second and now it was all he could think about. He had gotten pretty good at ignoring it, leaving it as just something that blended into the background but whenever he noticed it again, his brain fixated on it. It was like thinking about breathing, once he started he couldn't stop and he had to control every breath.

It never left either. Every time he turned his head to react to it, it shifted with him. He couldn't surprise it. He could at least take solace in watching some of the others go through similar reactions every so often, suddenly twisting their head to the side before shaking it and coming back.

Kari stopped up front, throwing her arm out to the side to halt everyone else. Mr. Crawford ducked down slightly and Reid felt himself gripped by the new tension. Everybody was waved to the side and obliged, getting themselves off the road and huddling up at the broken entrance to a skyscraper.

Kari held up a finger and glanced around. It was silent. Reid could see some Hollows shuffling in the distance but they remained quiet.

"This is her territory," Kari whispered. Reid strained his head in closer so he could hear properly. "She's all about ice. Stay far away, she'll send some at you. Get up close, she's wrapped in it for armour. So I want to remind some people that you can't just stab her in the heart and call it a day." She shot Reid a dark look and let it creep over to Tim as well.

"I will remain as backline support," Mr. Crawford said, rolling up the sleeves on his shirt. "My Twilight takes time to have an impact and it can affect any of you so I don't need to be in the fight. Issac will be similar."