They left the makeshift camp in silence.
The city rose before them like the exposed bones of some dead god... towers hollowed out and slumped, streets devoured by roots of cable and ash. Nothing greeted them but static on the wind... and the soft sound of something dripping, far beneath the stones.
No gates.
No banners.
Just a wound in the world.
Two masked figures stood at the edge of the city. Firstborn, both of them—though their masks bore deep cracks and ridges like dried scars. They stared for a moment too long, then turned and walked. No words.
They followed.
The path twisted through ruins and down into the iron belly of the city. The deeper they went, the more the architecture changed. Stone gave way to steel... to rusted veins of tech that pulsed dimly with cold light. Walls whispered. Lights flickered. Machines breathed.
Eventually, they reached the door.
It was sealed... until it wasn't.
It hissed open with a burst of cold air. And standing in the glow was a man who shouldn't have looked as cheerful as he did.
"Ah... you must be Riven," the man said, grinning. "You can call me... Dr. Quince."
He looked like someone had given a fruit bowl access to an engineering lab. Wild white hair. A half-torn lab coat covered in stickers. Goggles strapped to his forehead. Syringes in one pocket. A wrench in the other.
Riven blinked.
Nira leaned slightly toward him and whispered, "Is this guy serious?"
The Firstborn who brought them chuckled under their breath. "He's always like this."
Dr. Quince didn't seem to mind. He waved them in like they were old friends showing up for tea.
"This way. Watch your step. Some of the machines are still... twitchy."
They stepped through scanners that swept over them with long, pulsing lights. One of them paused when it reached Riven. It lit up a deep orange. The doctor hummed.
"Still unstable... but not breaking apart. That's good."
The corridor opened into something that might've once been a laboratory... or maybe a temple... or a bunker built to contain something that wasn't meant to be.
The ceiling was high. The air smelled of ozone. There were cables suspended like veins... and glowing slabs of data floating above consoles. Heart-like cores throbbed behind thick glass.
Riven stopped.
Quince turned, eyes serious now.
"I owe you an apology. For what happened in the Hollowzone. You were never supposed to be caught in that chaos. But... you did try to run."
"I didn't ask to be part of it," Riven muttered. "I just wanted... a normal life."
Quince looked at him with something like pity. Or guilt. Maybe both.
"And yet here you are," the doctor said. "Still breathing. That counts for something."
Another machine beeped somewhere behind them.
"What is this place," Riven asked. "What are you doing here."
Quince tapped a slate. A massive diagram lit up on the wall... three layers of the world shown as glowing lines stacked like a tower.
"This," he said, "is what most people understand."
He pointed at each tier as he spoke.
"The Surface. Where cities rot and people pretend the sky is still theirs. Beneath that... the Hollow Deep—where unseen abomination dwells. And then..."
He paused.
"The Shroud."
Riven's brows drew together.
"I thought the Shroud wasn't real."
Quince smiled.
"It isn't. Not here. The Shroud isn't on the planet. It's... somewhere else. An idea that bleeds into reality when we aren't looking. It only exists through one thing..."
He tapped again.
A red tear appeared in the diagram. A jagged rip in the middle layer, throbbing like a wound.
"A Rift," Quince said quietly. "A rupture in space. When a Rift appears, it distorts everything around it. Space. Matter. Memory. Time."
He looked up at them.
"And worst of all... it affects the Seal."
Nira stepped forward now.
"The Seal... where he's buried."
Quince didn't nod. He didn't have to.
"There's a reason we don't talk about it," he said. "The Nightmare... is locked away. Beneath everything. But the Rifts form near the place it was sealed... and every time a Rift appears, the distortion chips away at the lock."
"So what," Riven muttered. "If the seal breaks... it gets out?"
Quince was silent for a moment.
"If it gets out... it won't be hunting monsters. It'll be hunting cities."
Riven's jaw clenched.
"But we're trying to stop that," Quince added quickly. "That's why we're down here. That's what the tech's for. To track, predict, isolate... maybe even undo the Rifts."
Nira didn't look convinced.
She folded her arms.
"You know we are only veiled and firstborn we stand on chance if the seal actually breaks ."
Quince smiled again. Not wide this time. Tired. Grim.
"That's why I bought a bound along"
Riven asked "a bound what's that"
"A bound is one rank above a veiled" said the doctor
He continued saying
"Welcome to Namarra: the City of Silence riven, please try not to make too much noise there's a reason why it called the city of silence after all"