"So this is it," Leo muttered, gazing at the massive Void Gate before him. Light swirled within the arch, growing stronger and wider with each second. A quick Identify said it all; only two minutes remained until it would open.
"Please, let me go with you," Lily begged once more, forcing him to turn to her. "Please, I can't stay here when you are out there risking your life for us."
Leo almost flinched when he spotted the tears coming out of his sister's eyes. She looked crestfallen, more so than even after the Myrdrak trapped him inside the domain. He reached forward and brought her in for a hug.
"You know that's impossible," he whispered. "Nyx and I are the only ones here with high enough level to survive inside there. We need to do this, or this is the end of Earth and everyone that lives here."
Lily pushed away from him, narrowing her eyes. "Fuck Earth, fuck this!" she hissed. "Let this bloody planet die for all I care. We can figure something out. There must be a different way out of this."
"There isn't, Geron made sure of that." He offered her a sad smile. "I wish there was something else we could do, but we just can't… And quite frankly, I'm fine with that. I'm ready, Lily, I promise. I will be back."
Slowly, the anger on his sister's face gave way to anguish again. Yet, there was a hint of acceptance shining in her eyes. In the end, they both knew this was inevitable. Either someone would destroy the core, or they would all die. There was no third path.
"You better come back," Lily mumbled, refusing to meet his gaze. "If you don't, I will haunt you forever in the afterlife. You will know no peace, brother."
Leo chuckled but didn't say anything as Nyx nudged him with her tail and motioned toward the portal.
"It's activating," the feline said.
He nodded and watched as the swirling lights finally filled the entire arch. Slowly, the portal settled, its color turning to a weird mix of dark blue, red, and brown. He Identified it again.
Current Status:
This Gateway has finished charging and is ready to transport beings to the other side.
Nothing about it growing stronger… He mused. Must be because the System was the one to force its activation. Well, no time like the present.
With a sigh, he turned toward his sister for what might be the final time. He didn't say anything and just smiled at her. She returned it, but that obviously wasn't enough. A second later, she hugged him again.
"Good luck," she whispered into his chest. "Don't you dare to die there. We still have to find Mum and Dad."
As they separated again, Leo gave her shoulder a final squeeze. "Thirty-six hours and not a second longer."
Lily, knowing what he meant, nodded and turned to the massive shadow cat next to them. "Keep my stupid brother alive, okay?"
"I will do my best."
After that, silence consumed this part of the Supercluster. Only the soft thrum of the portal filled their ears as Leo and Nyx stopped a step away from it. They shared a look and moved forward.
"See you on the other side."
----------------------------------------
The Dimensional Gateway, similar to a Planetary one, first pulled him into the familiar void of black and red. Leo didn't panic this time and waited for the notification.
Dimensional transit in progress. Due to the gate's limited strength, teleportation might take a bit longer. Please remain calm and refrain from using any Essence techniques. Current destination: Nightmare Rift (C-).
There go my hopes that maybe the System was wrong. He grimaced. Suddenly, my rank up to D- doesn't seem that important… Stealth only it is for now.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
It took another few minutes—he counted—before the next notification appeared. He braced himself and prepared for impact.
Dimensional transit completed. Arrival in 10 seconds. Prepare yourself, Leo Hale. Your landing will be rough but safe. No hostile presence was detected at the point of arrival.
At least that's something, Leo noted just a moment before he was sent flying. Similar to his first trip using a Void Gate, he crashed into something hard, only this time he had enough experience to quickly stop any further movement.
That was pleasant. He snorted and stood up. However, just as he did that, something flew straight into him, knocking him back to the ground. To make the situation even worse, it landed right on him.
"Really? Nyx?" he said to the mass of shadows splattered all over his body. "Can you get off me?"
Like struck, the feline jumped, landing a few feet away from him. "Forgive me."
Leo waved her off and rose to his feet again. His night vision flickered to life as he took in the world around them, or rather, the lack of it.
He and Nyx were standing on a small rocky plateau, surrounded by complete darkness. Sometimes, in the distant space, he noticed flashes of red and violet, but aside from that, night ruled over this dimension.
And the way back is dead, he commented, inspecting the Void Gate they just came out of. The portal was inactive, and Identify didn't reveal when that would change.
Only one way to go from here. He clicked his tongue, turning toward a path of floating rocks. It led right into an opening in a massive chunk of an unknown stone-like material. He tried identifying it, but the System gave him nothing. One thing was for sure, though: this place could easily fit the entire Wolford or two inside it.
"Ready?" Nyx asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
Leo shrugged. "No other choice. Let me check on the Core Shard, and we're going."
When the feline gave a nod, he reached into his soul and retrieved the mentioned item. To their surprise, the shard remained dark.
Still too far. Oh well. He returned the item to safety and pulled onto the energy of Phantom's Whisper. At the same time, Nyx turned into her smoke form, enveloping his body below the Cloak of True Night.
Stealth Shroud.
The final protective layer surrounded his entire form, hiding it from all senses. This would be the ultimate test of stealth. There was no room for mistakes today.
Leo took a deep breath—or at least tried to; there wasn't really any normal air here.
Let's go.
As ready as he could be, he jumped from one floating rock to another. Those things didn't even move when he touched them, so he quickly made his way toward the opening. There, he stopped when the System gifted him another notification.
Warning! You are approaching the first of three layers of this Nightmare Rift. Reach the Realm Tear to advance to the next layer. The exit from this Rift is waiting at the end of the path. Good Luck.
If that wasn't enough, one more message appeared before him a second later. This one froze the blood in his veins once he finished reading.
Beware! Currently, the Realm Tear of the first layer is inactive. Kill at least 10 denizens of this Rift to begin its activation. The more you kill, the faster the process will become.
Oh, we're fucked. Leo summed it up with a chuckle. Our stealth is good, but not that good. Eh… at least it will be fun.
'Yes… fun…' Nyx muttered in their link. 'Let's scout the area first. We can worry about the rest later.'
True that. With no more delays, Leo stepped into the wide tunnel.
After only a bit of walking, he reached an exit, one that led into a massive chamber large enough to fit an entire football stadium. Unlike the tunnel, this part of the rift was illuminated by a dim blue glow, all coming from the water strewn around the place.
Wow...
Some of the dark liquid flowed down the walls and pillars like waterfalls, while in other places, it just created small ponds. Then, there was the water that floated in the air unsupported, forming entire streams or spirals across the whole chamber while disregarding gravity.
Leo could see how all those sources linked to each other and how the liquid flowed and spread caustics all across the chamber. To put it simply it was beautiful—or it would be if not for the monsters tainting the view with their presence.
What even are those things?
They were blue, just like the water, only darker. If he had to compare them to something, an octopus would be the obvious choice. Similar to the sea creature, the Nightmares possessed about six to eight tentacles attached to one massive head. It was filled with small horns and eyes, dozens of them.
Upon first glance, those Voidlings seemed harmless and weak. However, once Leo observed them long enough, he spotted something on their tentacles—blades. There were hundreds of them, all scattered over those long limbs, looking ready to pop out and transform the other fleshy bits into something much more dangerous.
Yeah… Show me what you got, System.
Trench Bladeform (Nightmare Voidling) | Rank: D | LVL: N/A | Type: Nightmare, Grace, Water, Blade