Joran had grabbed Tunde the moment they both realized what was happening, hurling themselves through the rift’s entrance as blistering columns of undeath Ethra shattered the very grounds of the fortress around them, large skeletal forms taking shapes, each of them bristling with the strength of a peak disciple. The rift Ethra stung his skin even as his body greedily drank it, Tunde swearing he had seen Jashed fall through the entrance as well, screaming something incoherent.
Reality twisted and turned as it usually did within a rift, except this time Tunde found himself shutting off Ethra sight, his eyes stinging with the raw power of the rift. He landed on a hard ground, his breath knocked out of him even as he began scrambling to his feet, aware that enemies of clan Acacia or even worse, revenants could be around them. He saw nothing except Elder Joran next to him, the adept on his feet, turning around even with his blindfold.
They were in a mountainous area, close to the peak as Tunde watched clouds drift by, eyes staring at the distance that seemed to stretch on forever.
[you’re in a tier 4 rift space!]
[Ethra quality exceeds body tempering ability to cultivate, caution is required when cycling!]
“Even the air sings with raw power,” Joran said.
Tunde stared down the mountain, eyes straining to see the ground as he found it hard to breathe. The realization had him struggling to take deep breaths, elder Joran turning to him.
“The higher the rift, the harder it is for cultivators below its strength to breathe talk less of cultivating, it would be good for you, now catch up,” Joran said as he simply dropped off the edge of where they stood.
With wide eyes, Tunde watched his teacher grab onto the mountain’s side with his bare hands, stopping himself before releasing his grip and pushing lower, continuing the same steps. He was strong, but he doubted he was that strong, and yet, Joran was completely comfortable with leaving him to his fate. Seeing no other choice, he unstrapped Shadowfang, the assurance of its cool touch on his palms settling his mind as he dropped as well.
Tunde smashed Shadowfang’s edge into the mountain after a while, coming to a forceful stop as he grunted, groaning before withdrawing the blade again and falling lower, this time more prepared to stop himself. His heart pounded heavily as every cycling turn came with a strain on his body like the power was too much for him to handle, he slowly began to audibly breathe the lower he went, landing on the ground with his limbs on fire. Elder Joran stood close by, staring at the littered ground around them filled with all manner of bones, wordlessly putting a finger to his lips.
Tunde complied, strapping Shadowfang to his back even as he crouched, he thought it redundant that they needed silence now even as they had made a lot of noise coming down the mountain, and yet, he didn’t see what the elder saw in whatever way he did. The elder pointed at the distance, Tunde seeing nothing but bones and rocks, the gradually darkening skies overhead rumbling, and the scent of rain in the air.
He wondered how the weather changed in rifts, once again berating himself for not studying more, but then again, he had been busy simply trying to survive, and right now, he needed to more than ever.
[unknown body tempering art is attempting to tap into tier 4 rift Ethra energy in your surroundings] his Ark wrote.
Tunde felt a bone-deep pain as he staggered, unsure of what was happening, Joran turning to him with a wince, the elder picked up a broken bone that was twice the length and girth of his arm as a shape seemed to uncurl itself from around the rocks themselves. Tunde stared on amidst the pain, realizing those forms were the rocks themselves. No definitive facial structures, large bulky bodies with sharp rocks protruding from them, sharpened rock claws and tongues and slithered out of whatever orifices they did seem to taste the air before giving a loud screech.
Tunde felt double the pain, staggering to his knees as the creatures turned in their direction, shrieking before stampeding towards them. Biting his cheek, he coated his arms with resonance as his body drank more from the Ethra in the air, the creatures crossing the space between them in the blink of an eye. Elder Joran moved first, clapping his hands together as a loud shriek louder than those of the creatures tore through the air, the creatures scrambling in confusion, sharp rocks on their bodies firing in their general directions.
Tunde managed to scramble out of the way, resonance exploding those that got close to him into a fine powder, Joran grabbed the first of the creatures, and a punch to its face with his original version of Resonance had it careening out of the way its skin cracked. Effortlessly dodging a swipe of a spiked tail Tunde hadn’t even noticed, the elder smashed another into the ground, propelling himself into the air before releasing a punch that tore into them with his vibration affinity.
Their hardened bodies cracked, and Tunde realized with dread that even the elder’s attacks did nothing more than harm them. He really stared at the creatures now, watching as Ark pinged.
[mid-tier 3 rock lizard]
Blinking to be sure of what he read, he hastily moved his body, pushing himself across the landscape as he released his resonance on one of the creatures, its shriek tearing through the air. Shadowfang was unstrapped and in his hands in the blink of an eye as the creature’s tail whipped towards him intending to cave in his skull, the blade deflecting the attack before cutting deeply into the rock-flesh.
Imbuing his body as a rush of Ethra flowed through him, he found himself cutting the tail in two, a swipe of its claw leaving a gash on his chest and throwing him in the air. Pain nearly blinded him, his void ring open and a grade-two healing elixir already in his mouth, healing just as rapidly. Tunde landed, watching the elder fight a retreating battle as he joined again, this time having the common sense to imbue his axe with his Ethra, its midnight-starry color glowing with the blade.
Cutting into the creatures with every swipe, he cursed to himself in between dodges, he and the elder, back-to-back as they became a zone of pure death. The elder disabled or destabilized them and Tunde in turn threw the strength of his body and skills into cutting them down, Ethra strike and Ethra sphere hammering down on the creatures. His Ethra stores replenished just as fast, his body drinking in the raw gift of rift Ethra in the air, something that Tunde realized he always took for granted, and yet, each cycle of the Ethra was accompanied by raw pain.
His body, his bones, even his flesh struggled to absorb the power, a blessing as it healed him rapidly even much as it hampered him with the pain clouding his thoughts. Soon enough he found himself swinging Shadowfang with raw strength, power coursing through his veins, unleashing his wrath on the creatures, each swipe of the blade cleanly cutting them in two.
Soon enough the tides reduced slowly, and Tunde a one-man demon of rage, cutting, black blood splashing on him and burning away, stinging his eyes and adding to his rage. He was left with nothing to cut again when he paused, breath ragged and his body tired, dropping Shadowfang with an audible clang. Turning to where elder Joran stared at him, perhaps in shock, his lips a tight line, he made to talk when his body began to convulse, falling to the ground and shaking, eyes rolling up his skull and passing out.
**************************
The first thing Joran did was to relieve the tier 3 creatures of their cores, a tier 3 core usually went for two hundred thousand lumens, a large sum of funds and they were literally swimming in it. He did his best to ignore his student lying on the ground, body spasming gently, his void ring swallowing the earth affinity cores, it was a pity the bodies of the creatures were already vanishing, breaking down into fine sand around them, they would have gone for a veritable sum.
His mind still trying to understand what he had just watched, he made sure he finished collecting them, his void ring nearly filled to the brim. Walking towards Tunde, his gaze fell on the axe, its black metal blade glinting as thunder roiled above them and the elder felt the ground below them begin to shake, a stronger predator already drawn by the scent of death and destruction, most of which had been done by his student.
Picking up the body of his student and throwing him over one shoulder, Joran had half the mind to shatter the weapon, its metal emanating an aura of pure bloodlust, the same aura that Tunde exuded as well. Saying nothing, he threw it into his void ring, loathe to do so as he took consolation that wherever artificer Borus currently was, he was answering to the clan itself. Whatever conspiracy was going on around them, it was clear Tunde was the focal point of all the madness, something he was beginning to feel uncomfortable with.
He also took solace in the fact that he hadn’t used the relic in a long while, Joran silently tamping down the feeling within him that had been growing of late, flashes too fast for even his adept ranked mind to understand. It was like a compulsion, something about that relic drew the worst of his tendencies and he had longed admitted to himself that he would either find a way to relieve Tunde of it or straight off relieve him of his limb.
To save him, of course.
It was not like he wanted a powerful weapon that could have saved them time and cut through the creatures as well. His eyes strayed to the faint wisps of earth Ethra that Tunde’s body seemed to soak up from the creatures as they turned to sand.
“And then there’s that,” he thought to himself.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Crouching, he shot up the mountain, one hand grabbing into the sides of the mountain itself, fingers breaking its surface like wet sand to find purchase before pushing himself higher, ignoring the worm-like creature that tore out of the now wet ground as the rain fell, making his way to the top of the mountain itself.
**********************************
Zehra Acacia stood beside the three adepts of her clan as they faced down the flying horrors, lord Akero calmly cutting any of the creatures that came close to them. She winced as another disciple was snatched into the air in the blink of an eye, her blade cutting through the air as the flying razor beaks as they were called froze before falling into perfectly diced pieces, unfortunately, the disciple fell in pieces as well.
“we’re losing too many disciples,” she said softly, her blade work a blur around her.
“They sell their lives for you to reach your goal” lord Akero replied calmly, standing beside her.
They had found themselves amidst a nest of razor beaks, the tier 4 creatures with sharp beaks that could cut a disciple in two and seriously harm an adept flocking towards them. The Lord had cleared their immediate surroundings, the adepts of the clan doing their best to hold the creatures at bay while Akero watched over her and allowed her to find the rift core itself and the lord guardian that would no doubt be watching over it.
Tier 4 rifts and above were as large as two islands combined, with different landscapes and weathers, a mini realm on its own conjured from hegemons knew were. As far as Zehra knew, rifts were simply oddities of nature, mini realms somehow created by Adamath to nourish its children, or at least, that was how the Heralds described them. A test from the planet to weed out the weak from the strong, for Zehra though, it presented an opportunity, one she couldn’t afford to miss out on.
Getting to her feet from where she had knelt, she pointed north.
“That way, I can feel it,” she said.
It was odd that they would trust her senses when they had an actual lord with them, but with the relic in her possession, currently sitting comfortably around her neck, Zehra had the fastest route to the rift core itself. The ground rumbled as the adepts called out orders, what was left of the birds squawking in fright before taking to the skies.
“This doesn’t look good” Akero muttered as he grabbed her tightly, taking to the air.
There was only so much the lord could do without drawing in the tainted rift Ethra, his flight cut down to a minimum as he landed far away, just in time to see thick roots tear out of the ground, snatching up both disciples and birds at the same time. Adepts Keto, Vaya, and Vasriq helping what disciples they could, Zehra took a deep breath, raising her hand as Akero stopped her with a disapproving look.
“No, you cannot waste valuable Ethra and technique on saving disciples,” he said.
“they’ll die” she simply replied.
“Then it is the will of Adamath, you have a greater goal and I will not always be there to protect you princess” he replied.
She tsked, Keto at her side.
“We should leave, this place is not safe,” he said.
“Where is?” she replied.
“We make way to the core,” Akero said as one swing of his blade saw the vines diced to pieces, what was left of the disciples, less than twenty meeting up with them, exhaustion in their eyes.
“We don’t have much time, we need to make it to the core, and I simply cannot guarantee your safety entirely,” Akero said.
“you all chose to come along for this journey of your own volition, seeking to advance your cultivation, to grow stronger and break through your barriers” he continued.
“You have two options, you either stay here and hope not to face the revenants, or you come with us, and hopefully survive” he finished.
Zehra said nothing, watching as hopeful eyes turned to stare at her, most had come with the promise of gaining strength or even advancement peddled by the clan itself. The clan hadn’t lied, already she could see signs of disciples ready to break through early and mid-tiers to peak disciple rank, and those at the peak simply looking for resources of a tier 4 rift to consume and push themselves to adept rank.
However, more than half their numbers were dead already, slain either by the hands of clan Verdan or the rift’s monsters, and that wasn’t even the end of their woes. The revenants were no doubt somewhere within the rift, they would clash, along with the measly rankers of clan Verdan that had managed to escape through into the rift itself. She sincerely hoped to meet with Verdan, it was the better choice than the revenants, in fact, she hoped that the both of them had different goals in mind, however, she doubted it.
The revenants wouldn’t appear simply to harvest resources, no, they were after the rift core as well, and the sooner they got to it, the better. Making their way deeper into the landscape of knee-high shrubs, Zehra watched as the landscape went from grassland to swampy, the heat emanating around them. A flick of her wrists saw the temperature cool down a bit, the disciple sighing with gratitude.
“it’s at times like this I thank the hegemons for bestowing upon you the affinity of ice,” adept Keto said.
Adept Vasriq led the charge, comfortable in his domain as his water and earth affinity was slowly becoming a mud concept. It was a rather odd choice, but seeing as he led them through the swamp silently without drawing the attention of the swamp-ridden creatures, Zehra couldn’t be happier.
“The stronger it gets, the better our chances” Akero muttered.
All auras had been extinguished, Ethra cycling reduced to a crawl, and yet, the sense of something watching them couldn’t leave Zehra’s mind. She glanced around, looking for any signs of an enemy as she found none, keeping her guard up however the first sign of trouble was when a disciple froze, the rest of their forces turning to him even as they shook him a bit.
The closest to him got bit in half by a mid-tier swamp serpent, blood and mud spraying everywhere. Vasriq strained as he tapped into his concept, something he was far from perfecting, pushing the serpents backward. More heads revealed themselves, spitting acid that melted through the skin of a disciple like nothing, Zehra swung her blade, a thin layer of razor-sharp ice cutting into the bodies of the creatures who hissed in pain, spitting acid towards her.
Lord Zehra was there, muddy swamp water becoming sharp blades that diced the creatures in two.
“Move!” Vasriq roared.
Elyria pushed out of the swampy water and unto the side of the trees, vaulting over its branches, the rest following behind them. Most of the disciples had exhausted their Ethras, body straining to replenish them back even as it left them weak and helpless. Akero faced the largest of the bunch, its spit melting entire trees, the creature with pale green serpentine eyes that attacked the lord.
Akero cut through its attacks, leaving deep gashes all over her body while directing it to her. The sea serpent’s orders had been precise, putting her in as much danger as possible while ensuring she honed her skills with the blade as well. The best way to do that was in battle, fighting against raw abominations that sought to tear her limb by limb, the lord was simply there to protect her from outside influences, meaning rival factions and not the creatures of the rift themselves.
She froze a part of the swap, going down to meet the serpent along with her adepts, time was going and they had placed to be. Something exploded from the depths of the swamp, one of the serpents careening out of the way, the remaining disciples converged on Zehra, eyes wide as they stared at the creature.
“is that?” Zehra said, leaving the sentence unfinished.
“indeed” Akero replied.
Green gauntlets flashed as an explosion came from the side of the rift serpent who screamed, a large cudgel flashing with jade Ethra as it bashed the head of the serpent, the haggard-looking peak disciple dodging a spit from the still reeling serpent before smashing another blow to the creature before somehow blasting himself clear of the swamp. Zehra couldn’t tell if she was impressed by the ranker or surprised by the shared stupidity of whatever he had hoped to accomplish by sneaking up on them.
She glanced at Akero, the lord calmly staring at the mud-covered ranker of house Verdan, Thalas Verdan himself, one time second highest disciple now proving his worth as he danced around the tier 3 creature with raw speed, somehow evading its attacks just by a hair’s breadth. A short blade was suddenly in his hand, jade Ethra coating it as Thalas went on the offensive.
The one thing cultivators had on rift creatures was their ability to strategize and make use of their surroundings, a tier 3 creature should easily take out a disciple, irrespective of what tier they were in. Thalas though, until recently had been one of the top targets of the Acacia clan, a power that they had monitored for future purposes, and now, had so delivered himself to them on a platter of gold.
The blade was apparently made of Ethereon as the serpent's head fell from its body, Thalas grabbing its core with nonchalance, ignoring them for a few seconds.
“Your next words decide if I take your head from your neck,” Akero said.
Thalas turned to them, deep green eyes staring at them even as he breathed raggedly, keeping the core within his void ring while also being aware of the disciples that circled him.
“I’ve been following you,” he said.
Vasriq snorted, the swamp flowing as he began to gather a technique, Akero raising one hand, halting the adept.
“I noticed, foolish if you ask me, or did you think you could somehow get past three adepts and a lord to take her out?” Akero asked again.
Thalas wiped mud off his face.
“No, but I had hoped we could come to an agreement, a tier 4 rift is no joke,” he said.
“Said the disciple in his first tier 4 rift” adept ketos said.
Thalas turned his gaze to the adept, inclining his head.
“Let me spell it out for you,” Vaya said, stepping forward.
“You are right in the middle of enemy territory, you have no one to protect you, much less your father, and at the mercy of clan Acacia” she stated.
“Very true, adept, but may I remind you just who else is in this rift space with you?” Thalas asked.
“If you’re referring to your lord, then I’m sorry to disappoint you young one, Alaric Verdan isn’t in this rift with us,” Akero said with a sigh.
Thalas shook his head.
“No, I refer to the other one, you may know him as the blind tiger,” he said.
“Joran” Vasriq said with no small amount of venom.
“Indeed, along with his disciple” Thalas added.
“The same one that defeated you?” Zehra asked.
Thalas seemed to freeze for a moment, contemplating a reply before nodding tersely.
“Indeed, the same one” he replied.
“Of what consequence is a mere adept and a disciple to us?” Akero asked.
“You underestimate him, you’ll regret that,” he said.
The lord frowned.
“Or that could simply be your jealousy talking,” Zehra said.
Thalas smiled and seemed to exhale, his aura spreading out as the disciples all fell to their knees.
“Adept stage, impressive,” Zehra said.
Somehow, he had advanced the moment he had entered the rift, had he come across some sort of treasure?.
“a weak one,” Vaya said.
“I know a way towards the rift core, a safer route than this shortcut you attempt to take,” Thalas said.
“And you know this how?” Akero asked.
“let’s call it the rift’s blessings” Thalas replied.
“You honestly don’t expect us to believe that at face value, right?” Vasriq asked.
“Joran, I deliver him to you, and you let me have his disciple, with that out of the way, the rift core is yours,” Thalas said.
“Assuming the revenants don’t get to it first” Akero pointed out.
“They came without a lord, one true adept, and summoned mid-tier adepts, nothing you all couldn’t handle,” Thalas said with a shrug.
“Release my disciples,” Zehra said.
His aura receded, the disciples gasping.
“You aren’t honestly considering his offer, are you?” Akero asked her.
Zehra shrugged.
“Better we go towards our goal without looking behind us, I don’t trust him, we simply have a mutual goal, don’t we?, Thalas Verdan?” she called out.
Thalas gave a short bow in response.
“And his father?” ketos asked.
“you’ll find my father amenable to this deal, besides, whatever happens within the rift stays within the rift, don’t you think?” Thalas asked.
“Something doesn’t feel right about this,” Akero said calmly.
“I agree, but until we find out what it is, we play it by the ear” she whispered back to him.
“Lead the way, Thalas Verdan” she ordered.