"Luna!"  he exclaimed telepathically in response. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine!" the catling responded, laughing due to the relief she felt at hearing Kane's voice again. "What about you?! What happened?!"

Knowing there was little time, Kane quickly started rattling off a summarized version of what happened to him. Unsurprisingly, Luna got particularly excited by his advancement to the limits of the Core Awakening stage, despite the hint of jealousy behind her excitement.

Then, Luna told him about her part.

Apparently, Luna had been picked up by an ally of Ella who called himself Viljar. She had been unable to actually talk with this man due to the language barrier, but after hearing Kane's security message, decided to step in the car with him.

Now, they were flying not far away from Kane and Ella, heading towards the same destination.

Before the reunited master and Valkyrie could spend much time catching up and revelling in their relief, Kane's car suddenly started decelerating, and heading for a nearby cliff. "Don't tell me we have to jump off something again…" Kane immediately frowned.

"I don't know how it happened on your home world, but it wouldn't surprise me if you had to jump off something there," Ella immediately answered, despite her focused gaze. "Unlike stable rifts, these unstable ones can appear anywhere in a planet's atmosphere, so the chance they appear near the ground is actually very unlikely."

In his mind, Mána continued the explanation while Ella hurriedly put the car on the ground. "It's actually very lucky that this rift will appear near a cliff, otherwise you'd have had to jump out of this car instead."

"Okay, so why this rift?" Kane frowned telepathically. "And what is up with these unstable rifts anyway? Just a few days ago I was only aware of the single kind of rift, and now I'm about to head through my second unstable one."

Although he still wasn't sure whether or not he could trust these people, he wasn't about to stay in this place any longer. Not with an eighth stage mystic on his ass. Thus, there was no doubt in his mind that he was going through this rift and taking his chances with the next world.

"That's not surprising," Mána quickly continued explaining. They had a little time while they landed, and telepathic communication was faster than talking normally. "Tens of unstable rifts appear throughout a planet's atmosphere everyday, but they appear and disappear almost instantly and with very few visual effects, so they usually go unnoticed. The odds they spawn at a time and place where they actually affect someone are astronomical."

Kane nodded thoughtfully, 'Considering they can spawn through a planet's atmosphere, that's not too surprising.' Suddenly, he thought of all the times in Earth's history where a plane simply disappeared into thin air, or people claimed to see all sorts of blinking lights and objects in the sky. 'Guess that explains some things…'

Then, he thought of something else, "Wait, is that how my supposed ancestor ended up on Earth? Lycaon, or whatever it was?"

"Exactly," Mána nodded mentally. "He accidentally fell through one of these unstable rifts. In fact, that's likely how knowledge of Mystics and the first few techniques made it to Earth in the first place. It's the way most planets have their first experience with Mystics."

Suddenly, Kane scoffed, "Wait, so you expect me to believe that all kinds of powerful mystics ended up on my home world over the countless years of its existence, but none of them felt the need to conquer the place?"

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Mána giggled with amusement, "Of course not! First of all, any kind of rift can only appear on worlds with at least one sentient species already on it, so it's only been happening since humans became… well, humans. Don't ask me why, because even as a patron spirit, I don't know everything." 

"Second of all," she continued. "A planet goes through phases, and at any one phase, they have a limit to the power level that can exist on that world, anything above that level would be suppressed. That includes alternative methods of gaining strength, like Splicers or Cybers. Lifespan would be inhibited as well, which is why Lycaon died way before his time, and since volfar paragon titles are inherited through bloodline, and Lycaon was the only volfar on Earth at the time…"

Finally, Kane was putting a few extra pieces together. With no other volfar present, Lycaon was forced to continue his line with humans, which ended up in half-breeds that couldn't properly inherit the mantle of Dreadwolf. 

'Although that still doesn't explain why me, and why now?' he frowned inwardly. 

But those were questions he could ask later. First, he needed to know more about his immediate situation. "Alright, enough about that for now," he quickly told Mána. "Tell me why this rift? Where does it lead?"

By now, Ella had landed, and she and Kane were stepping out onto the cliff’s edge.

"Just a random, early phase planet," Mána shrugged casually. "Well, not entirely random. It is relatively close in both position and phase to Earth, which means there are plenty of unstable rifts spawning between the two. You can use those to go back to Riftshade, as soon as the Crimson Moon is born there."

Despite needing some elaboration on that, Kane didn't ask about it yet. Instead, he went to stand next to Ella, as they both watched the tiny sun on the horizon become larger and larger. Meanwhile, he also felt Luna approach him quickly, but he had no idea which would arrive first. Or if the rift would even appear before the queen did.

Kane panned his gaze towards the cliff, before turning to Ella with a serious frown, "How long before we have to jump? You know I won't go without Luna…"

But Ella shook her head, her complicated gaze fixed on the small sun, "I don't know exactly. Mána should tell you. Has she contacted you again? We still need her to… deal with the neuralizer as well."

Her last words came out a little strained and anxious, making Kane wonder exactly what was going on. But before he had the chance to ask, he suddenly noticed a small white dot approaching them from a slightly different angle compared to the yellow sun.

At the same time, Mána's voice echoed in his mind again. Her tone was surprisingly serious compared to her playful personality. "There's plenty of time for Luna to arrive, no need to worry. Unfortunately, the queen will definitely arrive before you can jump, but Viljar should be able to hold her off for long enough."

While Kane's eyes anxiously followed the white spot he knew to contain Luna, he asked, "Who is this Viljar, exactly?"

"There's a small rebel faction of volfar who barely manage to stay alive while doing what they can for their enslaved brethren," Mána explained. "Viljar is their leader."

Kane nodded in understanding, but then he frowned. The sun was changing direction. When he noticed what direction that was, his eyes widened. "What the hell is she doing?!" he exclaimed.

The sun was now heading straight for the white spot, which had already revealed its form as being another hovercar. And it seemed like the sun was faster.

"Luna!" he roared, his heart pounding, and his right arm extended towards the hovercar. 'Am I gonna lose her after all?!' he thought, as panic began to set in.

But before his thoughts could get much further, Ella and Mána both spoke in a soothing tone.

"Don't worry, it's fine."

"Luna is fine."

Kane was about to yell at them, but then the white spot was engulfed by the sun, and his heart stopped.

For a second, his thoughts halted.

Then, a flash, and a man with brown hair and a beard appeared in front of them.

But he didn't care about that. What he cared about was the catling standing next to this man. "Luna!" he smiled and stepped in her direction, only to be surprised by the shock on her face as she looked at him.

Then, he suddenly remembered he was still in his beast form.