"Not too shabby." Paul comments as he leans over the cooling carcass of some kind of deer. The boss calls it a deer, though I have my doubts. The animal's hide is a mottled grey shade and there's a pair of hefty demonic horns sprouting from the skull. Sara grimaces at the sight as well as Paul checks the kill.

"I hope we're not expected to eat the meat." Sara says nervously as the boss takes out a slim bladed knife and begins working on prying out the horns. From the experienced ease in which Paul handles the blade, its clear that he has done this before.

"Rift deer meat is too bitter." Paul responds with complete seriousness, "I once ordered the servants to try soaking it in spices but eventually gave up. Nothing gets rid of that medicinal taste completely."

"So we're just here for trophies then?" I keep my voice carefully neutral, inwardly regretting the waste of all that meat. Guess its no surprise that sport hunting was a hobby only the rich could afford to indulge in.

"Yes." Paul affirms easily as he dislodges the horns with an audible pop, "And to get you and Sara up to speed. We've plenty of work to do in that regard."

"My arms are tired." Sara moans as she settles into a squat, "Robbie and I spent the whole day firing the guns you gave us. We didn't get to do any hunting at all."

"It was a surprising amount of work." I agree, recalling the makeshift range Paul had set up for us, "I thought we would start at shooting at birds or something similar. Not at chalk marks drawn on trees."

"You would barely be able to hit anything." Paul chuckles as he cleans off the horns, "Getting to know your gear is the first part of being a hunter. And since none of us qualify for a firearms license back in the city, this is the only place we can get some practice in."

"Yeah. I suppose." Today was the first time I had ever fired a gun. It was a far more involved experience than I had originally thought. More than once I had wanted to just toss the gun aside and run down an animal using my soul powers. It would have been so much more straightforward.

"Patience. The teachers gave us permission to head off by ourselves," Paul grins at me, "as long as we return to camp half an hour before dusk. I'll have you and Sara shooting like pros by the end of this trip."

"We're grateful for the experience, really, we are!" Sara exclaims as she pulls at her custom made wool jacket. We had just trekked though the cold and damp areas of the rift. Thankfully, the clothes Paul had ordered for us did make the experience far more pleasant. High quality wool jackets kept us dry and warm after Paul decided to take us along for a demonstration hunt.

"I sense a 'but' coming." Paul ruefully nods as he waits for the other shoe to drop.

"Its just that, I expected that there would be more excitement?" Sara reluctantly points out.

"She's got a point there boss." I pipe up, "There was plenty of walking, checking the wind and crouching in the bushes. Fight club had much more action in it. Just saying."

"Hunting teaches patience and discipline." Paul grunts as he flips the carcass to the side and makes an incision on the underbelly, "One of the few things I'm grateful to my parents for teaching me."

Both Sara and I immediately fall silent. Paul was all but admitting that he was letting us into a very personal part of his world. And we had pretty much said that it totally sucked.

"Paul, I'm sorry." Sara quickly whispers, "I'll try harder. I promise."

"Don't worry." Paul reassures with a gentle voice, "All this? I hated it at first too."

Sara makes a small, forced laugh but its enough to dispel the heavy atmosphere that had descended around us.

"Robbie, this is something you'll need to learn." the boss returns into teaching mode, "A knight has to know how to assist his master during hunts."

"Sure. Got no problem with it when you put it that way." I readily agree, eager to put the awkwardness behind us.

"Pull at the deer's skin. It should come off easily." Paul directs and I quickly comply. Thanks to the fresh incision, the hide slips off like a sock the moment I pull at it. Paul accepts the hide from me and rolls it up with the horns.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Nice. Robbie, carry the trophies with you. We should start making our way back to camp. Its getting late."

I accept the trophies from Paul tying them up with a length of rope and securing the entire set on my back. The thought of the fresh animal hide beginning to stink does cross my mind for a second, but I suppose Paul knows what he's doing.

I mean, letting Paul do the thinking generally seems to be a sensible idea. He's the master and I'm the knight. Paul points and I obey. Things are blessedly simple this way.

As it should be.

The warmth in my heart subsides and I fall in behind the boss with Sara. The sky was already becoming overcast, most likely a freak storm heading our way. We should hurry, even though we aren't all that far from the camp. Paul leads us sure footedly across the damp ground, our soft boots stepping lightly over the patches of mud. Specks of raindrops begin to fleck our clothes as the clouds grow bloated enough to burst.

"Going to be one heck of a thunderstorm tonight." I note as the clouds swirl overhead, rapidly blotting out the fading sunlight, or whatever passes for a sun inside of a Rift.

"Good thing I managed to book us a cabin at the campsite." Paul replies with some satisfaction, "I would hate to be cowering in a tent with this level of rain coming."

"Aren't the tents supposed to be waterproof?" Sara asks as she hangs on to Paul's arm to prevent herself from slipping in the mud.

"The damp is going to be absolutely crazy." I point out, "At least we have the four walls of the cabin to keep us dry and warm."

"Don't forget the mosquitos. They always come out after the rain." Paul shudders, "And no tent will keep you safe from them."

"Sounds like someone is talking from personal experience." my feet splatter the mud about, staining the boots.

"There's a reason why I insisted that Yvonne buy us mosquito repellant." Paul has a distraught look on his face, "Trust me on this."

"Ah ... its getting so dark." Sara cries out, "Can barely see anything."

"We should be almost halfway back to the camp." Paul reassures, "Not much further now."

"Yeah, I can smell salt in the air. Remember?" I chime in, "There was that lake which absolutely stank of it."

"The crimson lake." Sara nods, "We passed by it earlier today."

Paul redoubles his pace, leading us onward through the darkness with urgency. We're definitely on the right track back to the camp but no matter how benign this Rift might be, wandering about in the middle of a thunderstorm was just asking for trouble. Or at the very least, a nasty cold. And I heard that the local dispensary at the camp site charged absolutely rip off prices, given that they held an undisputed monopoly.

The three of us form up into a single file, doggedly plunging through the premature evening. A cold wind blows and even with the wool coat, I feel the chill biting deep into my bones.

And in the distance a klaxon sounds.

"What in the world?" Paul suddenly stops, his eyes widening in alarm. Green flashes of light tear through the roiling clouds and a terrible pressure bears down upon the three of us.

"No way. Is there an incoming ion storm?" I curse, realizing that the situation had changed completely. Ion storms weren't dangerous by themselves. They just sometimes caused Rifts to get creative, for the lack of a better word.

"The forecast put the next ion storm several months away." Paul mutters in confusion, "How can this be happening now?"

The klaxon booms, a dead monotonous mechanical voice joining the cacophony.

ATTENTION. ION STORM DETECTED IN LOCAL VICINITY. REALITY SHIFT IMMINENT.

"We need to keep moving!" Sara cries out, "The camp has a warding stele, its the nearest place that can weather the shift!"

A reality shift. Fancy way for saying that the Rift will begin to rearrange its geography, shuffling the entire landscape about for shits and giggles. There's a reason why one of the stele was set up at the campsite. It served as an anchor for reality, preventing ion storms from possibly teleporting the camp somewhere undesirable. Like in the middle of the sea.

"Stay calm! Getting back to camp before the shift hits is impossible." Paul commands, "We need to hold on to each other and stand still."

"Stand still?" Sara bursts out in dismay, "But then we'll be tossed about during the shift!"

"Once the shift ends, everything will be returned to its original positions." Paul explains, "We need to ride it out together, prevent each other from going missing. Understand?"

"Damn, is there no other way?" I howl against the bellowing wind, "I can feel the ground churning underneath our feet!"

"That means the shift has already begun." Paul yells as he grabs on to both Sara and I, "Remember what I said. We ride it out together!"

"I'm totally going to sue Rutger's for negligence if we ever manage to survive this." I grumble.

"That's the spirit. Look forward to living another day!" Paul cheers and Sara manages to give a slight laugh as well.

The ground crumbles, morphing into a disgusting sludge. Before I can even guess where we've been teleported to, a strong current hits us hard. Paul's hand tightens over my own but the breath has nevertheless been knocked out of him. The maelstrom builds around us and the light disappears completely, allowing the ambient darkness to devour everything.

There's a flash of heat and suddenly we're standing on a steep, rough incline. Taken by surprise, we lose our balance, toppling over into the dry, hard dirt. Before we roll downhill, Paul and I flare our soul cores, giving us the strength to tear new handholds into the incline for ourselves.

But there's one person who doesn't have the benefit of such power.

"Help! Help!" Sara's cries fade away as the darkness swallows her up.

Paul and I struggle to regain our footing as we hear Sara tumble away into the distance. Before we can go after her, the wind whips around us maliciously.

Bearing us away once more.