Lucius was able to see with his own eyes exactly how the terrible Abyss creatures were invading his world. Anomalies like the one in front of him were portals into the Abyssal realm, they would apparently get more and more dangerous the longer they stayed open. In order to prevent that humans like him were tasked by the system with sealing them, the sooner the better. It made sense that the system wanted these things closed, but what Lucius didn’t understand was how it expected him to do that. He was good at fighting and not exactly well versed in interdimensional gateway magic.
"These things are bad news for everyone, I get it. What I'm curious about is what exactly you think I can do about that?"
Anomaly are not naturally occurring phenomena, they are in fact conjured and maintained magically by a group of sentient Abyss denizens known as rift summoners. The simplest way to close an anomaly is to travel through it into the Abyssal realm, search the area for the rift summoner that is maintaining the anomaly and slay them. The anomaly will begin to collapse once the summoner is slain, you must return swiftly before the passage is sealed. Failure to do so will result in almost certain torture and death at the hands of the summoners allies.
"Sounds simple, just go into hell and fight the magic wielding demon that lives there..." Lucius responded sarcastically. "How do you know that is even something I'm capable of? What if this rift summoner is way out of my league?"
Rift summoners conjure anomalies in order to siphon the magical energy of our realm, they use this stolen energy to empower themselves over time. The more powerful a summoner becomes the larger anomaly they are capable of conjuring, therefore an anomalies size can be used to indicate the power of it's summoner.
"Small portal means weak summoner, got it. Even if I can kill it there are probably anomalies like this all over the world—me closing one is like trying to put out a fire with a bottle of eye drops! It won't stop the Abyss creatures from coming, so why shouldn't I just take my friends and hide?"
Sentient beings of this realm all inherit the sacred duty of resisting the destructive invasion of the Abyss. Every member of your race shares in this responsibility.
"That sounds noble and everything but my only responsibility right now is to survive, sacred duty doesn't help me stay alive."
Extensive rewards are bestowed upon all honorable beings that take part in the successful sealing of an anomaly.
"What kind of rewards are we talking about exactly?"
Insufficient data.
"Right…" Lucius had a lot to think about. He hadn’t even started his scouting mission and had already spotted a ticking time bomb right outside their new home. It would be impossibly dangerous for them to stay here if that anomaly remained open. But Lucius had no idea what he would face on the other side of the swirling portal. He needed more information before he could make a decision. "Well, I wanted to go scouting anyway. I guess it's all the same if I scout around here or go scout out an evil nightmare dimension that's slowly consuming our reality." He thought with a smirk.
Lucius climbed down from the grain tower and made his way toward the portal, he made sure to keep his aspect fully activated every step of the way since he couldn't be sure that some kind of eldritch horror wouldn't suddenly spawn from the passageway ahead of him. It took around 20 minutes for him to reach the location of the anomaly while moving so cautiously, but the time passed quickly and Lucius finally came face-to-face with the thing that had been used to cause so much destruction and death on his world. He found it depressingly ironic that something as beautiful and charming as the watery, floating curtain of spiraling magic before him was a portal to the hellish Abyss realm.
"Now that I think about it, I don’t actually know anything about the realm on the other side of this thing. Maybe it isn’t all fire and death like I’m imagining, but it feels unlikely that I will find some rainbow covered fantasy land on the other side"
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The portal emitted a strong magical energy, it was reminiscent of the first Abyss creature that Lucius had ever witnessed—the monstrous shadowy being that had fought Twixy’s master in the vision shared with all of humanity. It was hard to describe exactly why he felt that way, but as a crude example it felt to him as if the magical energy of the anomaly possessed the same sort of flavor as that monster had, only much weaker.
Lucius tried to gauge how dangerous it would be to move through the portal, but Sense Danger wasn’t giving him any feelings to go on. He guessed that the distance between him and whatever world was on the other side—or maybe even the boundary between realities itself—was interfering with the talent’s detection ability.
"I guess I just have to hold my nose and dive in," he lamented. Lucius debated whether to head back to the farm first and discuss his decision to scout the anomaly with his companions before carelessly leaping into danger, but he knew that nothing they said would change the fact that the anomaly needed to be closed. He could also guess that Jack would insist on coming with him. "It’s safer if I scout it out alone first. Besides, the longer I wait the stronger the anomaly will become."
Taking a deep breath to settle his nerves, Lucius tightened his backpack straps and ensured his sheath was securely fastened to his waist. He stepped up to the edge of the anomaly, peering into the milky, swirling glasslike surface and gathered his courage. As he reached his hand toward the portal a set of teeth, each the size of a large kitchen knife, materialized out of nowhere a few inches from his exposed fingers, causing him to jump in fright and pull his hand back.
Reeling in fear after experiencing the worst jump-scare of his life, Lucius fell to the ground and hastily rolled his body between two large rocks in a clumsy attempt to hide. A massive reptile appeared in the air and descended from the portal—the horrid creature looked like some mad scientist's unnatural creation with a mixture of DNA from a gorilla and a velociraptor. It had a classic reptilian head, mouth, and teeth, but its body was humanoid with two thickly muscled arms and legs. Worst of all, it was enormous, towering at least ten feet above Lucius, it could certainly reach up and touch the canopy of the trees if it wanted to. Dark red scales, that would likely appear black in low light, covered its body, and a thick, powerful tail extended behind its reverse-jointed legs. It was the very definition of a nightmare.
A powerful blast of warning from Sense Danger hit Lucius, but the alert was redundant—he had no intention of fighting a monster like that unless forced. Remaining perfectly still to avoid detection, he watched in relief as the creature slowly lumbered away from the portal in the opposite direction of the farm. Only after it disappeared from sight and Sense Danger’s warning faded did Lucius climb out from his hiding spot.
"Okay, demon portal, now it’s personal. Get ready to get sealed so hard!" Lucius thought angrily, directing his ire at the anomaly. "I wont let you scare me like that again!" With that thought boosting his resolve he rushed toward the portal, he didn't hesitate when it came time to take the final step and sent himself soaring up into the anomaly.
That was how Lucius ended up traveling out of his reality and into the terrifying Abyss realm for the first time, with no idea what he would find on the other side.
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Jack’s upgraded strength was a tremendous aid in the task he had been absorbed in for the past few days. He had never realized how important power and endurance were in the art of blacksmithing. Holding the red-hot metal before him with large tongs, he struck down heavily again and again, folding it over repeatedly and beating the impurities out of it, just as Paul had shown him. Unlike Paul, though, something special happened the first time Jack wielded the smith’s hammer.
He had always loved working with his hands, especially when he had the freedom to create something exactly the way he wanted. The prospect of forging his own weapons and armor excited him so much that he spontaneously drifted into a meditative trance from his intense focus as he hammered the metal. Fantasizing about pouring his heart and soul into the crafting process, Jack envisioned himself creating something powerful and beautiful that would make him and his friends much stronger. He was so lost in the tantalizing vision of creation that he failed to notice the golden specks of light materializing in the air around him.
Jack was startled when he finally saw the lights as they began moving toward the metal on the anvil in front of him, Jack paused for a moment in wonder. He had seen a similar phenomenon happen when Patrick created his inscriptions, so he had a suspicion that something comparable was happening now. He Noticed that the golden lights began dimming as soon as he stopped focusing his thoughts, so Jack quickly regained his concentration. As the young man refocused his mind on the process of creation the lights regained their bright glow, and even more began to appear around him, slowly moving toward the metal.
Jack carefully maintained his focus, working the metal with steady precision for what felt like a long time. Gradually, the metal was completely consumed by the magical lights. With one last, powerful blow, the lights fused with the material and disappeared. At the same time, a system message flashed across Jack’s field of vision:
Congratulations! You have developed a unique aspect, Hammer of Creation.