Chapter 6
Crimson and Purple [https://imageshack.com/i/pnQAFsb0p]
A Party of four traversed a barren mountain landscape. Sun shined on their armor and backpacks as they climbed up a small hill and stopped for a brief rest. A magnificent view lay below them. It was a mountain valley enclosed by huge mountain ranges on both sides.
“After crossing the river, we had to go more north! We are too far west,” Linus said breathing heavily from exhaustion. Long months of exhausting travel were pushing him more than anyone else from the party of Mad Dogs. Even Orla was holding on better than him, but Linus would better die before admitting that.
“Glad that you said it now. It has been three nights since we crossed it,” Orla said.
“Better late than never,” Linus handed the water canteen to Jack, ”What do we do now? Go back and try to find the correct path?”
“Who really cares if we decide to go to a different rift than one suggested by Citadel,” Jack brushed him off, “We will move west until we find one. And then we gonna do what we came here to do.”
“That seems a quick way to find our demise. Three of us are still unawakened and you are just level one Guardian. Don't forget that. What if riftkin are too high level for us to handle? It’s a gamble with our lives.” Linus said.
“No problem. After we kill high-level rifkin, you guys will have even better classes,” Jack answered nonchalantly, ”You wanted to get strong, right? Let's go get you some of that juicy strength. I must say these Riftlands have been disappointing so far. We haven’t met even a single crazed monster so far.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Orla said while munching on some piece of hard bread.
While the rest of the party rested Zaun was still carefully observing their surroundings. Their elevation allowed him to survey far into mountain valley in front of them. In their time traveling together he always was most vigilant one.
Zaun banged his spear against the shield to get the attention of his party.
“Yes, Zanny?” Orla asked.
Zaun pointed his spear toward a specific point in the valley. Dogs all stood beside Zaun trying to see what he was trying to point out.
“All I see is a lot of rocks and some trees,” Linus said squinting his eyes trying to see anything special about the land in front of them.
“I think he wants us to see that purple shine beside the banana-shaped boulder on the right.” Jack waved his hand in the same direction Zaun was pointing, “What does purple shine mean?”
“It’s a rift!” Linus said with a slight shake in his voice. They finally found their quarry and he knew too well what his party gonna do now.
“It’s close. Leave bags right here. Take only weapons and torches,” Jack commanded. Orla and Zaun did as told with no hesitation.
“Maybe we should rethink our approach? We don’t know anything about the rift. It might be a deathtrap for unawakened.” Linus tried to slow down their team, but they were already heading toward the rift, “Fuck! Am I the only one worried here?”
Linus ran after his party. After a few steps, he turned around and ran back to their bags and took his spear and shield he forgot.
“Wait for me!” he shouted and ran after his teammates. After a few seconds, he was back again to the bags to grab the torches.
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The rift entrance didn’t look special. Only slight purple light coming from the depths of the cave signaled to them that the cave was dangerous in any way. Purple shine didn’t light up the darkness of the cave, it was just there giving black darkness a bit of purple color.
There was no monster guarding the entrance and nothing happened when the party slowly approached the cave. Jack was leading them with confidence.
All three youngsters had wooden armor on them. All had the same armor hunters were wearing back in Westel village. Helmets with face guards protected their heads except for small slits which were there for vision.
This particular wooden armor was the specialty of Westel village. Master craftsmen of their village have been crafting this exact armor for generations. It wasn’t as durable as a proper iron suit, but in trade, it did weigh almost nothing. It was as light as a casual farmer’s leather attire. There was no delay in movements from wearing wooden armor, which usually came with iron and steel plates weighing on the body.
Jack was wearing the same armor, only his was slightly too tight for his build. His helmet was way too small, so he was forced to go on without one. This was one of Merlo’s sets of armor. It was stolen from his home by Orla when she fled the village with the rest of the Dogs more than half a year ago.
Now after exhausting travel across Empire they stood at their final destination. Edge of Empire. Edge of humanity. Rift to Eldritch plane was in front of them.
“This one must be extremely fresh. The shine is very light. Delvers would know about rift so close to the border of Empire otherwise,“ Orla said, “Father told me about them. Rift connected to the Eldritch plane will shine so strong, men will see its light days travel away. If we would climb higher, we would see the whole west horizon glow in purple from rifts all across deep Riftlands. This one is not connected to other side yet.”
Jack took out flint from his belt and after a few strokes, one of his torches fired up with warm soothing fire. He left two more hanging by his belt and gave flint to Zaun who followed his example.
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“Hold the torch in the shield hand. Make sure the shield is tied tight to your arm, so it doesn’t move in the fight,” Jack said, “Linus you feeling good, lad?”
“No,” Linus answered, “I am scared.”
“It’s gonna be alright,” Jack did his best to calm him down, “When blood gonna start to flow, you will see how nice it feels to kill.”
“Emm… Thanks for the encouragement, I guess.”
With torches high up and spears ready party entered the cave. Darkness split in front of them and revealed a long narrow underground passage. Jack waited for a few seconds for something to lunge at them from darkness, but when nothing came out he confidently went deeper. His torchlight radiated warm light on the narrow walls of the tunnel and his brothers and sister in arms followed in his steps.
After just a few steps one thing became evident. The tunnel wasn’t silent. There were sounds. Terrifying distant growls and screeching bounced off tunnel walls and traveled to them from the darkness in front of them. Creatures that made this rift were somewhere right in front of them and there was no mistaking what awaited Mad Dogs if they will decide to continue on their path.
There was nobody stopping anyone from leaving.
There was only one path forward and only one path back.
One path to their death and one path to safety.
One path to their destiny and one path to existence of no importance.
Jack didn’t hesitate. He was leading them with steady strides, not looking back towards his puppies. There was no difference if they would follow or waver. Once he heard what awaits them in the dark tunnel his destiny was set. His face was a mask as it usually was in situations like this. There seemed to be no life in it, but his body told a different story. It was ready. He was here to kill.
Orla was shaking, but her eyes didn’t look at the darkness. She didn’t listen to the sounds in front of them. The girl was terrified, but the wide back of the graying man in front of her gave her just enough courage to continue walking forward. She put down step after step fighting her first fight even before any blood was drawn. Her first opponent was her own heart which was beating so fast it would jump out of her chest any moment now.
Zaun didn’t seem to be bothered by creatures in the dark. He didn’t even look forward at all. His eyes wandered. To sides, to ceiling, to Orla, to Linus, behind Linus, to sides again, to the ceiling once again. His eyes never stopped wandering. Taking in every rock, every shadow, every crevice on the walls. The silent young man seemed like a veteran scout, making sure the fight starts on their terms, not on enemies. But a slight tremble in his hands holding spear and shield gave out his inexperience and worry. He didn’t try to hide his fear as Orla did. Instead, he embraced it. He accepted it and readied himself for what was to come.
Linus was at the back of the party. The sickly man looked out of place. Even more so than Orla. If Orla seemed like quite a brawler for a lady, Linus looked more like a scholar, not a warrior. It was almost like somebody just yesterday pulled this young lad from the library where he had spent all his life, put a spear, torch, and shield in his hands, and shoved him right into this cave. Despite his meek looks, Linus seemed less scared than his two childhood friends. He was more irritated than anything. He feared the unknown and he hated the idiocy of what they were doing right now, but it always was like that. Zaun and Orla always had a stupid habit of only pushing forward. All he could do is follow and do his best to keep them safe. He must keep them safe!
Nobody left.
They all kept walking right into maws of darkness.
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After half an hour of walking, nothing had changed. They were deep underground by now. The tunnel was leading ever so slightly downwards. Group’s torches started to dim and flicker. The first one to go out was Orla’s torch. She dropped it and stopped to get a second from her belt, but Jack didn’t let her do so.
“Don’t. Better save it,” he whispered,“ We don’t know how long we have left to go.”
Next to lose his torch was Zaun and he also didn't ignite a new one.
After a few more minutes Linus' torch went out as well. It became a bit too dark as the only torch still burning was Jack's. Jack turned to him to give him their only flint, but what he saw in the faces of his party made him freeze up. They all had looks of terror.
The creature emerged from the darkness right behind Jack’s back. It was a disgusting abomination.
Eldritch Souleater – Lvl 17
The monster was beyond grotesque. It was a thin humanoid creature in size of the average man with black slimy skin. Its legs were bent outwards and ended in long deadly claws. His thin hands were of different lengths compared to each other with the same sharp claws on his fingers. The creature was a hunchback with its thin neck stretched forward. Souleater had no eyes or nose on his prolonged humanoid head, instead, it had countless ears on the sides as well as large mouth with several rows of sharp teeth.
It slowly crept closer while leaning its head sideways and listening.
Only dim light from Jack’s and Zaun's torches revealed the monster slowly creeping toward them. No one dared to breathe or move as the creature approached Jack from behind. The monster was listening. It had heard them and it came to explore.
As it closed in on them Jack felt a breath of the creature on the back of his head. Orla stood closest to him and Jack stared right into her blue eyes. He turned his own eyes up and then down signaling her to act.
Orla knew what she had to do. But her body didn’t listen. She watched as Souleater was just a breath away from Jack, slowly leaning towards him. Little more and they will bump into one another. Time slowed down as she fought cold terror in her body.
Then her heart flamed up. Ambition. Strength. She wasn’t here to be afraid. She will never be afraid. She broke out from her terror and finally acted.
As she took a step forward Souleater turned his head towards her.
As she thrust her spear creature opened its maw.
Spear was thrust right into its mouth, it pierced Souleater’s open mouth and came out on other side of it. The creature screeched and exploded in movement. It dashed towards Orla with a spear still lodged in its mouth. She lost grip on it and Jack who was right in Souleater’s way was trashed to the side like he weighed nothing.
The creature jumped on Orla as she hid behind her shield and they both went down to the ground, creature having both hands with sharp claws stuck in the wooden shield. Souleater managed to free his right hand and swiped towards her head. Her helmet saved the girl’s life, but it didn’t stop claws from drawing blood as three of them penetrated her helmet and left open gashes in her face.
“Argghhghgh!” Orla screamed in pain.
Zaun pierced Souleater’s back with his spear and Linus landed hit on its shoulder at the same time. Both spears sunk deep and creature’s attention was taken from the girl as it swiped at Zaun making him dodge by releasing the handle of his spear.
Linus tried to pull out his spear to thrust once more but his hands were too weak and the spear was lodged too deep.
That was when the third spear was lodged into Souleater. Jack pierced the monster right through its skull. Chunks of blood, bone, and brain splattered all over Orla who was still lying under the Souleater.
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 17 Eldritch Souleater!
The last torch went out and the tunnel sunk into the darkness with a slight purple color to it.
Creatures in darkness screeched.
Approaching footsteps became the only sound in the dark tunnel.