Slowly, they progressed towards the fine structure. Whilst they were indeed excitement, it would risky to waste energy running now, in case they found themselves in an altercation.

But that didn’t stop small smiles fighting their way onto the group’s faces.

“Not far now” Rafe spoke.

Jed nodded.

“Not far at all”

Compared to the previous month, Jed seemed like a different human being altogether. He was much stronger; strong both physically and mentally. The lifestyle they practiced on the journey North had molded him into a much more competent stranded.

Now, he could stand by Twilight and Rafe and not seem so weak in comparison. Now, he could be seen as a true member of the party, and not some pet they felt pity towards. Finally, Jed was able to live…truly live.

For the first time in a long time, he felt joy in this foreign land.

And it was then, in that moment, that they arrived at the colossal gates of the settlement.

“Are they trying to pretend they didn’t see us?” Rafe asked.

“Perhaps” Twilight replied.

The group knew that any watchmen of the settlement would have caught the group in their gaze a long time ago, alerting the important residents whom would likely be the ones to decide whether to open the gates.

Since they hadn’t been killed just yet, it seemed they didn’t intend to do so. After all, it wouldn’t take a group able to maintain such a structure much time to kill three stranded. Well…if they were normal stranded.

Suddenly, loud creaking resounded in their ears. It seemed the giant gates were being pulled open. However, it would likely take some time due to the tremendous weight of the monsters.

Some time later, the group were invited in. Still, no human had met their gaze just yet. It seemed the inhabitants weren’t ready to risk that.

Step by step, they moved past the gates, slowly getting a better look at the inside of the structure. Yet, they didn’t get too much time to study it, considering they now found themselves surrounded by armed guards.

Each guard was dressed in peculiar armour they’d likely achieved from slaying the monsters of this region, or perhaps they’d been gifted it by other guards. In their hands were various weapons, mostly swords yet some carried axes, hammers, even spears.

They were a force to be reckoned with, not only in strength but in numbers as well. A full guard of trained soldiers, that would be handy to possess.

“Who would you lot be” a feminine voice called out.

Slowly, Rafe turned his attention to her. She was tall for woman. Beautiful red hair flowed down her face and ended much lower down. Her face was delicate and another level of pretty. Jed was taken aback by her beauty.

In her hand, she grasped the hilt of a long sword tightly. Though it seemed to have been cleaned, stains of blood still remained, though faint.

She had seen her share of battles. She had prevailed.

Meeting her gaze, Rafe began to ponder; her eyes seemed incredibly empty.

“We’re stranded. We’ve been walking from the south, looking for a settlement. It took us a long time to get here”

Rafe’s voice was steady and calm. Whilst he felt threatened by the encirclement of guards, he didn’t lose his cool. Neither did the other two.

“You come from the south? I heard there was nothing down there” the woman kept her guard up.

“There wasn’t. Just abandoned structures. Even humans were a rarity”

Twilight spoke calmly as well.

Slowly, the red-haired woman nodded.

“Indeed, that’s what I thought. So…did you come here for safety?”

Rafe shook his head, causing the woman to grow suspicious.

“What did you come here for then?”

“We want to find a rift…escape” Jed spoke, slightly shaken but mostly steady and calm.

If it were a month ago, he’d have lost his cool immediately. He changed a lot. Still, he couldn’t fully control his nerves just yet. Change took time.

“A rift? I see. Well, we’ve been here for five years, and so far only one rift ever appeared. It seems they are much rarer in whatever region this is than the others”

Twilight and Rafe nodded.

Normally, it would take a stranded a little while to escape, but five years was outlandish. A couple of years was seen as the average, but that was when a rift could be found every few months or so.

But one rift in five years? How long until one would appear again.

“What was the rift like?”

Twilight asked.

Suddenly, the woman’s face darkened.

“Hell. Abominations clutter around it, way more than what we’d been informed back in the real world. It seemed to have a stronger attraction to the monsters than a normal rift. We lost a lot of people…no one escaped”

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Hearing this, the group’s expressions soon turned dark as well. It felt like all hope had once again been trampled on by this world.

No one escaped.

Not a single stranded had escaped this region in five years?

Well, as far as they knew.

“No…one…?”

The woman shook her head, her face heavy.

“No…no one. That was last year. Since then, we’ve simply been working on surviving. Leaving this place…it seems impossible; insane”

‘So they’ve all lost hope then? This…’

Rafe was still processing the information. He knew rifts were rare around here, other wise surely he’d have seen one in his travels across the last three years, yet still…a single rift. And not only that, a legion of abominations attempting to guard and absorb it.

It seemed hopeless.

Even if they found a rift, all that would await them was endless slaughter. A normal rift was hell, so for someone to talk as though the rifts in this region were worse, so much worse, they would have to be neigh impossible.

Perhaps she was right.

“So, are you wanting to join the guard?” she asked, escaping the memories that were clouding her mind.

In unison, the group nodded.

It seemed they were joining the guard of this fortress.

“You seem to have the equipment already. I’ll explain how we operate” she spoke warmly, “As you can already tell, this place is quite spacious. There are a lot of us, around a hundred and fifty. Though, we used to have a hundred more than that” she looked down with an indistinguishable expression, “Sorry. Moving on, every resident is part of the guard, since as stranded we are quite formidable. With a large army, we are able to survive any attacks with little no casualties. We have a lot of spare rooms, but do be warned they aren’t too large”

They nodded along with her, moving through the street-like path with her, followed by a swarm of guards.

“Any room is better than the outside” Twilight said.

The woman chuckled, “That’s true” she said.

While she seemed to have lost the coldness she held earlier, she was still ready to slice their heads off if they made a sudden move, her hand resting on the hilt of her sheathed swords.

The guards too remained wary, their hands resting on their sheathed weapons, and the hammer, axe and spear wielders keeping their weapons out and in their hands.

“About the rift…what sort of abominations appeared?”

Rafe’s curiosity possessed him.

“Nightmares. It’s best if we leave it at that” she said, her voice cold once again.

As the word ‘nightmares’ hit their ears, their eyes widened. Nightmares?

When it came to monsters, they were ranked by the system depending on their capabilities.

The ranking went, in ascending order: Monster, Dread, Horror, Nightmare, and the nameless. For a nightmare to appear at a rift was absurd. Normal rifts would rarely garner a single horror. Nightmare’s didn’t gain anything from absorbing rifts, so why would they appear there?

Now, they were stuck in thought, mindlessly following the woman, whom appeared to be a leader of the guard of sorts.

The fortress was incredibly spacious, as Red had said. She brought them to a sort of living quarters near the centre. Whilst they expected it to be overcrowded, it was the opposite. Losing so many of the guard during the battle for the rift must have opened the place up.

Though, the place seemed rather nice, and the rooms, while not very large, were certainly comforting. Of course, it wasn’t one to a room but the group had gotten a room to themselves so it wasn’t too bad.

“Get comfortable. We’ll sort out when you’ll be hunting and the rest tomorrow. For now, just settle in” Red said warmly.

“Thank you”

She nodded, then left with the rest of the armed guard. Now, the group were left on their own again, still processing the information from before.

After all, they were just told their goal, their motivation, was impossible; that it was insane to even attempt it. Leaving.

These people had given up. They were ready to just grow old and die here, forgetting the old world. Well, that’s what Twilight and Jed were thinking.

Rafe however had a different idea on the whole thing. She had lied before…about them only trying to survive. His thoughts were screaming when she had said that.

‘They haven’t given up at all, have they? Well…perhaps only Red has been doing anything else. I can only confirm she has been doing more than simply surviving’

But that was enough. Someone else was still ready to die in order to escape; someone else was willing to die in order to actually live again. Hope returned.

However, he couldn’t tell the other two, else they would find out the truth about the eye. Whilst he did trust them, the item was too powerful and useful for him to just reveal. It was a trump card of sorts, allowing him to sense any ambush or betrayal before they had a chance to occur.

He couldn’t trust them that much yet. A month of bonding wouldn’t tear away trust issues that easily.

As the night grew darker, the group relaxed on cheap beds that made them feel on top of the world. Tonight would be the greatest sleep they’d have had in forever.

Rafe was skimming through his status as he normally did when he was bored, going over his items and whatnot, reading all the details into his inheritance and title, etcetera.

Meanwhile, Twilight was deep in thought, staring into the handsome young man’s soul almost. She had remembered something, now that she’d had some time to think, and now that something that demanded thinking had came up.

In the previous fortress, she was too busy thinking about where to go and what to do, but now she had arrived where she had planned to arrive; now she could think over everything; question everything.

“Rafe…could we talk?”

Slowly, Rafe moved his attention from his status to the stunning girl. She seemed tense, pondering everything, still deep in thought as she stared into his eyes.

“Sure”

He sauntered towards her, nonchalant. What questions did she have?

As he sat beside her, Jed seemingly still relaxed on his bed in thought, she hesitated for a moment.

“What happened back at the castle?”

Rafe’s eyes widened.

“What are you talking about?”

She stood firm.

“What happened?”

Rafe was stubborn to play the fool as well.

“If you don’t explain what you are talking about, how am I supposed to answer?”

She sighed, still hesitant to speak.

“His head blew up in flames. You remember?”

Rafe glared at the girl with a look of distaste.

“I remember. But what does that have to do with me? I know as much as you do”

“It has everything to do with you. Just before he died, he looked at you as though he’d seen a ghost”

She wasn’t too confident in what she was saying, yet she remembered it all clearly. Only, her theory was just that…a theory. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that Rafe knew something.

“What the actual hell, Twilight” he raised his voice, “Are you saying you think I made the guy blew his brains out? What, are you suggesting I’m some kind of monster? You know I thought after over a month of hell together you might have trusted me…just fuck off”

As he began to walk away, she went to grab his, then stopped. It wasn’t worth it. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she had crossed the line. However, that feeling continued to eat at her the more she thought about it; the more she remembered the petrified look the boy had carried as he gazed at Rafe, just before flames burned that expression away.

Slowly, she turned her head to look at the white ring that pierced her pinky.

‘no, not now’