Together, they stepped into the rift. The experience of the world stretching and distorting around him was just as odd as the last time. His stomach turned a bit, but with a few steps, they were inside the rift.

It was twilight, with a single sun low on the horizon. Edgar and Mirai found themselves standing on a dirt path by a river bank. Reeds of bamboo or papyrus waved gently in the breeze. A mist obscured the far side of the river. On the other side of the path, grasslands stretched off into the distance. He could hear crickets chirping and the calming lap of water in the river. It was relaxing, not at all what he expected. Compared to the dark, gothic vibes of the Imps’ Palace, this was heavenly.

The portal behind them remained open.

Rift Exit: Black Mountain.

* Conditions: [unstable]

* Rift will collapse in 76 hours.

Looking ahead, the dirt road led up a small hill to the ruin of a temple at its crest. A single skeleton ambled down the path towards them. There was enough light to see without her torch, so Mirai extinguished it and returned it to her inventory.

“So, to clear this rift, we’ll have to head up to that temple?”

“It certainly looks that way,” Mirai began walking towards the temple.

Edgar followed, glancing back at the rift exit. “Is that the only way out of the rift?”

“It’s unstable, like we were saying, so not really. It’s basically guaranteed to spit us out, as long as we don’t die,” she shrugged.

“What if it was stable?”

“There are some rare items that can teleport you out of a rift, but they are ridiculously expensive. Like, insanely so. The majority of teleportation items won’t work from inside a rift. So yeah, if the rift were stable, usually the only ways out are through it, or back through the entrance.”

As they walked the path towards the temple, Edgar could tell that Mirai was savoring the peaceful and warm weather. He was too, of course. Even when they reached the skeleton, Edgar dispatched it discreetly with a single [Tail Whip], managing not to spoil the relaxing mood.

He looted the corpse out of habit, even though the skeletons only seemed to drop a single [Bone] and [Leather Scraps]. The items didn’t seem worth much at a glance, but he had a soft spot for loot. From his past life playing RPGs, he wondered if crafting was a thing here. If so, making some armor out of bone would be pretty cool. Even if it wasn’t, he could probably sell the materials to a merchant back in Black Mountain for some extra money.

As Edgar’s thoughts drifted, they walked the windy path towards the temple. Mirai’s gaze drifted out over the river, watching the shimmering water and dancing blue fireflies.

“What are you thinking about?”

Mirai glanced at him, chewing her lip for a moment as if she might answer, but the moment passed.

She pulled her gaze away from the river delta. “Don’t let your guard down once we’re inside the temple.”

Edgar nodded. “Definitely. There could be monsters in here that are stronger than these skeletons. They’re almost too weak.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

At the top of the hill, they reached a broad stone staircase leading up to the temple entrance. They both paused here and turned to gaze out over the river delta.

“It’s beautiful. More than I would have expected.”

“They can be beautiful, but always deadly. Never forget that.”

Edgar nodded. “It’s clear we’re supposed to go to the Temple, but what do you think is on the other side of the river, or across the plains?”

“Nothing. At a certain point the rift folds back on itself.”

“Really? It looks like it goes on for miles.”

“Rifts get much bigger at higher levels, but, on the flip side, level one is as small as it gets.”

“At sixty-nine the rifts must be pretty huge.”

“Yeah I bet.”

Edgar glanced at her. “Is it normal for people to reach level sixty-nine, like Raiden has?”

“No… Not really.”

“I didn’t think so. Most people die in rifts, don’t they?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Or from old age.”

“From old age?”

“Yeah, if you choose to stop leveling, or not to level at all in the first place. Lots of people choose lives that are simpler and not so dangerous. Then it’s just down to sickness or old age.”

Edgar paused. “Wait, what are you saying? What if they didn’t stop leveling?”

“Well, each level your lifespan gets a bit longer. At higher levels, this can get pretty long, but ultimately you’re still mortal. However—I forget you don’t know this stuff—there is a way to become immortal.”

Edgar’s jaw dropped. “Wait, you—we—can become immortal?”

Mirai shrugged. “Yeah… but…”

Edgar fixed his jaw back in place. “Of course there’s a ‘but.’”

“When you reach level twenty-five, you get summoned for an audience with Pharaoh and he’ll tell you what to do to unlock immortality. From what we know, almost everyone unlocks the same event when they meet with Pharaoh—portal fifty rifts by the time you reach level seventy-five and the reward for clearing it is immortality.”

“So one portal a level from twenty-five to seventy-five? That doesn’t seem so bad.”

“The trick is doing it before you die.”

“What’s our lifespan?”

“At level one it’s about seventy to eighty years, but it gets higher with each level.”

“Wow, that’s a bit less than my old world, actually.”

“Really? I thought you lived in a non-magical world.”

“Science for the win.”

“What’s science?”

“It’s humans taking our non-magical lemons and making lemonade.”

“I do like lemonade.”

“Me too. I’m glad you have lemons here. What about limes?”

Mirai cleared her throat, emotion creeping into it. “As much as I love fruit, the real challenge in reaching immortality, like I was saying, is doing it before you die. Take a high level adventurer like Uncle Ray, at level sixty-nine. He’ll live twenty-three hundred years—maybe twenty-four hundred, if he’s living like a saint.”

“You’re joking.”

“No joke. But even uncle Ray might not make it.”

“He won’t?”

Mirai sighed sadly, turning back to look over the river. “He lost his party—including his lover, Enya—in a rift about ten years ago and he hasn’t been in another since.”

Edgar saw her eyes glistening with tears and turned away. “He seems healthy to me. There’s still time for him, right?”

Mirai wiped away tears. “I hope so. My parents won’t talk about it.”

Edgar shook his head. “So if we don’t level, we definitely die. If we do level, we probably die. So in the end—in all likelihood—we’re going to die… I can live with that.”

“what a strange thing to take comfort in.”

“I’ll take what I can get. That’s basically how it was in the normie world I’m from.”

Mirai sniffled. “For what it’s worth, leveling is better than not, though.”

She turned towards him, speaking earnestly.

“If you level, you control your life. If you don’t, it’s easy to lose that control. Or worse, have it taken from you.”

She sniffled again, managing a smile like a glimpse of sunshine after a full day of rain.

“Besides, it’s fun to dream. Immortality would be pretty awesome. Like they say, it’s not like it hasn’t been done before.”

Edgar laughed. “People have done it before?”

Mirai cleared her nose, pinching one nostril at a time and blowing to clear it. “The records at central go back millions of years and there are definitely people who have done it.”

“No way…” Edgar scratched his chin.

“This probably goes without saying, but what I said about Uncle Ray stays between us, ok?”

Edgar nodded resolutely. “Absolutely, of course. You can trust me.”

“Thanks. Well, it’s not like we have forever to clear this rift, what do you say we get started?”

Edgar smiled. “Let’s do it.”

They turned away from the peaceful vista and towards the stone temple. It looked a fair bit like the Parthenon in Greece. The building had a large rectangular footprint, with smooth columns of stone holding up a massive tiled roof. The tiles were slightly opalescent, reflecting the sky in hues of purple. The stone used to construct the temple looked like marble laced with veins of purple. The light of bronze braziers flickered from within.

Together, they climbed the steps towards the entrance. It was more foreboding up close than it had been from afar. The pillars were at least three stories tall, with the ceiling rising even higher inside. The flickering fire light cast shadows upwards into the alcoves of the temple’s rafters.

The shadows were only vaguely recognizable, shambling about the hall ahead in cloth rags.

“Skelies ahead.”

Mirai unsheathed her sword and Edgar extended his claws, preparing for the fight as they reached the top of the stairs. Ahead, inside the temple, a small army of skeletons ambled about.

“If we can separate them, we can whittle down their numbers.”

Edgar nodded. “Should we start with that cluster closest to us?”

However, as soon as they set foot onto the marble floor of the temple, Edgar felt the air go chill as the brazier light dimmed and every skeleton in the building turned its hollow skull in their direction.

“So much for that plan.”

Edgar glanced about. “Just make sure to keep moving. It’ll take some time, but we’ll go slow and clear them out.”

Mirai collected herself with a deep breath. “Alright, if they surround you, disengage and find the next opportunity.”

Edgar nodded. “Right. We must have killed a hundred skelies already between the two of us… What’s fifty more?”

“We can do this…”

“It’s more nerve wracking when they charge like that, isn’t it?”

“It definitely is.”

~~~~~~~~~~

* Check out the Stats Page for this Chapter here