Back at the Guild Hall
Kyle and his guild returned to the guild hall, their steps weary but purposeful. The main hall was quiet save for the soft hum of conversations among lower-ranked players. Luna stood near one of the alchemy workbenches, her keen eyes catching Kyle’s entrance immediately.
“How was the quest?” she asked, her voice steady but tinged with curiosity.
Kyle motioned for her to follow him without a word. The others dispersed, murmuring their plans to rest and regroup, while Kyle led Luna to his office. Once inside, he shut the door behind them, leaning heavily against his desk.
“Remember I told you Eidolon’s been acting weird lately?” he began, his tone low and measured. Luna nodded, her brows furrowed. “Well, during this quest, I encountered Kaelith. He just appeared—no lead-up, no indication he was even in the area—and gave me a warning about the Rift Unseen. It felt… deliberate.”
“Kaelith?” Luna repeated, her fingers absently brushing against the vials at her side. “The Fateweaver NPC? That’s not a small thing, Kyle. What did he say?”
“He warned us about the cost of curiosity,” Kyle said grimly. “The quest itself was mostly combat—shadow constructs, crystalline beasts. But at the end, we found a shard of the Rift.” He reached into his inventory and materialized the shard, its faint pulse filling the room with an eerie rhythm. Luna’s eyes widened slightly, her usual composure shaken.
Kyle continued, “The quest hasn’t updated yet, but now there’s another location marked on it. It’s vague—no description, just coordinates. This shard… it’s unsettling. I don’t like it, but we can’t ignore it.” He fixed her with a determined gaze. “I’ll need some of your alchemical potions, and fast.”
Luna nodded slowly, already mentally cataloging the supplies she’d need. “Today’s been strange for me too. While I was out in the Verdant Wilds, it felt like the plants, the animals—everything—was… reacting. It wasn’t natural. They were uneasy, almost like they sensed something had shifted.”
Kyle’s expression darkened, her words clicking into place with his own observations. “You’re right,” he muttered. “While I was working with my celestial botanist profession, I sensed that same unease. At first, I thought it was just me linking it to all the weirdness in Eidolon, but maybe there’s more to it. I need to be more alert.”
Luna gave a sharp nod. “I’ll have what you need prepared by the time you set out.”
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Reality Interlude
Later, in the real world, Kyle sat in his room, staring at his phone. He scrolled through his messages, frustration growing when he realized Nash hadn’t responded. The unease that had been gnawing at him since the Rift quest now bubbled to the surface.
He opened his voice app and quickly recorded a message, keeping his tone casual despite the tension in his chest. “Hey, Nash. Let me know if you’re playing the game yet. I just… need to know, okay?” He ended the note, setting the phone down with a sigh.
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Back in Eidolon
The moment Kyle returned to the game, he noticed a change. The quest marker for the Rift Unseen quest had updated. He brought up the quest details, his eyes scanning the new information.
Quest Update: Rift UnseenOnly the quest owner may continue.
Kyle frowned, his eyes narrowing as he reread the message: Only the quest owner may continue. The restriction was unexpected, and it gnawed at him in ways he couldn’t fully articulate. His guildmates—the people he’d fought alongside since the beginning—wouldn’t be able to join him for the next stage. They’d been his anchor in this strange, shifting world, and now he was being forced to move forward alone.
He leaned back in his chair, the faint hum of the shard in his inventory vibrating faintly through his thoughts. The idea of facing this alone wasn’t just unsettling—it was dangerous. Eidolon had been testing him since the start, but this felt different. This wasn’t just a challenge for his character or his skills; it was something deeper, more personal.
Kyle’s mind raced, recalling Kaelith’s cryptic warning: Beware the cost of your curiosity. What cost? He’d thought the Rift was about uncovering secrets, pushing boundaries—but now it felt like the Rift was pushing back. Forcing him to walk a path without the support he’d always relied on. The stakes weren’t clear, and that uncertainty clawed at him.
The memories of the last battle flickered through his mind—the shadows, the crystalline creatures, the unnatural way the forest seemed to twist and shift around them. His guildmates had held the line, their teamwork the only thing keeping the chaos in check. What if the next part of the quest threw something worse at him? Something designed not to test a group but to break an individual?
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Kyle exhaled sharply, his hand brushing against the edge of the map table. He’d built his guild from the ground up, fought tooth and nail to ensure they were ready for anything the game threw at them. They were his strength, his safety net in a world that was becoming increasingly unpredictable. And now Eidolon was stripping that away.
The thought stung more than he wanted to admit.
He glanced at the shard again, its faint, rhythmic pulse like a heartbeat in the back of his mind. Was this the reason? Was the Rift isolating him on purpose, breaking apart his support structure to make him vulnerable? The game’s mechanics had always been cutting-edge, but this… this felt targeted.
Kyle’s jaw tightened. “Alone, then,” he muttered, his voice low but firm. If Eidolon thought it could back him into a corner, it was going to learn differently. He wasn’t just a player anymore—not after everything he’d seen and felt.
But as he prepared to move forward, the unease lingered. This wasn’t about proving himself—it was about survival. And as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Eidolon wasn’t testing him. It was hunting him.
“Not ideal,” Kyle muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. His fingers brushed against the shard of the Rift in his inventory, its faint pulse radiating through him like a second heartbeat. It wasn’t just a piece of the game—it felt alive, whispering its presence into the corners of his mind. The rhythmic thrum was almost hypnotic, tugging at his thoughts with an unnatural persistence. But instead of reassurance, it brought only unease, a cold weight settling deeper in his chest.
Kyle exhaled sharply, trying to steady himself. This wasn’t the time to hesitate. He opened his contacts and typed out a message to Luna, his fingers moving slower than usual, as though the shard’s pulse had sapped his focus. Did you finish the potions?
Her reply was swift. All done. Sending them now. Be careful, Kyle. This feels… off.
A notification confirmed the potions were delivered. Kyle took a moment to check his gear, ensuring he had everything he needed. Then, without waiting for second thoughts to creep in, he set off toward the new location.
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Nash’s Journey
Far to the east, Nash trudged along the rugged path, the broken terrain forcing his focus on each step. Rolling hills gave way to patches of dense forest, and the air grew heavier with each mile. The eastern regions of Eidolon felt different—older, darker. There was a weight to the land here, an intangible heaviness that pressed against him like the echo of a forgotten story waiting to be retold.
The quest, Fragment of Shadows, nagged at the edges of his mind. Eliath’s words rang like a warning bell: “Everyone who takes this quest faces something different. It digs into you, finds the cracks.”
Nash’s fingers tightened around the hilt of his spectral blades, the familiar grip grounding him. His stride was deliberate, measured, but beneath his resolve was a gnawing tension he couldn’t shake. The chimera fight had been nothing compared to what lay ahead—he could feel it in his bones. The ruins loomed in the distance now, jagged spires clawing at the twilight sky like fractured monuments to a forgotten age.
A low wind swept across the path, carrying a faint, rhythmic hum that seemed to vibrate in his chest. It wasn’t natural. The sound pulled at something deep inside him, unsettling in its persistence. It reminded him of the phantom pain in his shoulder—the lingering ache that felt far too real for a game. It had been a brutal introduction to Eidolon, and yet it was the least of what weighed on him.
“This game is something else,” he muttered, his voice barely audible over the hum. “But what the hell was Kyle so worked up about?”
He thought back to the call. Kyle’s voice had been off, almost desperate—so unlike him. Kyle wasn’t the type to beg, but that’s exactly what it had felt like when he’d pushed Nash to join the game. Nash hadn’t understood it then, and even now, immersed in the strange, vivid world of Eidolon, he couldn’t fully piece it together.
Sure, the game was immersive to the point of being unnerving. It was cutting-edge, beyond anything Nash had experienced before. But none of that explained Kyle’s urgency. The tone in his voice had been more than concern—it had been fear. Fear of what? Nash thought, his brow furrowing.
He slowed his pace as the ruins drew closer, their jagged outlines taking on more detail. Shadows stretched unnaturally across the ground, pooling at his feet like something alive. The hum grew louder, syncing with the rhythm of his heartbeat, and Nash felt a flicker of doubt creep into his chest.
What if Kyle had known something? Not just about the game, but about… this. The shadows. The ache in his shoulder that still felt too real. Eliath’s cryptic warnings. The way the world itself seemed to shift and react to his presence, as though it were watching him. Testing him.
“What the hell did you get me into, Kyle?” he muttered under his breath, his blades flickering into existence as he approached the ruins. Their glow cast faint, warped shadows across the uneven ground, twisting in ways that made his skin crawl.
He tried to push the thoughts aside, but they clung stubbornly. Kyle had sounded like a man on the edge of something, and now Nash couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever it was, he was standing on that same edge. Was this just a game? Or had Kyle known it was something more?
The ruins loomed before him now, silent and foreboding. The shadows within them seemed deeper than they should have been, shifting and curling at the corners of his vision. He slowed, his grip tightening on his blades as his eyes scanned the jagged spires.
The hum reached its peak, vibrating through his chest like a second heartbeat. Nash stopped, his breath steadying as he stared into the darkened archway ahead.
“This isn’t just a game,” he muttered, his voice hard. “I don’t know what it is yet, but Kyle… you were right to worry.”
Steeling himself, Nash stepped forward. The ruins didn’t just wait—they watched.