Alex coughed, each breath scraping his throat as he dragged himself across the sand. His limbs trembled, and his muscles ached from the hours of struggle against the river current. He collapsed to his hands and knees onto the small beach, chest heaving, causing coarse grains to cling to the wet surface of his skin.

While floating down the river, he did his best to keep track of the twists and turns the branch had taken, hoping desperately that it would rejoin the main river or perhaps even wind back to the light side of the Rift.

That’s not exactly how rivers work, though, is it? Genius.

Alex gulped for air and flopped onto his back, his bag dropping beside him. He closed his eyes, squinting against the filtered sunlight. The clouds above were thin and offered little relief from the sun's harsh rays, only adding a dull, grey tint to the scene.

He flinched as a shadow crossed his vision and covered his face, realizing only a moment later that it was Val’s shadow crossing over his head. The mana wyrm cooed into his head before coming to rest on the backpack.

He must be tired, too. He doesn’t normally fly around for such a long time.

Sitting up, Alex did his best to assess his surroundings while catching his breath.

I’ve never been this far from the Rift exit before. I can tell the direction of the portal, but I have no idea how to get there from here.

Fuck.

Alex put his head in his hands, and part of him wanted to cry. The abnormal amount of stress and adrenaline that was dumped into his body was more than he had ever had to handle. Even compared to some of the other fights, he hadn't felt that he was in this much danger.

Idiot. Why did you even come in here? For some extra money? Adventure?

The fight with those robed lunatics, leaping off the small cliff, treading water through the river for so long, and now being lost all threatened to overwhelm him.

What do I even do here? This was so stupid.

Alex looked at his bag and felt a bit of comfort, knowing that he had begun waterproofing everything in his bag after the second trip to the boar rift. The rainforest environment had made him realize how annoying things could be when wet. He had several days' worth of food within, and he could fill up his canteen and CamelBak while he was at the river.

Val stayed coiled on the bag but lifted his head and made a noise in Alex’s head.

Unsure of what to even say to his companion, Alex returned to observing their surroundings. They were on the side of the river bank in a small sandy space. Driftwood and dead trees surrounded them while the water rushed past. The land rose up on either side of the river, easily three times higher than the place where Alex had jumped from.

He eyed the rock faces and had no confidence in his ability to climb out. He entertained the thought of trying to use his magic like a weight-reducing ritual, but he knew that it wouldn't let him get high enough.

He looked around at the debris that was near him and found a small clearing through the driftwood. It appeared that a small path was made to the rock face. Alex got up and checked his arms and legs. While there were a few scrapes and small cuts, he knew he’d bruise badly over the next few days from where he’d crashed into other rocks during his float.

“Val, stay here, okay? If you see anything coming near you, call out to me.” Alex said.

He received a single chirp in response, surprised to see the wyrm’s head raise back up and begin to swivel back and forth.

Atta boy. Now… where’s my wand?

Panic began to take hold once more as the thought settled. His wand wasn't anywhere in sight and wasn’t in his bag.

I was holding it when I made the jump, and... No, no, no.

Fuck.

Alex paced back and forth before forcing himself to get a grip. While he was without his ranged weapon, he still had the hatchet in his bag and had fought before by empowering his body. If it was needed, he could do it again here.

He forced himself to take a deep breath and grab the hatchet first before looking around at the beach. With weapon in hand, he walked up the sloped sand and through the wide path. It was wide enough to fit three people shoulder to shoulder and kept the same width the entire way up. When he reached the cliff face, Alex stopped and held his aching side.

A large opening of a cave stood in front of him.

He looked around but couldn’t see any signs of movement or life in the front of the cave. The light from outside didn’t reach far, so he could only see about ten meters into the mouth of the cave before things got too dark.

Walking back down the hill, Alex carefully pulled out an antique oil lamp. It had been a surprisingly hard find while making his preparations, and he spent too much time fiddling with it beforehand.

Alex looked around the bank of the river one more time, hoping he’d notice something that he hadn’t already. There were only three options to try and get out of this deep crevasse, and he didn’t consider the first two to be realistic.

Climbing out and jumping in the river aren't great options.

He scratched his head and let out a sigh.

“Into the cave we go, Val. I'm sorry buddy, I really wasn't taking this serious enough. I shouldn't have brought us in here but I'm going to get us out.” Alex was surprised at the conviction he felt in his voice.

I'm supposed to be looking out for you. There's really no amount of money that should have let me come in here alone. I'm running around these Rifts like a kid on a playground.

He ran his hands through his hair again and his confidence wavered. Realizing for the first time how truly trapped he was, several hundred or thousands of meters from the Rift exit, with no real idea how to survive in the wilderness. Part of his preparation supplies had been a survival manual, which might help, but if you factor in actual monsters and large stakes, Alex wondered what his odds of survival really were.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Alex picked up his pack and Valtherion wrapped around his shoulder. He limped back up the slop, holding the lantern in one hand and his hatchet in the other. The two made their way down into the cave. Alex was surprised to find that it was a tunnel that seemed to continue into the earth. He found it even more interesting when they’d been walking for thirty minutes, and the tunnel continued with little to no variation in direction or size.

He became more cautious, and they moved more slowly through the tunnel, wary of any noise that they heard. At first, he wondered if it was man-made and used by a group of people similar to the white and yellow-robed individuals who had tried to capture him. He remembered the quest mentioning that there was a 'traitor in their midst'.

That means there has to be another group, right?

After an hour, he came to a three way split where the tunnels had a slight curve. He wasn’t sure which one to take, so he decided to go in the direction that his Core was pulling toward the Rift exit. As he went to the rightmost branch, Val called out to him through their link.

Val was hovering next to the middle branch, the one that continued in the direction that they had already been walking.

“What’s over there? You’re probably just chasing more mana. Come on, we want to get out of here, not go deeper in.”

His companion responded with a deep sound that made him think that the wyrm was sad.

It was in the second hour of walking through the tunnel system that Alex had a truly terrifying thought. He'd finished berating himself some time ago, and found that the only way to move forward, was to keep taking action, though he resolved to think carefully. After that, he'd felt a surge of confidence at his newfound mentality, though it was slowly eroded by the thoughts that monsters could lurk just beyond his lantern light.

That huge black snake. It was about the size of these tunnels… wasn’t it?

Alex gulped.

Suddenly, the tunnel walls felt like they were closing in. Alex also realized just how deep underground they likely were and that and that even after all of his walking, the tunnel wasn't angling upward. He was torn between wanting to proceed with even more caution, or throw it all to the wind and get through these tunnels as quickly as possible.

No, think.

He forced himself to take a few deep breaths and push the fears to the side. Soon they walked into an open cavern that had a small creek running from one end to the other. They sat together and had a small snack. Alex finished his wrap, and he gave Valtherion a Mana Stone while doing his best not to think of all the ways that this could go horribly wrong. The lantern light caused their shadows to flicker along the rocky walls.

It wasn’t long before they were back in the winding tunnels, heading in the general direction of the Rift exit. Sometimes, there wasn’t a tunnel heading in that direction, so Alex tried to pick the next best option. At most intersections, Val continued to make his pick of direction known.

They passed several underground creeks, one cavern almost as big as a baseball stadium and one that opened into a chasm. It was awe-inspiring to Alex that as the tunnel opened up, it turned into a trail following along the side of one of the cliff faces. When he looked over the edge, it continued much deeper than the light of his lamp could reach.

Alex wondered what time it was outside of the Rift and how high of a Rarity it was. He was beginning to feel tired, so he was assuming that at least five hours had passed. Alex had been pushing through so far, hoping that they’d be able to emerge from the tunnels, but his legs felt tired and sore. The excitement and adrenaline form the chase and cliff jump had long since passed. It felt like he’d been awake for close to twenty hours. He’d woken up early to meet the others at the Voss Estate, and he found the Rift he’d already been quite tired.

So much for just poking my head inside to get more information.

He sighed and realized they may need to set up a small camp in one of these caverns. The thought caused him to shiver involuntarily, and he was unsure even excluding the giant snake of what animals or bugs could be in this sort of place.

The small cavern that they were in had one entrance, and on the opposite side, there were two exits. A right and left path. Once they’d packed up from the snack and break, Alex walked toward the right path, feeling that the Rift was closer in that direction. Val went to the left path and called out.

Alex shook his head and took two steps down his rightmost path before freezing. He held his lamp out down the tunnel again, but there was nothing there.

That was a red eye, right? I’m not seeing things? Nope, no, nooo way.

Alex turned around and entered the left path instead. Val chirped in his head, seemingly unaware of Alex’s panic and mistaking his quickened pace for excitement. Alex continued to look over his shoulder and held the swinging lantern up behind them as they moved.

It wasn’t long before he caught a glimpse of passing black scales just at the edge of his light.

Fuck. It’s really down here.

Alex started running. He knew Val would have no problems keeping up with his pace, but he was worried about keeping an eye on where they were running and the large monster behind them.

Val. Of course!

“Val, I need you to fly ahead of us. Pick whichever tunnel you think is best, we just need to go fast.” He called.

Val seemed to pick up on his urgency this time and sped away in front of Alex. This made it much easier for Alex to tell where he was going without necessarily needing the light to be pointed in that direction. He could keep the light facing behind them to monitor the snake while using his bond with Val to tell where he should be jogging.

His muscles burned, and his sides began to cramp, but Alex didn't dare to slow down. The occasional glimpses of scales or a ruby-red eye were enough to keep his blood pumping and his heart racing.

Just as he thought, his legs might give out, and he’d need to make a stand with his hatchet. The decision was taken from him. The floor beneath his feet vanished, and he began to fall. At first, there was nothing beneath him, and then he was skidding, sliding, and rolling through a steep downward tunnel.

Alex did his best to tuck his head and pull his arms in, but the fall was a tumbling mess. His bag jutted into his back, causing him to bounce or shift every few rolls. At some point, he lost consciousness and woke in the prone position on a cold stone floor. The lamp flickered beside him; part of its glass shattered across the ground.

Alex groaned and blinked his eyes several times, trying to figure out where he was or what had happened. He noted that the lamp wasn’t necessary to see in this cave.

There was another light source somewhere, creating a gentle golden glow through the large cavern. It was one of the bigger caverns that they’d been in. He scanned his surroundings before finding the source of the light and sucking in his breath.

What in the world is that?

“You’re awake, little human?” A deep voice said.

Alex cleared his throat and swallowed several times before finding his voice. “I- uhm, yes.” It took some more time for Alex to wrap his brain around what he was looking at.

There, in a very tight crouch, was an extremely large being. If the ceiling was around 50 meters, this creature took up more than half of that height while forced into a crouch. His generally humanoid figure was in a kneeling position, with one foot planted on the ground and his rear so low that it touched his other leg’s ankle. His chest was then held against his knee. He was held down into that tight pose by innumerable black ropes or chains.

As Alex took in the figure's position, he located its head and was startled to see its many eyes staring back at him. Reassessing its humanoid shape, he noted that while it had two legs, it had six arms that were individually bound to either its side or the ground.

“It’s been some time since I’ve had a visitor.” The rumbling voice came once again.

Alex was struck with awe, not just because of the being's size or powerful-looking muscles. Not even its glow and otherworldly colors shocked him as much as the sheer presence of the being.

“A-Are you a god?” Alex asked, but he found it difficult to form his words. There was a sort of pressure weighing down on his consciousness, threatening to make him black out once again.

There was a slight moment of panic as Alex thought the cave was crumbling, but after a few moments, he realized that the sound of grinding boulders and rumbling was laughing. He clutched his head and winced.

“Why is there so much pressure? I think you’re going to make me pass out again.” This being was clearly on another plane of existence from him or anything he’d seen.

The laughing slowly stopped, and the next time he spoke, the figure's voice was much more gentle, and the pressure on Alex began to subside.

“Just from your first few sentences, I can tell you’re not of this world, little human. No, I am no god, though the people of this Broken World once considered me to be something close.”

Congratulations Awakened. You have found one of the Hidden Quests!

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