"It is pretty dark in here! I cannot see anything at all!" Jake exclaimed, his voice echoing slightly in the narrow tunnel.
"Yeah, I could really use a flashlight," Lucid muttered without thinking.
"What is a flashlight?" Alice sounded genuinely confused in his mind.
Jake also had a confused expression, even with the upper half of his face slightly obscured by his hat.
'Good grief,' Lucid thought. He had to be more careful. He was used to the objects of his old world, but he could not really disclose information about them. Earth was supposed to be some kind of fallen civilization wrapped in prophecy. He had to watch his words, to avoid saying anything that could tie him to his origins. Who knew how people would react? Karmen seemed particularly intrigued by this so-called fallen civilization, and Lucid guessed that many powerful individuals would be just as interested. They might go to any means to gather even the slightest information about it.
"Uh, a lantern. I meant a lantern," he corrected himself lazily.
"Oi, mate, we cannot continue on like this! It is too dark!" Jake yelled, his voice holding a slight edge of real worry.
Lucid, meanwhile, carried on as if it were normal. He could see the traces of the interior. He saw the marks left by shovels, the wooden structures some unlucky individuals had built to support the cave from collapsing. Though it was dark, his vision was adjusting, like eyes growing used to a dim room after a long time. That was what Lucid saw now. A dark, but still discernible, place.
"What do you mean?" Lucid asked, turning back. "It is a bit dark, but the remaining light from the cave's entrance should let us see enough."
"If you can see, then call me blind, for I am in the dark!"
"What?" Lucid said out loud, confusion in his voice. He peered at Jake, who was now running a hand along the left side of the cave wall as if feeling his way.
"Stop. How are you even seeing?" Jake asked, sounding both annoyed and amazed.
Lucid looked behind him. Jake really did seem lost, squinting into the blackness. Lucid could not help but manage a slight, internal chuckle.
'Ahaha. Karma's work,' he thought.
Another familiar voice resonated through his mind, the sound also seeming to echo in the cave itself, giving the illusion it was coming from somewhere deep. "I fear he may not be able to see, Lucid."
"Why is that? If he cannot keep up, we might as well leave him here."
"It is that trait of ours. The Chain of Heart. You have an attribute of Perception. Though it is weak, you have slightly heightened sight above an ordinary human. It is a passive effect, it seems."
"Oh, I forgot about that," Lucid thought. "That is quite neat. I thought I could only activate it to trace Fate Essence."
He looked back at Jake, managing a sigh of pity. He felt a little bad for looking down on his companion. He put his hand forward and focused intently on that trait of his. This time it was different. He did not need Alice's help or her guidance. He just remembered back to that evening, that night where he was focusing his Fate Essence, gathering it in a specific spot. He could feel the air around him, the faint, glowing particles of energy. He guided them toward his palm, exerting his will, feeling like he was pushing something out of his own body.
A light formed in that instant, entirely under his control. Not with Alice's input. Not with Alice doing it. It was just him. Though it was a small moment, it felt like a triumph.
The cave illuminated as if a single light bulb had sprung to life in his palm. The soft, white-gold glow pushed back the thick shadows, revealing the rough-hewn walls and the dusty path ahead.
"Wow, Lucid," Alice said, her voice filled with quiet awe. "I did not know you could control my Fate Essence so directly. Great job. The light is brighter than the last time, when I helped you."
Jake winced behind his cap, momentarily putting a hand up to rub his eyes. "Wow! I did not know you were an Awakened as well!"
"How convenient," Jake smiled, keeping up his positive personality and beam. It was getting a little tiring to see this guy smile and be positive all the time, but Lucid could not help himself. He managed a small smile as well. Jake's attitude was oddly infectious and strangely sweet.
"Let's go," Lucid commanded, his voice firm.
Walking through that tunnel, Lucid soon saw the grim remains of what had once been a worker, a miner. The person was now scattered all over the ground, mutilated as if something had ravaged this place and now guarded it. The sight was brutal.
"Goodness gracious, what happened here?" Jake said under his breath. It was the first sign of real fragility in his usually unshakable personality.
"The nature of the Rifts," Lucid replied, his voice stern. As someone who had experienced firsthand how cruel Rifts could be, this did not faze him. Nothing much fazed him anymore, despite how cowardly he sometimes felt inside. "Stay on your toes. And do not overestimate yourself."
"Relax. You are a tough one, Lucid."
"Jake," Lucid said, stopping and looking the musician in the eye, or where his eyes should be under the hat. "I mean it. If you cannot seem to handle what is coming, run. Do not look back." He sounded completely serious.
For someone like Jake, this was a statement that gave him pause. He was lightly taken aback by Lucid's grim warning. They were seeing a grim sight, and the further they went, the stronger the feeling of wrongness became. Lucid could have practically not given a damn about him, but here he was, offering a chance to flee.
They walked and walked in silence after that, the only sound their footsteps and the soft hum of Lucid's palm-light. Eventually, they could see a faint, new light ahead. Not the warm gold of his magic, but a fragile, violet glow that pulsed weakly from deep within the mountain.
That color confirmed his suspicions. His first encounter with a Rift had been a Sentrum Rift. A Rift designed to drag in non-Awakened, non-Enlightened individuals, to pull them into a trial and grant them either ascension, awakening, or death upon failure. He remembered from the library that there were said to be different types of Rifts. A Sentrum Rift was designed for a person to overcome and solve a specific event from the past. Then there was an Omega Rift. An Omega Rift was the same as a Sentrum Rift on paper, but this particular rift could be entered by multiple individuals at once. Lucid had rarely entered one, since his old leader had forbidden him from going in alone. And he had good reason, since Lucid had just been an ordinary human. These Rifts did not just appear out of nowhere and vanish. They could linger. They were dangerous because a lingering Rift could be just about anything inside. A wildcard. And if left unattended for a long period, beings could cross over from the other side, even if it was not an invasive rift that sucked things in like the Sentrum Rift had.
'Ugh. Another trial,' Lucid groaned in his mind.
They reached their destination. They stood in front of a massive tear in the fabric of the cave itself. It was like a big cut in the air, shimmering with purple, ethereal light that swirled and pulsed, inviting them to come in.
"How beautiful," Jake muttered, his voice full of wonder.
Lucid did not remember much from his studies, and quite frankly, he was still in the dark about a lot. But he had a faint idea nonetheless. They were going into a trial, but that trial could be anything. It was not necessarily something in the past or the future. It was random. It could really be just about anything. It might not even be a trial. The worst-case scenario was that they would be inhabiting another person's body. That was a possibility. Or it could be something in the past, just like the Sentrum Rift Lucid had come from. But nonetheless, they would have to enter it and work together to come out alive.
'Unless...' he thought for a brief moment, a desperate plan forming.
"Look out!" Jake screamed. He reached out for Lucid, followed by a guttural growl that filled the cavern.
Jake shoved Lucid hard to the side. In the same instant, a huge, leopard-like beast, its form sleek and deadly, pounced from a shadowy alcove. It landed on Jake, biting down on his shoulder. Blood sprayed, dark against Jake's blue tunic.
Quick on his feet, Lucid grabbed a loose rock from the ground and hurled it at the beast's head. The rock connected with a dull thud, grabbing its attention. As his light fell on the creature, he could see it clearly. It was a High-Grade Unfaithful. Its fur was a deep, unnatural blue, and it had luminous white stripes and eyes that glowed with a cold, intelligent hunger.
'It is an A-Tier,' he registered quickly, the old classification from his scout days coming back.
It lunged at Lucid. Lucid widened his stance and dodged its attack with a speed and agility that surprised even him. Could it be that clearing a Rift and unlocking a trait, however weak, had made him stronger?
There was no time to think. More paw-like swipes came at him, right and left. He weaved and ducked, but one claw grazed him, tearing his shirt and leaving a stinging mark on his stomach.
"Breathe Lucid… I believe in you" Alice's gentle words of comfort made it less painful.
"Argh!" he screamed, more in shock than pain.
He looked around. Jake had gotten to his feet, already pulling out his violin. He seemed dazed, looking around as he clutched his bleeding shoulder. At their position, Jake was by the Rift, almost close enough to be pulled in if it were active. Lucid was in front of the beast, his back toward the tunnel they had come from. It was a tricky spot. He could leave without Jake, or stay and fight this thing.
'Focus.'
'Ah, that is right!'
He pulled out the dagger he had found in the sewer. The dagger with the mark of a circle and a hat etched into the hilt he had retrieved from the sewers.
The Unfaithful beast pounced at him again. He switched his grip on the blade, holding it backwards, and dodged its lunge. As it flew past, he stabbed upwards with both hands, aiming for its eye. The blade sank in with a sickening pop. Purple blood started to fall.
However, something was wrong. The beast was not falling. It was thrashing, and its massive weight was lifting him, carrying him around in the air. With a vicious shake, it bit down on his other arm and threw him. He went tumbling through the air, landing in a heap right next to Jake, who was standing there, watching it all go down.
There was no time. Lucid put his mangled hand to the ground, trying to push himself up, and failed, hitting his face on the stone.
"RUN INSIDE THE RIFT NOW!" he yelled at Jake.
Something was wrong with Jake. He was coughing, coughing hard, and then vomiting up blood. The musician doubled over, his instrument clattering to the ground.
From a distance, the wounded beast turned. It saw both of them as easy targets now. It opened its mouth. In the middle of its jaw, something was materializing. A ball, an orb of concentrated, crackling violet energy.
'Shit.'
Lucid got up, ignoring the screaming pain in his left arm.
"It's ok I—," before Jake could say anything back.
Lucid jumped toward Jake, pushing the coughing musician toward the shimmering rift while narrowly avoiding the beam of violet energy that seared the air where they had just been.
He got up slowly. The beast was already leaping through the air at him. He tried to move, but his injured leg buckled. He fell.
He intercepted its bite with his already wounded arm, letting the creature sink its teeth into the muscle and tear at the tendons. The pain was blinding, white-hot and absolute.
"No!" Alice gasped.
"Not like this," he whispered.