The night sky has started to fall over the rift, waking up it's inhabitants and like a simple switch making thousands of pale lights bloom out of their green shells.
The first layer of the first floor lit up like a flare amidst the dark steep walls of the rift making way for moonlight.
The lush Caverns, a name given to it long ago by the first delvers that stepped foot into the rift.
It's cave systems expanded far further into the ground than it looked from above, almost rivaling the size of Heathgrove.
Its a home to many spieces of insects aswell as exotic plants that may or may not end your life in the span of mere seconds.
The walls that towered all across the layer were just a forest of trees that had far surpassed their regular growth limit reaching over fifty meters tall from which vines and many variations of parasitic flowers had wrapped themself across their trunks.
The mana in the air could be visinle even to the naked eye of a regular person as it became twice as thick as the one on the surface, having the possibility of suffocating them.
Then, between the trees where no soul dared to make a sound on what seemed to be an empty clearing.
A crude mace was swung across the air destroying everything in it's path.
The sound of bones crushed by the weight of his body echoed through the moist air.
The putrid air spread across the surroundings as his deep green skin ressembling that of freshly carved jade blocked another set of arrows that came his way, snapping them in half upon impact.
The foul odor, surronded the creature who accepted it with a grace bearing it over himself like a king his mantle with pride and sick satisfaction.
A mercenary's eyes which have long been opened after his head was cut off, crushed like an apple in it's palm as the brain matter squeezed through his thick fingers.
.
.
.
.
"What's that noice?"
"Probably some birds."
I looked down and shivered at the sight of how high we were compared to the shining surface of the first layer.
Thankfully i wasn't that bad of a student as i paid close attention to the lesson's memorizing whatever information might be usefull in the future.
The Lush Caverns.
This was the name of the first layer of the rift which we weren't supposed to venture into it and without a guardian to that.
The forest seemed to come to life after the sun had fully set as we all watched the unreal transformation it had underwent.
'i almost died'
I shook my head after remembering how careless i was to just jump into the opening of the rift and almost slide down the slope.
It was so steep that i was barely able to keep my balance after others caught my sliding body.
It was my fear that clouded my judgement making me untie the rope immediately after i felt my feet touch the ground.
Thankfully, others didn't fear heights as much as i did as they jumped in without hesitation catching me by my uniforms thin collar.
"What's the floor master like anyways?"
I asked Zephyr who seemed more knowledgeable on the topic than others, his insight on the city's situation was what made me decide to even join them here.
"I only heard tales about them when i was growing up, but i can say one thing for sure."
He spoke as if he was remembering the stories he heard.
"They.. are not normal, the rift beasts which all of us had encountered during entrance exam were mere copies of the original.
It's not that they were weak, it's that they were mindless, they are beasts only in name, their minds however could rival ours, believe me when i say this but... even seasoned delvers have problems with dealing with them."
I, engrossed by his explanation, started to wonder what kind of creatures would make someone as strong as them be wary.
'it's still making me want to vomit when i think about those abominations'
"But the floor masters..."
His tone shifted from reminiscent to a timid one, carrying a hint of fear.
"They're on a different level, ruling over the weaker ones like a tyrant.
Regular rift beast takes around one person of the same rank to defeat but when its floor master, you would need a party of delvers with the same or even higher tier than the floor master himself.
It's foolish to even compare yourself to one and yet we came here just for that."
His eyes tracing the edges of the cave's walls as he stopped speaking seemingly lost in thought.
His hand was gripping his swords handle tightly which he let go with a sigh as he muttered.
"So pridefull."
It seemed as if he wasn't thinking about it like a tale.
The shadow over his face didn't let me read his expression so i just spoke.
"How do you know so much?"
I asked, not caring about his change in attitude which he replied to dryly, his dark eyes focused on the light.
"I just happened to grow up closer to the rift, it's natural to know more about the things you always feared."
Right, just because the people here were crazy didn't mean that they didn't have an ounce of fear in them.
I didn't think about it but just imagining myself living right above something that could end my life in just mere moments wasn't something to ignore.
"Then do you fear the rift?"
He didn't answer, focusing his attention on the scenery of the light that came from the forest which we got closer and closer to.
"Hes around senior Francines strenght."
Marco said while i became utterly confused.
"The who?"
"The metal guy that we fought during the exam."
"What do you mean we? You just left me- Ah!"
I noticed a pair of ember eyes giving me a side-eye clearly ready to leave another burn mark on me.
She thankfully calmed down after noticing Marco's gaze and went on with being a living torch.
"Senior francine is a second-year in the academy which is why he was the one testing us, it was also probably a test for him since he's going to be the next headmaster."
"Really? He's that important?"
"Although he doesn't look like it, he is weaker than you think, with a group like ours, we could defeat him without much of a problem."
- Phew
'And here i thought we would have to give up-'
"Halt."
Marco's voice cut through the air freezing us like small stone statues as he looked down into the darkness.
His eyes like two clear lakes scanned the tunnel in front of us before he whispered.
"Put out the flame."
The fire on Ash's palm dissapeared as soon after the cave's surroundings started to tremble.
Pieces of rock and moss which i didn't notice before had fell from the ceiling as we heard something walk in our direction.
It wasn't on such a scale that we could lose our balance but i still held onto the nearby stalactite that was coming from the ground.
To our luck, it didn't last long as soon after he asked Ash to reignite the flame on her palm.
He glanced at the forest below us.
"We're getting close."