Chương 70: The Shape of Fear

Enzo approached the rift, cane gripped tight in his left hand, each step taken carefully, almost as if it would be his last. It probably looked a touch dramatic, but he wanted to give the others an accurate measurement when the thing swallowed him whole. Except it didn't. He reached the rift and stopped. The shimmer hung in the air in front of him, close enough to touch. Close enough that the pull on his reserves was impossible to ignore. Which meant his crazy plan would probably work.

But the rift wasn't pulling him in like it was supposed to. He looked over his shoulder.

"It's not eating me." Kenzo shrugged.

"Maybe it's taking a nap?"

"Maybe it's broken?" Val called from behind Kenzo at the same time.

"It's not. I can feel it sucking on my mana." Sumi leaned around both of them.

"It's more likely that the rift isn't claimed, like you suspected. The Guide entry said that unclaimed rifts allow free entry and exit."

"Alright, I'm going to touch it." Kenzo laughed.

"That's what—" Enzo reached for the rift. The world folded around him. Everything raced toward the horizon as reality stretched impossibly long. Colors swirled, and sounds distorted. Then it was over. Everything snapped back into focus at the same time. He blinked. He was standing on uneven stone in near-total darkness, illuminated by something behind him.

"Light Orb." The spell snapped into existence, the orb appearing over his shoulder, and the rift revealed itself to him. He was standing partway up a rocky slope inside a cavern larger than anything he'd expected. The ceiling rose high enough that the light from his spell barely reached it. Tunnel entrances that stretched into darkness dotted the walls in every direction, some at ground level, others high up on ledges that would require climbing to reach. The rock around him was uneven but otherwise featureless.

The air was cool but still, and there was no sound beyond his own breathing and the faint scrape of the cane against stone as he shifted his weight to take it all in. Caves. He'd been right. The rift had attempted to trap him underground in a cavern full of uniform tunnels reaching in every direction, with no way to tell which would lead him out. A flash of light on one of the upper ledges caught his attention. Enzo turned and watched as something formed from nothing.

Purple mana condensed out of the air, thickening, taking shape. Limbs first, followed by a torso. Then a head that was all wrong. It looked like an ape. Scaled, hunched, with long arms ending in curved claws the size of daggers. But the head was a lion's, complete with a heavy mane that framed a face full of teeth. It crouched on the ledge and studied him with bright purple eyes that felt aware. The eyes looked familiar, but it was immediately obvious the glow wasn't that of an Eater.

It appeared almost intelligent. Enzo raised a hand, middle and index fingers pointing. He hesitated. The thing was just out of range, even for Bolt. The creature made a sound. A low, stuttering vocalization that came from somewhere deep in its chest. It sounded like laughter. Enzo didn't move. The creature held his gaze for another second, then turned and disappeared into the tunnel behind it. The scrape of claws on stone faded quickly. He exhaled and lowered his hand.

If he hadn't seen it for himself, he wouldn't have believed the thing had formed entirely out of arcane mana, though perhaps it wasn't entirely surprising. They'd faced creatures in the first rift that weren't made of flesh and blood. This one made him think ambush predator. And if he understood how rifts worked correctly, it had formed from his underlying fears, just as the rift's interior had. Worse, his subconscious had put the thing on a high ledge, watching from above, where it could laugh down at him.

He wasn't sure what that said about him and he didn't want to think about it right now. Enzo swept his gaze across the rest of the cavern. A purple crystal jutted from the wall to his left, roughly the size of his forearm. Down one of the lower tunnels, he could see the faint glow of another, smaller one. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He turned back to where the other light source was.

At the apex of the hill, floating a few inches off the ground, was a tear in the air. Taller than he was and oval in shape. Through it he could see a warped, distorted view of the cellar. The way out. A notification pinged at the corner of his awareness. He frowned, but ignored it for the moment. There was no reason for it that he could think of, unless it was because his spell had leveled. It had been a bit delayed though, if that was the case.

A second later, a wavy figure approached, passing between the wine racks. Even with the blur and discoloration, it was obviously Kenzo. Kenzo reached out an arm and touched the other side of the rift. Then his form twisted. Stretched sideways and compressed vertically at the same time. It lasted less than a second, then Kenzo was standing a few feet from him, blinking hard.

"Bro," he said.

"Shouldn't it be easier the second time or something? That was not pleasant."

"Looked worse from this side." Kenzo straightened and looked around. His eyebrows rose as he took in the cavern, the tunnels, the distant glow of crystals.

"Damn," he said.

"Looks nothing like the first one. This what you expected?"

"Pretty much." Kenzo turned to him with a frown.

"You good?"

"Yeah. I just don't know if it actually drew on my fears, or if I convinced it to do so by thinking really hard about it." He jabbed a thumb at the tear in reality.

"There's an exit, so it's not actually scary." Kenzo opened his mouth, then stopped, his eyes locked on something over Enzo's shoulder. Enzo turned. A stream had appeared from the mouth of one of the tunnels, trickling over the ledge. It rained down, pooling in a depression, before overflowing and finding a path downhill through another tunnel. Then the ceiling began to drip. One drop. Then another. Then a steady, rhythmic dripping that echoed through the cavern.

Dark green moss crept across the stone floor near the water. It spread up the walls in patches, covering the bare rock in seconds. That confirmed his theory. Kenzo's subconscious association was writing itself into the rift alongside his own. It wasn't the full expression of his best friend's fear, but it had changed the rift in real time moments after his entry.

"This place is kind of cool, actually," Kenzo said, finally looking around properly.

"Probably for the best you went first though, huh?"

"Yeah." They turned back to the exit tear and watched as Val approached from the other side. She arrived the same way, stretching and distorting. Kenzo stepped backward with a grimace.

"Oof. You're right. It looks even worse than it feels." Val stumbled slightly when she appeared on this side of the rift.

"Ugh," she said.

"You could have warned me." Enzo patted her on the head.

"And ruin the experience for our favorite little sister?" Kenzo chuckled. Val glared at them both.

"I'd hate to see how you treat a sister you didn't like." She looked around the cavern, taking everything in.

"What's so bad about—" Webs appeared. They crawled into existence across the dry sections of ceiling, spreading outward from a point above Val's head like frost across a window. Each strand glinted under the light from his orb. A skittering sound came from somewhere in the tunnels. Then another, from a different direction. Val jerked back, stopping between Kenzo and Enzo.

"What was that?" Before either of them could answer, spiders emerged among the webs. They weren't large. Just slightly bigger than they should have been. They settled along the webs and went still. But in the dim light near the ceiling, their glowing purple eyes made them appear far more menacing than real spiders.

"Kill them, Enzo," Val said, grabbing his arm.

"Shoot a fireball or something." Enzo glanced down at his sister.

"Wait. You're afraid of spiders?"

"So what?" she growled, squeezing his arm harder.

"Just get rid of them."

"How am I just now finding this out?"

"Ugh. I kept it a secret, obviously. Because I knew you'd react like you are right now." Enzo shook his head. But he raised his hand and took aim at one of the spiders on the ceiling.

"Bolt." The spell shot into the air and exploded against the ceiling, taking one of the tiny mana critters with it. Dust and small fragments of rock rained down below the point of impact. The rest of the spiders scattered, vanishing into the cracks.

"There." Val held onto his arm a moment longer, staring up at the ceiling. Then she let go of his arm.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"And I don't want to hear another word." Enzo exchanged a look with Kenzo, but neither of them said anything. They knew better. Robert came through next. He bent over immediately, hands on his knees, groaning. Val stepped toward him, but Robert raised a hand.

"Vertigo. I'm alright. Give me a second." Enzo looked around, watching for changes. Nothing new appeared. He had no way to know whether that was because the rift had some limit on how many changes it could make, or because the changes were out of sight. Robert straightened.

"This is it, huh?" He glanced at the tunnels, the crystal, the flowing water, which was steadily growing louder, and finally the tear.

"Doesn't look like much."

"Wait until you meet the residents," Enzo said. Sumi entered next. She recovered faster than the others, eyes already scanning and one hand raised to cast. Val crossed over to her and took her arm, talking quietly. Then Frank stepped through immediately after her, followed by a member of the Watch. They both swept the cavern, weapons at the ready. Neither of them had displayed any discomfort from the transition. They turned back to the tear.

Another figure approached from the cellar side and reached out with a distorted arm. Nothing happened. The arm pulled back. The figure turned around and waved at someone. Another person approached and reached out toward the rift. Again, nothing happened. The rest of the Watch members on the other side gathered, each one taking turns despite what was apparent to everyone. Seven. That was the limit for this rift.

"Now what?" Frank asked.

"We grabbing them crystals or heading out?" The others fell into discussion about whether it was worth testing what would happen if they all left and reentered in a different order. But Enzo wasn't paying attention. He'd pulled up the Guide, curiosity finally getting the best of him. The notification wasn't just a level up.