Volume 43
Writer: Sabbir Ahmed
Chapter 9: Journey to the Sealed Rift
The dawn was cold, sharp, and unforgiving.
Lina, Kael, and two outpost scouts set out along the jagged mountain paths, each step deliberate. The signal shard had revealed the location of the sealed Rift—deep within the Wraith Mountains, a place no ordinary traveler dared tread. Lina's pendant pulsed steadily, as if guiding her.
"Are you ready for this?" Kael asked, keeping his eyes on the fog-filled valleys below.
Lina tightened the straps of her pack. "I don't know if anyone can be ready."
"That's the point," Mira had said before they left. "You're not just walking into danger. You're walking into yourself."
The path grew steeper, cliffs rising like jagged teeth on either side. The wind whipped around them, carrying faint whispers—ghostly echoes of long-lost travelers. Lina shivered but pressed on, feeling the pendant's warmth against her chest.
Halfway through the mountains, they paused at a narrow ledge overlooking a valley blanketed in shadow. Dark clouds churned at the base, and at the center, a faint silver light shimmered—the Rift, sealed but restless.
"That's it," Kael murmured. "That's what we're heading toward."
Lina's chest tightened. "It looks… alive."
"It is," the scout whispered. "Rifts aren't just gaps in the world. They're thinking things. Dangerous things."
The journey continued in tense silence. Every creak of stone or rustle in the wind made Lina's heart jump. Yet with every pulse of the pendant, she felt a connection growing—like the Rift recognized her, like a distant memory awakening.
As they approached the final pass, shadows shifted in unnatural ways. The Hunters were ahead, waiting.
Kael crouched. "We've got company. Two dozen, at least."
Lina clenched her fists, silver light flickering along her arms. "Then we fight."
"Not yet," Kael said. "We need to reach the Rift intact. No distractions."
Lina nodded, though fear prickled her spine. The air itself seemed to hum, resonating with the power she had only begun to understand.
Somewhere deep inside the Rift, ancient eyes stirred, sensing her approach.
And Lina realized, with a thrill and a pang of dread, that when she reached it, nothing would ever be the same.