Silence fell, so absolute it rang in Ning Que's ears. He couldn't understand the scene before him, and he resisted the urge to run. To run as fast as he could, away from all the chaos and uncertainty. But he couldn't, because his feet stayed rooted to the ground, his eyes fixed on the massive creature bleeding of smoke.
The beast knelt before him, massive and steaming. Its faceless head tilted slightly, with glowing red eyes staring into his soul.
"Welcome back… Commander."
Linx flinched, drawing his sai. He had a look of bewilderment on his face. "What the hell did it just call you?"
Aeris took two sharp steps forward, withdrawing her blade halfway out of its sheath. "Don't move." She was prepared to strike. This E-Rank hunter that had already caused a lot of problems, was even more mysterious than she thought.
"I'm not doing anything," Ning replied, stunned and raising his hands in surrender. The beast was level with him, a strange loyalty reflecting in its eyes.
Beside Aeris, Denz grunted and leveled his cannon-arm toward Ning.
"I said stand down, what do you think you want to do?" Aeris snapped at Denz, but her eyes never left Ning Que and massive beast kneeling in front of him.
"I don't know what this is—" Ning tried to say, but his vision warped, disorienting him immediately.
Golden glyphs flashed in the corners of his eyes, speaking of an ancient language. The sky above the rift shimmered in an unnatural way. And in his ears, voices whispered. Dozens, hundreds, all different, all beastly, all ancient.
"The seal trembles…"
"He walks in flesh again."
"The fracture breathes…"
A chime sounded in his mind, and he winced, grabbing his ears.
{Forgotten Realm Interface unstable. Rift pull increasing. Danger level: B+… escalating.} The system's voice was much louder, and it made Ning Que very uncomfortable.
His knees buckled slightly. He gasped for air, clutching his throat, and beside him the Katana of Light was humming with unnatural resonance.
"Talk to us!" Aeris barked at him, keeping her blade towards the monster, and her eyes on him. She didn't know who to attack. "What are you?"
"I don't know!" Ning shouted, trying to ignore the ringing in his ears. His heart was slamming against his ribs, and his lungs were begging for air. But he didn't have any control over it. "I don't—"
Then, the beast rose, a snarl erupting from it's throat.
The other four moved at once, as Ning Que struggled to remain sane.
Linx threw one of his sai at the beast's head. Denz fired his cannon arm, a grunt leaving him. Viera shouted a barrier chant, aggressively shaking her fists and focusing her mana. Aeris lunged with her sword.
But the weird thing was the beast didn't attack Ning Que, who was the most vulnerable in this situation.
It roared at the team, and its voice echoed like collapsing cities. Smoke expanded from its body at lightning speed, warping the air.
Denz took the brunt of the disruption. His armor cracked, and the air around him distorted as it was destroyed.
The beast's arms moved like tendrils of a shadow. It launched it into the air, and one slam hit Denz. He was hurled into a tree—splintered wood and bone exploding in every direction. He didn't move, and his body sagged as his badge began to flutter.
He wasn't dead yet, but the effects of the beast's shadow would keep him in that state for days.
"DENZ!" Linx screamed, dropping his sai and running towards him.
Aeris gritted her teeth and attacked, her blade slashing at the creature's trunk. Her weapon sliced cleanly through the flesh, until it passed through the beast like mist. The beast's flesh wrapped around the blade, absorbing it.
"Shit!" she cursed, flipping backward.
Viera's eyes glowed behind her barrier. "It's a Rift-body!"
Ning Que still couldn't move. The world around him blurred and pulsed like a heartbeat, then the beast turned again and looked right at him. Smoke gushed out of its nose as its eyes turned a deeper shade of red.
"You were sealed to protect the boundary," it growled. "Now you are its fracture."
"What boundary?" Ning whispered.
"They are coming," the beast said. "And they will remember you."
Then it charged Viera, who stood beside Ning Que. In Ning Que's mind, time slowed. He stepped forward instinctively, the Katana of Light appearing and lifted in his hand. The system flared.
{Interface unlocking… Echo Memory Surge detected… Initiating Partial Merge.}
Pain exploded behind his eyes and he screamed, but he did not fall. His limbs moved without his control, and his voice echoed in two tones:
One was his. The other was someone else.
The katana shimmered as he lunged in mid air, and he slashed.
The blade did not move through space, it cut through space.
A black-gold crescent tore through the air and struck the beast. The beast stopped mid-charge—its body trembling—then it shattered, but not into pieces. Into light.
Everyone stood frozen. Even Linx, whose sai was inches away from the beast's torso.
The corrupted smoke the beast left behind didn't fade away, it just spread into the forest.
The trees bent unnaturally. The dirt cracked and shimmered. Flowers turned black and hissed. The land was being rewritten by Rift corruption.
"Contain it!" Viera shouted, throwing glowing orbs into the soil.
"They're not holding!" Linx yelled, producing his own orbs from his jacket and tossing them.
Aeris did the same, but doubt filled her thoughts as she stared at Ning Que. Then she looked at Denz.
The system flared again in Ning Que's vision.
{Rift Mutation Phase: Active. Rift environment expanding. Radius: 23 meters… 32 meters… 41 meters…}
Ning fell to one knee holding his chest as his hands trembled
The Katana of Light floated beside him for a moment, before vanishing into the vault.
Viera ran to his side, after she realized that there was no containing the mutation. This land would be barren for years.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she touched his forehead, her eyes glowing faintly. Then she gasped.
"I don't know what just happened," Ning said, his eyes darting around. "I—I saw myself, b—but I wasn't me."
"You accessed the Interface," she whispered, her eyes widening. "Only a Reclaimer can do that." Instinctively she stood backwards, giving Ning Que some space.
Ning's blood ran cold. "Please. Don't tell anyone that." He whispered before Aeris reached them. Viera paused, staring at him for a moment before nodding softly.
Aeris stalked toward them, her expression as cold as ice. "You just accessed a forbidden realm. You cut a creature out of reality. Do you have any idea what you are?"
"No, I don't." Ning whispered.
Linx joined them, his face pale. "He's a monster. A fucking monster."
"Don't," Viera snapped, glaring at him.
"He just killed one of our own!" Linx exploded, resisting the urge to draw his sai and stab this boy in the neck.
"I didn't!" Ning shouted. "The beast—"
"He knelt to you. Then attacked us. While you sat there looking pretty." Linx spat, his blue eyes darkening.
"I didn't summon it. I didn't know what it was—" Ning Que was beginning to panic. All of this in a short period of time was too much for him to handle. If he was supposed to be reborn, why didn't he just have a normal life somewhere?
"That makes it worse," Aeris said quietly. He shouldn't be oblivious to such power.
The air hung heavy with accusation. Ning Que stood up slowly.
"Whatever this is, I didn't ask for it, and I want to get rid of it."
Viera touched his shoulder gently. "But it's yours now."
A long silence stretched between them.
Then the system flared again.
{Rift identity detected. Mission incomplete. Reclaimer Status: Confirmed. Hunter Status: Terminated.}
"What?" Ning gasped.
His badge dissolved into particles.
Everyone stared in shock.
And then the next line appeared.
{Would you like to initiate protocol: Sovereign?}
********
Elsewhere…
Inside the floating fortress far beyond the oceans, the dark-haired woman stood before a mirror of shadows.
She saw Ning, the blade, and the kneeling beast.
A smile curled on her lips.
"The fracture has begun," she whispered.
Behind her, a dozen armored silhouettes stirred.
"Soon, he will either become king… or cataclysm."
Guild HQ – Observation Chamber
Aeris' private comm buzzed. She stepped away from the others, reading the flickering line of text:
> Observe only. Do not engage the Reclaimer unless the seal breaks fully.
She clenched her jaw.
Her eyes flicked back to Ning Que, now bathed in Riftlight, no longer wearing his badge.
She whispered under her breath:
"This is above all of us now."