Betrayal.
She deserved it.
Only pretended to be my friend.
Sold us out.
Got everyone killed.
The light went out of the dead human’s eyes and an essence wrenched itself out of it.
A dark blue rim, covered in ethereal blood – a telltale sign of corruption.
◆Identity◆
* * *
The twins snapped out of the unpleasant memory and quickly hid their brand-new pair of corrupted essences in their soul pockets without sparing them another glance. They also pointedly didn’t look at the dead human again. No need to dredge up more bad memories.
They took a breath and looked at Dusk’s hand. The smiley face and the curse were gone. Only a cut remained. They let out a sigh of relief in unison.
Then their surroundings trembled, sending them stumbling to the floor.
“Ack!”
“Drat! We need to get out of here!”
They looked toward the mass of rubble where their party had gone and shook their heads. Completely blocked – no point in trying to go that way now.
They looked the other way. Corrosive brine pooled on the ground, mixing with shards of glass.
They looked at the walls instead. Surprisingly intact, despite all the fighting.
As geckin, it was a no-brainer. They leaped at the walls and skittered forward.
Now that they weren’t being chased by monsters or humans, they didn’t blindly rush ahead; instead, they took care not to get ambushed by more monsters or nicked by the still-present corrupting glass. Though it seemed pointless since the hallways now seemed completely barren.
The walls shook again as a loud screech resounded somewhere in the distance.
“Where is the exit…?”
“Where is the Gate, even? Which way should we go?”
Of course, they assumed that this place still had an exit even after so much of it collapsing. But they had to – assuming otherwise would be accepting their deaths.
They passed one hallway after another, avoiding holes in the ground and collapsed pathways, pitter-pattering on walls and floor alike, without any luck. After what felt like an eternity they found a tiny ray of light piercing a demolished wall and stopped to inspect it.
“No way we can fit.”
“Do we keep searching?”
“We could make way instead…”
“Do we do our combo?”
They frowned, remembering that Dawn had upgraded her skill to be corrosive, so even if this worked, combining their explosive attacks for this would end up with a path filled with acid.
Their surroundings trembled again and the ground not too far away from them suddenly shattered and sank into the depths. The twins yelped and took a step away from the newly created abyss.
They pursed their lips and looked at what could be their only way out.
If [Tricky Flail] alone didn’t end up cutting it, they would have to wait for it to re-spark before trying again, but with how quickly things seemed to be collapsing now…
Dusk stomped to create his [Terracotta Soldiers] once more and hoped they would actually be useful for more than just momentary distraction this time.
A crash resounded from the distance.
The twins stood side by side and threw their cards in a synchronized move. The cards expanded, merged, and then careened toward the wall in the form of a giant green spiky ball–
Boom.
The corrosive spikes tore through it as their surroundings shook once more. Dawn gasped as her foot sunk as the ground did, but Dusk quickly caught her before she could fall with it.
Unfortunately–
“Drat! It’s all collapsing now!”
They must have disturbed something vital.
Not good.
“We gotta get out now!”
Blue grabbed Dusk, Red grabbed Dawn, and Green slithered forward into the acid, trying to sweep it to the sides to make way. The other two followed in its wake.
Surprisingly, just the one combined attack had been enough to widen the path to be passable even for the soldiers. They waded through the acid, their lower glassy bodies melting bit by bit, but they fulfilled their purpose – getting the twins through while keeping the acid away from them.
It took a moment for them to register that this new path led upward. Rather than just another hallway, this had to have been another one of those staircases leading to the surface!
And they were right. They saw the light in the distance. Their saving grace.
Then everything shook and the ceiling collapsed.
The twins screamed, but reacted instantly. The soldiers let go of them – they had gotten out of the acid area a long time ago anyway – and raised their arms, palms up. As she landed, Dawn stomped and let [Branching Rampart] create a tree-shaped support structure in an odd recreation of what she’d done earlier with Oulo.
The ceiling slammed into the six glassy arms and a tree.
And it held.
The two geckin let out a shaky breath. Then they looked forward again and saw the end of the tunnel.
“...Let’s go.”
Decision made, the twins left behind the soldiers and the rampart and crawled forward through the tight space – quickly but carefully. Every step of the way, they thought the ceiling would move to crush them again, but it never happened.
After what felt like an eternity of being stuck in the underground dungeon, the twins finally made it out.
But they weren’t out of the woods just yet.
As soon as they emerged, they stood back to back and scanned the area.
The sun seemed to have gone out completely, barely flickering now; the fortress had turned into nothing but ruins of salt and glass; monsters still littered the surroundings, but they didn’t see any Elites or Bosses anymore – though unfortunately, they couldn’t see any hunters either.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“Where are the others…?” Dusk murmured.
“Maybe they already made it out…?”
“I doubt–”
Then Dawn saw it.
All the way in the distance near the Gate, the salt mountains had something charred into them. A message.
‘D+D=>ED’
The twins blinked in confusion, wondering what that was supposed to be. Then they remembered Tepp’s new skill, [Firestorm Staff], and the fact that it could have been used to draw that message from afar.
It only took another moment for them to understand the message.
“Dusk and Dawn.”
“Go to Estra Dolla.”
The others had made it out.
Tension they didn’t even notice lifted from their shoulders.
Sure they hadn’t known them for that long, but surviving this nightmare together had done wonders to make the twins start to care. Part of them still felt afraid to care and to trust, given what had happened in the past, but they were tired of fending for themselves all alone.
A glass maid stumbled out of the rubble, ‘looked’ at them, and immediately charged.
The twins tensed and drew their cards as they pushed away the melancholy. After all, they needed to get out of here alive first.
Dusk used [Transfrogify], while Dawn drew [Cliffhide Fist]. The female geckin dashed forward just as their foe transformed and before it could reorient itself, slammed her fists down on it, causing it to shatter.
They barely even took note of the flashing, purple-rimmed pair of cards they received from this monster before moving on.
No time to waste. They had to get out before the rift decided to throw more Elites their way.
It felt strange, in a way, ploughing through the Very Rare and Epic-tier monsters that came at them one by one, when only a week ago, they ran away from a single Rare-tier hooved lizard.
They felt stronger, yes, but also much more confident. Was it just the experience of surviving two fresh rifts – one of which had completely broken? Or did [Soul Split] have anything to do with this?
A slime exploded as [Tricky Bale] hit it. [Hallowed Embrace] healed their wounds.
The twins kept going.
If only they had been this confident back at the orphanage… Though, to be fair, deciding to escape had been a pretty ballsy move for an eight-year-old, so maybe they had the courage in them the whole time?
Shards of glass bounced off [Iridion’s Shawl]. Dawn smashed the weird glassy flower with her [Cliffhide Fist].
They kept going.
Regardless, they had enough of running away. These two long weeks in Anxia had proven to them that even if they escaped the cult, they wouldn’t be safe. Maybe a bit stupid to expect safety from a frontier city, but… something told them fate would keep hunting them down even if they did settle in Kradence, far away from the cult’s usual prowling grounds.
It was a sign, they bet. Actually, they’d felt a lot of those lately. Maybe they could become oracles if this whole hunter thing failed?
Hah…
They grabbed each other and braced for the impact. Dawn then stomped, launching them over the jagged wall of debris with [Branching Rampart]. They gently landed on the other side, courtesy to [Feather’s Grace].
Almost there. They could already see the ruined entrance to the fortress. Beyond that, they only needed to enter the Gate.
They wouldn’t give up on being hunters, though. Unlike back when they’d been forced to go into rifts to serve as healing slaves, the excitement of exploring new places and being able to actually keep the essences they happened to get invigorated them. Yes, street performing was fun, but it just couldn’t compare to rift hunting.
Even if this had been way more dangerous and had cost Minn her arm–
A spiky translucent critter jumped at them from the side – Dusk’s blind spot, but not Dawn’s. Dusk conjured [Steel Flail] and smacked the critter in the face without even looking at it.
They crossed the fortress’s threshold and sprinted to the Gate.
No more running away aimlessly. They had a party now and they would do their best to do their part. How long had it been since they’d felt true camaraderie with someone? The orphanage? The troupe? It felt like a lifetime.
But they didn’t want to lose this.
Part of them feared that the others hadn’t made it out despite the message, but they decided to ignore it. They had to trust in fate.
A giant crab made of salt blocked their way, its pincers flailing. Dusk stomped to re-form his [Terracotta Soldiers]. Blue blocked the left pincer, Red blocked the right one, Green slithered under the beast and punched its belly, causing its legs to jerk and collapse onto Green.
Dusk got on Dawn’s back. She used [Transfrogify] him, and they glided over the downed crab straight into the Gate using [Feather’s Grace].
They turned back right before hitting the Gate–
The world lurched and spun as colors flashed in their vision despite their closed eyes. One second in and they regretted their action, thinking that maybe the rift being broken also meant that the Gate wouldn’t function properly and would instead tear them into pieces–
And then their bodies hit the ground with a thud. They grunted in unison and quickly scrambled to stand.
The sight of absolute carnage greeted them.
Salt and shards of glass everywhere, monsters stomping down the streets, evening rays of light illuminating it all through the gaping holes in the ceiling, and only the last remnants of hunters and city guards trying to fend off the hordes.
“What do we do…?” Dawn asked with a thin voice as they took it all in.
Should they help fight the monsters still? They couldn’t even see the S-ranks anymore. Had they died? Or had they retreated?
Either way, even to their untrained eyes, trying to contain this rift now was a fool’s errand. As much as it pained them to leave the city, they had to get out. They couldn’t die in here, not after everything.
“Let’s go.”
They set off before the nearest monsters noticed them, and immediately headed for the closest elevators.
Then they realized that the elevators probably wouldn’t even operate right now and cursed.
How were they supposed to get out of here then? They couldn’t scale the walls with parts of the ceiling still covering the place. The only way out…
““The tunnels.””
The old elf had told them these led every which way and were even used by some braver merchants. Not safe, not in the slightest, but the twins didn’t see any other way out of this dying city.
A Glass Tyrant lumbered at them from the side. They quickly changed direction and ran the other way.
“Which one though?!”
“They all look the same!”
They didn’t want to end up taking the one that led toward the Wild Tear. That would spell nothing but death. Luckily, despite a lot of the city being wrecked by now, certain tunnels were still boarded off with warning signs plastered on them – those had to be the ones leading toward danger.
So the twins did the most logical thing and beelined for the tunnels on the exact opposite side of the city from them.
They had to dodge quite a number of monsters, but with their skills and their ingenuity, they quickly made it to their destination, doing their best to ignore all the corpses strewn around the city.
A trio of tunnels opened up before them and for a moment, they thought about splitting up to see which one would be the safest.
Dumb idea. Not splitting up at all was the safest option.
Not wanting to waste much time choosing, they went with their gut and listened to the signs.
They ran into the leftmost one and disappeared into the darkness.
* * *
On the sixth of Skywake, the month of Avians, 486th year of the Accordant calendar, the great frontier city Anxia was overrun by monsters from the Saltglass Fortress rift, causing nearly a quarter of the city’s population to be eradicated in the process.
Upon learning this, the emperor immediately launched a search for the criminal who had killed the rift’s Shepherd and caused this tragedy. Thanks to testimony of several people present at the incident, including Oln, the human god himself, the national guard quickly pinpointed the culprit and started a nation-wide manhunt for her.
Unfortunately, Slime Queen, the former S-rank rift hunter turned an international terrorist, has yet to be found.
* * *
End of Part 1 of Book 1 - Frontier city Anxia
* * *
Current decks
Dusk
Active (4/4):
[Hallowed Embrace] (Very Rare)
[Tricky Flail] (Very Rare)
[Transfrogify] (Very Rare)
[Terracotta Soldiers] (Very Rare)
Passive (2/?):
[Soul Split] (Epic) {Prime} {Negative}
[Iridion's Shawl] (Very Rare)
Toggle(1/?):
[Steel Flail] (Rare)
Essences:
Glow (Basic)
Dust (Basic)
Spark (Basic)
Snipe (Very Rare)
Corrosion (Very Rare)
Umbrage (Legendary) {Corrupted}
6x CgO@vrekd (Very Rare) {???}
3x K3iO&jge (Epic) {???}
Lr%mcE$ (Legendary) {???}
Dawn
Active (4/4):
[Heartseeker] (Very Rare)
[Tricky Bale] (Epic)
[Transfrogify] (Very Rare)
[Cliffhide Fist] (Rare)
Passive (2/?):
[Soul Split] (Epic) {Prime} {Negative}
[Feather's Grace] (Very Rare)
Toggle(1/?):
[Branching Rampart] (Very Rare)
Essences:
Glow (Basic)
Dust (Basic)
Spark (Basic)
Command (Very Rare)
Umbrage (Legendary) {Corrupted}
6x CgO@vrekd (Very Rare) {???}
3x K3iO&jge (Epic) {???}
Lr%mcE$ (Legendary) {???}
