Ethan stood before the Guild's war table, brow furrowed as he examined the glowing map projected by a crystal orb.
The mission hall buzzed with murmurs. But his assignment stood out like blood on parchment.
"Unstable Rift?" he repeated, turning to Juno. "That's… Rank C."
"I know," she said, arms folded, voice grim. "But the Guild is stretched thin. Most C-rank hunters are occupied in the east. And the Rift appeared near Ashfall Village—barely a day from here."
"And I'm the best option?"
"You're the only one who's survived a Rift corruption echo with your mind intact," she said. "We're not sending you in alone. You'll go with a squad."
He nodded slowly, fingers brushing his sword's hilt. "When do we leave?"
"Now."
---
The transport crystal pulsed as Ethan and his team arrived just outside Ashfall. Four others came with him: Dren, the brawler; Lira, a scout with enchanted daggers; Malric, a barrier mage; and Sayen, a quiet archer with one blind eye that somehow missed nothing.
The village had already been evacuated. But the Rift towered above it like a tear in the world, shimmering with corrupted light.
"Smaller than I expected," Dren muttered, stretching. "Shouldn't be too bad."
Sayen shook her head. "It's thin. But unstable. That means it shifts."
Ethan felt it the moment he stepped closer.
The Beastmark pulsed.
This Rift wasn't like the others. It didn't just pull—it hummed, like a living thing. Hungry. A resonance that echoed in the pit of his spine.
"I don't like this," Lira whispered. "Feels wrong."
Juno's voice crackled through the comm crystal. "Get in, secure the breach point. Don't linger. If the Rift shifts, it could collapse with you inside."
"Understood," Ethan said.
And they stepped through.
---
The world beyond the Rift was broken.
Ashen skies twisted above them. The ground was cracked and scorched, with rivers of glowing mana splitting the terrain like molten veins. The trees here were petrified, some floating sideways in midair.
Malric muttered a spell, forming a protective ward over the group. "Stay close."
They moved through the wasteland carefully. The Rift's hum was louder now—like a heartbeat beneath their feet.
Then the beasts came.
At first, they looked like wolves. But their bodies were elongated, bones jutting through skin, eyes glowing white. Rift Wraiths.
Three of them lunged from the right.
Ethan was already moving.
He ducked under a swipe, slashed upward, and cleaved through a wraith's neck. Dren shoulder-charged another, snapping bone with brute force. Lira danced between the third's claws, blades flashing.
One minute.
That's how long the fight lasted.
Too fast. Too easy.
"Why send a squad for that?" Dren asked, wiping his mouth.
Ethan's eyes narrowed. "Because that wasn't the real threat."
As if on cue, the ground shook.
From the hills ahead, something rose.
A beast—ten feet tall, cloaked in chains of living shadow. Its body flickered between solid and transparent, like it didn't belong here. Blue fire pulsed in its chest.
Malric cursed. "That's not supposed to be in a C-Rank Rift."
"No," Ethan breathed. "That's a Riftwalker."
Lira's eyes widened. "They haven't been seen in over a decade."
The creature roared.
The shockwave flattened a ring of earth around them.
Malric threw up a shield just in time, the barrier cracking under the force.
"We have to retreat!" Sayen shouted.
But Ethan's eyes were locked on the Riftwalker.
Because the mark on his wrist was glowing—and this time, not faintly.
It blazed.
The beast's flame-core pulsed in sync with the Beastmark.
It had seen him.
It knew him.
---
"Ethan!" Juno's voice rang through the crystal. "Do not engage! That Riftwalker is from the Second Circle. You'll die!"
But Ethan couldn't move.
Not because of fear.
Because the Riftwalker spoke.
Not aloud. Not with a voice.
But inside his head.
"Heir of the First Mark... your blood remembers."
And then it lunged.
---