He had heard of the Rift. Among those obsessed with science, it was a topic of fervent debate—almost a legend.
Many believed that the void was threaded with countless microscopic wormholes, gateways that might one day allow travel between galaxies, between universes, perhaps even through time itself. But never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he would face such a phenomenon firsthand.
Lucien began walking forward. The cave stretched long and wide, its vaulted walls unmistakably rich with precious minerals.
Had he not been trapped in this unfamiliar and terrifying place, he might have looted them without hesitation. But his mind wasn't functioning right—101 questions screamed inside his skull.
Yet now was not the time for distractions. To find answers, he needed to escape this cavern first. And if this opened into some dense wilderness,predators might already lurk here—or worse, arrive later.
The place was a perfect den for them. The fact that he could remain this calm, analyzing logically, felt almost surreal. Lucian had been composed since childhood, solving crises with cold reason.
He couldn't fathom his own stillness now. Had someone else stood in his place, they'd have shattered under the mental toll by now.
Three days had passed. Thirst and hunger had left his tongue parched, his throat a desert. Yet the cave showed no end—no branching paths, no glimmer of light. As he trudged onward, he saw no trace of life—no humans, not even animals. Not even a puddle to lap at, just stone and silence. His legs begged to give out.
Three days without sleep. How could he rest here, where danger could slither from the shadows at any moment?
But now his eyelids sagged like stones. All he wanted was to collapse, to let the darkness take him. Yet he knew: every second wasted buried him deeper in this tomb of rock. His body screamed surrender, but his mind—sharp as a rusted blade—forced him onward.
Suddenly, he spotted a source of light ahead—a faint glow tinged with violet and crimson. Though dim, it pulsed like a beacon, and he knew: the cave's exit was near.
He quickened his pace. No—he broke into a run. Within moments, he stood before the light's origin, his breath ragged, the air thick with the promise of hope... or something far worse.
What he saw next froze him in primal terror. Above him stretched not a cave ceiling, but an open void—a sky neither blue nor white, but a sickly, pulsating violet.
Over these past days, he'd grown numb to the unnatural. But he was still human. No amount of calm could stifle the dread now clawing up his throat.
One thing became horrifyingly clear: he'd never been in a cave at all. This was a tunnel, buried deep beneath the earth—and gaping above him was a chasm so vast it defied reason.
If he had to describe its scale, it rivaled the Nexus Tower—the tallest man-made structure on Earth—stretching nearly 2 kilometer into that unnatural sky. Its width? Easily enough to fit a row of thirty-story buildings side by side. And he stood at the very bottom, a speck in this abyss.
Escape meant climbing. But the walls weren't rough or uneven—they shot straight up, smooth as glass, vanishing into that violet hellscape. Impossible. Suicide. Yet if he wanted to live, he had no choice. Waterless, he'd last a week at most. Every passing hour would bleed him weaker.
Then what now? Was there any hope left?
"What did I do to deserve this hellish place? I'll die from dehydration, and after I die, nobody will even come to bury my body. My body will rot here. I can't even see the faces of those people I care about most, those dear to me. Is this the end? Is this how I'll die? I don't want to die!! Why...why me!?"
Tears began to flow from his eyes - eyes downcast, utterly filled with despair.
----------
The night sky was a deep blue, dotted with countless twinkling stars. A bright silver moon cast its glow over a magnificent palace—so grand that anyone could tell it belonged to the wealthiest person in the world.
In front of the palace lay a huge, crystal-clear pond. Golden fish swam beneath the surface, their scales shimmering as they darted back and forth. The water was so still that it perfectly mirrored the moon and stars above, making it look like a second sky.
Lush gardens surrounded the palace, filled with the sweet scent of flowers. The soft sound of a fountain trickled in the background, and occasionally, a nightingale sang in the distance. It was like something out of a fairy tale—beautiful, peaceful, and almost too perfect to be real.
In the palace's throne room, a woman sat upon the regal seat - her silver hair cascading like liquid metal, features so flawlessly sculpted they made even the most celebrated beauties of the world seem insignificant by comparison
A middle-aged man stood before her, head bowed in reverence—though his face had gone alarmingly pale.
"Lord Elowen,"he addressed her with ceremonial respect, "I fear we may have... mistakenly sent the wrong person into the Void."
Elowen's brow furrowed slightly, her expression darkening as if plunged into sudden, weighty thought. "What are you implying? That my judgment was flawed?" Her voice turned dangerous. "You dare?!"
The man immediately dropped to his knees, prostrating himself like a penitent before an altar. "Forgive me, O Great Protector! Sole guardian of this world! I-I misspoke! Yet the planet's core still signals an outsider's presence—someone who doesn't belong here!"
Elowen thought for a moment before speak,"Hmm... Are you suggesting it knew of our presence beforehand—and used that young boy as bait to escape? Kept us distracted while the real culprit slipped away?"
"Most likely."
"How dare it mock me!!"Her voice cracked like a whip. "I'll peel its bones from its flesh, grind them to dust, and feed them to stray dogs! I'll make it beg for death—wish it had never been born!"
The middle-aged man began to tremble. He knew the woman before him—though breathtakingly beautiful—had a temper as volatile as molten iron. And her power?
She ranked among the top Protectors for a reason. One flick of her wrist could reduce him to ash. Yet, steeling himself, he spoke in a voice thin with fear:
"Lord Elowen?"
Elowen's gaze snapped toward him, her expression demanding an explanation for the interruption.
"That boy who fell through the Rift... he was likely an Earth native. If the Higher-Ups discover you mistook a 'Suitor'(a planetary resident) for an Outsider and exiled him to the Void... this could mean trouble for you."
"Hmph! Let's see what those cunning old geezers can do. And if that boy was indeed Earth's Suitor, he's probably dead by now. Since he was forcibly sent from Earth, he can't return here without someone else's help. No other world will accept him either, since he doesn't have that world's Suitorship. (Anyone born on a planet automatically gains that planet's Suitorship). Maybe his corpse is floating in the Void now, or his body has been destroyed. Whatever the case, I can't save him anymore."
"And his sister, the one you brought from Earth's living section?"
"Hmm... Thinking about her now, she's useless to me. At first I thought since he managed to deceive our eyes and stay on Earth for so many years, there must be some powerful force behind him. Thinking his weakness might be his family, I kept her with me. But now she's completely useless."
"Should I return her to the living section?"
"Yes. And make sure to thoroughly wipe her memories so she can't remember anything."
"What about her parents? They know about Lucien - they might create chaos."
"No need to do anything about them. If they act strangely, people will think they've gone senile since they've reached old age. After all, no one on Earth remembers their son named Lucien anymore."
"You may come now," Elowen said in an irritated voice.
After that look, Elowen's mood soured somewhat. She wondered if in her haste, she might have ruined the life of an innocent young man - when her duty was actually to protect Suitors like him from Outsiders.
She muttered softly, "Who told you to be so weak? In this strong-eat-weak system, those who are weak don't even realize what danger they're in - that they could lose their lives at any moment. Their greatest mistake is being born weak, destined only to be protected by others."
Time passed - days turned to months - and on Earth everything returned to normal. Lilith and her parents continued living comfortably.
At first Elowen had thought not to erase the parents' memories. But later she decided to wipe their memories too. Because if someone you raised from childhood suddenly disappears completely and no one remembers him, this situation could drive any parents insane.
So Elowen ultimately decided to erase their memories as well.
And so, the people of Earth forgot that there had ever been a boy named Lucien living among them completely.