The white light consumed everything sound, sight, even the pain searing through Lucas's body. For a moment, he was weightless, suspended in a void where the Voidstalker's roar and Varyn's cold voice faded to nothing. His Exile mark burned, not with pain but with a strange, electric hum, as if it were alive, rewriting itself. The System's words lingered in his mind: Final Protocol Activated.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the light vanished, and Lucas hit the ground hard.
He gasped, his vision swimming. The forest clearing was gone, replaced by a vast, cracked plain under a sky streaked with crimson and black, like a wound torn across the heavens. The air was thick, heavy with a metallic tang that made his stomach churn. His spear was still in his hand, the runic dagger tucked into his belt, but Kael was nowhere in sight. Neither was the Voidstalker, nor Varyn and his hunters. Just silence, broken by a faint, rhythmic pulse that seemed to come from the ground itself.
Lucas staggered to his feet, his body aching from Soul Burn's lingering effects. The System flickered into view, its text fractured, glitching worse than before.
[System Alert: Final Protocol Engaged. Exile Mark Resonance Stabilized - Temporary Dimensional Shift Initiated.]
[Status: Soul Core Compromised. Efficiency Reduced by 60% for 10 Hours. Aspects Active: Resilience, Wrath.]
[Quest Update: Evade the Voidstalker. Status: Suspended. New Objective: Return to Eryndor. Reward: 35 Soul Shards. Penalty: Permanent Exile.]
Lucas's breath caught. "Permanent Exile?" he muttered. "As opposed to what, my current vacation?"
The System didn't respond, its screen flickering before vanishing. His arm throbbed where the Exile mark glowed, now etched with new, intricate lines that hadn't been there before. Whatever the Final Protocol was, it had done something, saved him from the Voidstalker, maybe, but dumped him in this alien place.
He scanned the plain. Jagged spires of black stone jutted from the ground, their surfaces carved with runes that pulsed faintly, like the ones in the Outcast hideout but older, more sinister. In the distance, a massive structure loomed, a tower, its silhouette warped and shifting, as if it couldn't decide what shape to take.
The pulse in the ground grew stronger, syncing with his Exile mark, and Lucas felt a pull, like a tether urging him toward the tower.
"Where the hell am I?" he whispered, gripping his spear.
Resilience steadied his shaking hands, but Wrath was a faint ember, drained by Soul Burn and the Protocol's cost. He needed answers, and the tower was the only landmark in sight.
As he took a step, the ground trembled. A low, guttural growl echoed across the plain, not from one source but everywhere, as if the air itself were alive and angry. Lucas froze, his heart pounding. The System flashed again, its text barely coherent.
[Warning: Riftbeast Detected. Tier Unknown. Combat Discouraged.]
"Great," Lucas muttered, his sarcasm a thin shield against fear. "Another monster, and I'm running on fumes."
The growl intensified, and shapes began to form in the shadows between the spires, creatures, their forms indistinct, like smoke given claws and teeth. Lucas backed away, his spear raised, but the System's warning was clear: fighting wasn't an option. Not here, not now, with his Core compromised.
He turned and ran toward the tower, the pulse in the ground guiding him like a beacon.
The spires seemed to shift as he moved, their runes flaring brighter, and the Riftbeasts' growls grew closer. Lucas's legs burned, Soul Burn sapping his strength, but Resilience kept him moving, one step at a time. He didn't know what this place was, a pocket dimension, a glitch in the System, or something worse, but he knew he couldn't stay.
He reached the tower's base, a massive structure of black stone that seemed to absorb the light. Its surface was smooth, unmarked except for a single arched doorway, its frame glowing with the same runes as his Exile mark. The pulse was stronger here, vibrating through his bones.
He hesitated, glancing back. The Riftbeasts were closing in, their forms coalescing into vaguely canine shapes, their eyes glowing like dying stars.
"No choice," Lucas said, stepping through the doorway.
Inside, the air was colder, the pulse deafening. The chamber was vast, its ceiling lost in darkness, its walls lined with glowing crystals that flickered like dying embers. At the center stood a pedestal, and on it, a fist-sized orb pulsing with the same energy as his Exile mark.
Lucas approached, drawn to it despite the warning bells in his head. The System flickered, its text barely legible.
[Anomaly Source Detected: Core Fragment. Interaction May Trigger System Reset.]
"Core Fragment?" Lucas muttered. "What does that even mean?"
Before he could process it, a voice, not the System's, but deep, resonant, and alive. echoed through the chamber.
"Exile. You should not be here."
Lucas spun, spear raised, but no one was there. The voice seemed to come from the orb itself, its pulses syncing with his heartbeat.
"Who's there?" he called, his voice echoing. "What is this place?"
"You stand in the Rift," the voice said, its tone heavy with warning. "A fracture in the System, a place of forgotten power. Your mark brought you here, but it cannot protect you."
Lucas's arm burned, the Exile mark glowing brighter. "The Final Protocol," he said, piecing it together. "It did this. Why? What's the point?"
The voice laughed, a sound like cracking stone. "The Protocol is a failsafe, a desperate act for a desperate soul. You activated it, and now you are bound to the Rift's will. Take the Core Fragment, and you may return to Eryndor. Refuse, and you remain here, forever."
Lucas stared at the orb. It felt alive, dangerous, like holding a live wire. The System flashed again.
[Objective Updated: Claim the Core Fragment or Remain in the Rift. Reward: Return to Eryndor, 50 Soul Shards. Penalty: Eternal Imprisonment.]
"Eternal imprisonment?" Lucas said, his voice rising. "You've got to be kidding me."
The Riftbeasts' growls echoed outside, closer now. Lucas's hand hovered over the orb, his instincts screaming to back away. But what choice did he have? Kael, the Outcasts, Varyn, they were all in Eryndor, and he wasn't about to spend eternity in this nightmare.
He grabbed the orb.
The world screamed. Energy surged through him, not like Wrath or Resilience but something raw, chaotic, as if his Soul Core were being torn apart and rebuilt. His Exile mark flared, its runes shifting, expanding.
The System's screen shattered, reforming into a single, cryptic message.
[Core Fragment Absorbed. Soul Core Overloaded. New Aspect Unlocked: Riftwalker. Warning: System Integrity Critical.]
Lucas collapsed, the orb crumbling to dust in his hand. His vision blurred, but he felt different, stronger, yet unsteady, like a dam about to burst. The tower shook, the crystals on the walls exploding into shards. The Riftbeasts roared, their forms breaking through the doorway.
"Time to go," Lucas gasped, forcing himself to his feet.
The Riftwalker Aspect pulsed in his chest, unfamiliar but powerful, guiding his hand to the air before him. A tear in reality opened, a shimmering portal back to Eryndor's forest. He stumbled through, the Riftbeasts' claws grazing his back.
He landed hard on familiar soil, the crimson sky replaced by Eryndor's moonlit canopy.
Kael's voice cut through the haze. "Lucas! You're alive?"
She was crouched nearby, bloodied but standing, her daggers stained with hunter blood. The forest was a battlefield, Outcasts clashing with Varyn's hunters, the Voidstalker's corpse sprawled nearby. But Varyn himself was still there, his eyes locking onto Lucas, his Soulbind chains reforming.
"You defy the System yet again," Varyn said, his voice cold. "But the Rift's power will not save you."
Lucas stood, the Riftwalker Aspect humming, unstable but potent. He didn't know what it could do, but it was his only shot.
m
As Varyn raised a hand, chains surging toward him, the System glitched one last time, its text a fractured scream.
[System Error: Riftwalker Aspect Unstable. Core Collapse Imminent. Activate Riftwalker or Face Oblivion.]
The chains were inches away, and Lucas made his choice.