Immediately upon arriving at the other side of the rift, we were met with a burning sensation on our skin.
Overhead hung a sun twice the size of Earth's, its glare so intense it blurred our vision.
Around us, jagged dark-red spires of rock thrust from the ground, while the terrain beneath our feet was mostly bare stone, broken only by sparse patches of sand and withered vegetation.
Instinctively, I moved toward the nearest shade—the center of a large, circular rocky alcove—with the others close behind.
After my eyes had somewhat adjusted to the light, I surveyed the landscape more clearly and noted how little shelter the alcove actually offered against the relentless heat.
At that point, Seraphina unequipped the bag she was carrying and took out a set of clothing that carried a metallic sheen.
"Quick, wear them, we will not last long in this heat without them", she said, giving Julius and me a pair each.
The clothing, which comprised mostly an outer shell of aluminium weave and ceramic tape to fill the small gaps, was no doubt a thermal protective suit.
Thankfully, with the Guild's funding, we were able to prepare a minimum viable set of gear to anticipate most survival scenarios, whether in the landscape or environment.
A vital improvement in gear was the black leather armor we were provided, which was specifically designed to pass through a rift and bore a striking resemblance to what a strike force would wear.
Upon wearing the suit on top of the combat armor, I immediately focused my attention on the crystal on my wrist.
As expected, an analysis of the rift had appeared.
[Survive the Blood Moon]
- Blood Moon?
"Tsormug, do you know anything about it?", I whispered, trying not to be heard by others.
{... No, I am not aware of anything of such nature; however, what strikes me as odd is again the magic crystal on your wrist}
{What is the source of its instructions?}
{Be extremely cautious about it}
{Rifts are a natural part of the world; the crystal, on the other hand, orchestrated}
"I will keep that in mind."
Truly, it was odd that we humans had access to this magical tool that had proved to be of immense utility in rifts.
Not only that, but the gamified system that is used to convey the information feels as if it were specifically made for humans.
- Why is it that none of the other races have it?
"Riemman, get your head together, we need to move out", Seraphina interrupted me.
Admittedly, such thoughts were misplaced inside of a rift, belonging to mysteries to be solved at a time when my life was not in danger.
"Agreed, what the fuck is a Blood Moon?" Julius said in a frustrated voice.
"I will not sit around and find out. Let's move." Seraphina affirmed, taking the initiative to lead the three of us.
And so, we began marching through the desolate wasteland.
---
We were marching for about 2 hours nonstop; however, the view on the horizon did not change.
All we could see were different formations of mountain ranges in all directions, all bearing the characteristic reddish hue of the landscape.
As we walked, a gust of hot air hit us, slightly shifting some layers of sand from the ground and unearthing a bizarre sight.
-Is this?
Underneath our feet, an enormous piece of bone and skin was visible.
The decaying piece of flesh of dark blue color seemed to belong to a much larger body hidden beneath.
"Julius, Seraphina, come help me dig this area out!!", I shouted to get their attention.
"What is it? .... Oh!", she exclaimed upon seeing the rotten flesh.
Anyone could tell from a glance that it belonged to a being of gigantic proportions.
As we moved the sand with our hands, a larger area of the corpse became visible.
In minutes, a rib showed, then more hide, then rows of cavities filled with ooze —dozens of decayed eyes set into the flank.
Fins folded along its sides, and long tentacles coiled where a tail should be.
When we cleared the last sand, the creature's whale‑like shape lay exposed.
"What the fuck is this?" Seraphina said in shock.
A truly bizarre sight, not only due to how uniquely weird the whale-like creature's anatomy was, but also for the fact that this creature, which without exception seemed to belong to the sea, lay in the middle of an endless expanse of rock.
At that moment, a thought struck me.
I immediately began looking around at the nearest jagged pillars that emerged from the ground.
Even though there was a constant gust of wind, and sand was moving around, the rock surface seemed awfully clean, as if most of the sand and dirt had been forcefully washed away.
"Fuck!!", I yelled.
"Quick, we need to run to higher ground NOW!!!"
"...? What is going on Jay?" Julius asked in an alarmed voice, as it was unlike me to lose my composure.
{Devil's Speech}"Julius, listen to me, if you do not want to drown, run right now!"
Thankfully, maybe due to him already having some trust in me, Julius began running towards me with heavy and long strides.
"What? ... What do you mean? Wait!?", Seraphina, on the other hand, did not appear convinced, staying in place.
".... You?"
"... fuck it!"
Seeing as we did not make any attempt to stop and answer her questions, she also began running towards our direction, with all three of us now sprinting at full speed towards the nearest cliff that was visible on the horizon.
---
It was almost sunset by the time we managed to arrive at the bottom of the cliffside.
An unnaturally smooth cliff stood in front of us, and with an estimated height of 2 kilometers, climbing it would be impossible.
"This is bad, very bad..." as anxiety started to get a hold of me, my mind raced for options.
"Jay, wait, I got this." Julius looked at me and unwrapped the Chains of Binding from his wrists.
With a large motion, he arced his right arm and threw the chains as far as he could, extending the entire length of the chains, a 10-meter distance, in one motion.
The strength with which he threw them damaged the cliff's smooth structure, enough so that a small footing could be made.
Then he activated the artifact's ability, locking the end of the chains in the small gap that was created, thus forming a grapple hook for us to leverage and ascend the smooth cliff.
---
After one hour of climbing, we reached the top of the cliff.
The sun had set.
"We are here... Now what!?" Seraphina said in a panting voice.
All of us were exhausted from the ascent, even though we had enhanced physiques; such strenuous exercise had left us worse for wear, especially me.
"Now nothing, ... Huff... Huff... we wait..." I replied, hot air filling my burning lungs each time I breathed in.
"You? ... you what?"
"Did you make us run all this way for nothing?" Seraphina closed the distance and grabbed me by my padded leather armor, signs of anger visible in her face.
Her nails appeared to change shape and color, and small patches of fur began appearing in her skin.
Undoubtedly her using her skill to partially transform into a Worgen.
Not in any mood to fight or be interrogated, I mustered a sizeable amount of magi in my voice and activated my own skill.
{Devil's Speech}"Get. Your. Hands. Off. Me."
For a second, her eyes lost their focus, her transformation was canceled, and she released her grip.
"..."
Baffled by what was going on and unable to explain her momentary lack of control over her body, Seraphina took a step back, allowing me to gather my thoughts before trying to explain the situation.
~THOOM
~RUMBLE
Suddenly, a deep, distant rumble was heard across the empty horizon.
"This is what I was afraid of..." I said in a low voice.
I knelt and touched the ground ... vibrations could be felt, slowly escalating to tremors.
We all turned towards the direction of the sound.
"I cannot see anything."
"Me neither," Seraphina replied to Julius.
Her eyes had transformed, carrying a golden glint with a feline shape.
The horizon was pitch black. Even with the ample moonlight, nothing was visible from the horizon, not even the characteristic peaks we had grown accustomed to.
"No, it is coming... The mountain range has already been shallowed."
"Brace yourselves."
~ROAR ROAR
As the sound got closer, the land in front of us seemed to disappear from the horizon.
"Oh fuck!!"
"What the hells!?"
Then... it appeared in our field of view.
A colossal wall of water was surging through the entire wasteland.
A tsunami the size of mountains covered the skies and was quickly approaching us, swallowing the other mountain ranges and eclipsing the stars as it drew near in alarming speed.
-This is bad...
-I did not expect it to be this tall...
"Julius... Seraphina..."
"We... we are not high enough..." I stuttered.
"Jay what... what do we do?" Seraphina appeared defeated.
Julius was in no better condition.
Although having survived life and death scenarios, there were limits to what the human psyche could persevere.
The nightmarish size and scale of the tsunami had left us frozen.
Even if we managed to take cover between a cliff, it would be meaningless, as the perilous torment would engulf us and, at best, bludgeon us to a swift death.
At that moment, a different sound was heard from the direction of the tsunami.
~pr pr pr pr pr pr pr
The sound of an engine could be discerned high above the tsunami.
I focused all my senses to pinpoint the source.
"There! I see something," I yelled.
A flying machine, the size of a small aircraft, was visible, with small red lights in the two wings.
"HEYYY!" Julius roared, trying to get the attention of whoever was piloting the aircraft.
At the same time, I took out the Sun Sword strapped to my back, raised it high up, and called forth its power.
Dazzling light quickly shone through the darkness.
-Please see us
Each passing second seemed to last an eternity.
The aircraft did not appear to have noticed us.
Then, when all hope seemed lost, we heard the cathartic sound of the aircraft making a swift descent.
~zoooommmmm
The bronze plane made an awkward landing on the cliff, which thankfully was spacious enough to allow such a feat.
'Quick, quick, jump in!' said the creature piloting the plane in a squeaky voice.
With adrenaline high, and the waves seconds away from destroying the cliff top, we rushed towards the plane.
'Oi, you are a big fella, prepare for a nasty takeoff,' the pilot gasped as soon as he saw Julius' stature.
Although not a lot could be discerned about the pilot's characteristics due to the scarf and goggles he was wearing, it was clear that he belonged to a race of humanoid creatures of small stature.
Seeing as there was not enough space for all of us in the cockpit of the tiny aircraft, I quickly entered the passenger backseat, while Julius and Seraphina attached themselves to the different handles on the surface of the plane.
As we managed to secure ourselves, the small creature immediately hit the levers to initiate the takeoff and get out of here.
'Come on, you stupid machine, give me one last throttle.'
~ gr ..
~ gr gr ...
~ GR GR GR GR !!!
~ CRASH
Sounds of the engine groaning in pain were muffled by the loud crashing of the waves against the rocks.
'Fly you rusty junk!!!' the pilot cursed.
As if needing the negative reinforcement, the machine began rapidly accelerating, immediately covering the entire length of the cliff and taking off at the very last moment.
'Gooooooooo!'
Turning our heads, we saw behind us the gigantic wave that had swallowed the clifftop we were on just seconds before.
The wave continued rising, climbing higher and higher until it blotted out the last strip of sky behind us.
Then the world roared.
Spray of water hammered the tail as the aircraft clawed upward.
The controls shuddered like they were about to snap clean off.
The pilot wrestled the stick, every muscle in his arms straining to keep the aircraft in control.
'Come on, come on—don't you dare stall on me now!'
The leviathan wave surged after us, its crest folding over itself like a living thing.
The shadow it cast swallowed the cockpit.
The altimeter ticked upward in agonizing little jumps.
The engines screamed.
The wave screamed louder.
For a moment, it felt like the ocean itself was reaching for us, trying to drag us back down into its depths.
And then—
A violent jolt. A burst of lift. The plane's nose pitched up just a little more.
We broke through the shadow into moonlight.
"Eat that wave!"
"We are alive!"
Elated cheers came from Julius and Seraphina, muffled by the heavy air that was attacking our skins.
The cold at this altitude was freezing my body, and the pressure almost caused my ears to burst.
But alas, we were alive.
---
As we reached a safe altitude far high in the air, I got a chance to observe my surroundings more closely.
Starting from the aircraft, it was mostly comprised of random pieces of junk all kept together by copper bolts and haphazard welding.
A combination of discolored pieces and wings that did not match in color, nor in shape.
One would wonder how this plane even flew.
Looking at the parts of the exposed engine in the pilot's cockpit, I could tell that this was some sort of steam-powered machine.
-Would you look at that? I did not expect to meet a civilization with technology in this world of magic.
I remembered seeing a similar kind of steam-powered machine once in a museum, describing a world centuries past.
'Don't know which god watches over you lot, but you were extremely lucky today.'
'Few venture outside on foot and survive.'
The pilot took off his goggles and front scarf and turned to me.
Looking at him closer, he resembled a small chimpunk, but without any fur.
A very short humanoid creature, with peculiar long front teeth, a face without an inkling of facial hair, and elvish pointy ears.
'Name is Bret, haven't seen you three around before.'
"Name is Jay, Jay Riemman, and ... we are not exactly from around here."
'Oh, got it .... wait what? Are you serious?' the creature seemed deeply puzzled by my response.
'Uhh ... there is someone you got to meet ... back home, I mean.'
"And where is home exactly?"
'Well, of course, I am talking about the last remaining safe haven on this god-forsaken planet.'
'We are going to the Last Bastion!!'