Date: January 11, 2018 | Time: 5:12 AM | Location: The Scarred Crater — Upper Caverns
Perspective: Navina Caelwyn
It has been 45 minutes.
Forty-five agonizing minutes since the Ash Bomb detonated and sealed the passage to the lower abyss.
I stood near the collapsed entrance, the residual heat of the explosion still radiating from the rotting, grey stone. My elites—Wren, Pryce, Bram, Uri, and Aris—were exhausted, their mana reserves completely depleted. I had ordered them back to the surface camp to rest. Cid and his surviving mercenaries had long since left.
It was just the few of us left in this suffocating upper cavern, tasked with preventing the heavy ash from leaking upward and trying, desperately, to find a way back in.
A blinding flash of celestial light illuminated the cavern.
"Celestial Magic: Lance of the Heavens!"
Lucas hurled a massive, condensed spear of pure light directly at the collapsed wall of rocks. The spear struck the stone with the force of a meteor, immediately followed by three rapid, high-intensity beams of plasma-light that resulted in a colossal, deafening blast.
The shockwave knocked the dust from the ceiling, but when the smoke cleared... the wall remained entirely untouched. The ash swirling around the rocks hadn't even been dispersed; it simply absorbed the blast, glowing faintly before settling back into a dull, rotting grey.
"Damn it!" Lucas roared. He lunged forward and punched the jagged rock wall with his bare fist, uncaring as the sharp edges tore his skin. "Break! Just fucking break!"
"Lucas, calm down," Sylvia commanded, stepping forward. Her uniform was torn and covered in soot, but her posture remained absolute. "The ash is over a hundred years old and completely starved. It absorbs mana. Your spells won't work on it."
"She's still in there!" Lucas screamed, turning on the Commander with a ferocious, desperate glare. "Celia is trapped on the other side of that wall, and we're just sitting around!"
He didn't wait for a response. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the icy floor, burying his head in his hands. The confident boy was entirely gone, replaced by a frantic brother trying to think of a plan that didn't exist.
I stepped up beside Sylvia, keeping my voice low. "We need a physical breach. If mana is absorbed, what about mining charges? We have Dwarven detonators at the surface camp."
"The seismic shock," Sylvia countered immediately. "The chasm architecture is deeply unstable after the primary explosion. A charge strong enough to breach 10 meters of compressed rock would collapse the entire upper ceiling on our heads."
"Then a focused thermal drill," I reasoned. "We don't use a blast. We use a sustained, non-magical heat lance to melt the rock into slag, creating a narrow tunnel."
"The ash is heavily infused with sulfur and promethium," Sylvia replied, her eyes scanning the grey dust. "Introducing a non-magical, high-temperature thermal lance will ignite the ambient gas trapped in the rocks. It would act as a secondary fuel-air explosive."
"What about a vacuum seal?" I offered, refusing to give up. "We create an airtight perimeter, suck the ash out of the immediate area using physical pumps, and manually dig through the inert stone."
Lucas looked up from the floor, his green eyes hollow. "The ash isn't just a layer, Navina. It's fused with the rock on a molecular level because of the bomb's chemical reaction. If you touch it, even manually, the starved mana-parasites in the ash will eat the durability of your tools and rust them into dust in seconds. Manual digging is impossible."
Silence fell over the group. He was right.
"Can't there be a better way than just sitting around?"
It was Alina. The Sword Saint of Technique stood a few feet away, her amethyst blades sheathed. Over the past forty minutes, the violent hostility between us had cooled into a weary, mutual truce. The chasm had forced us to fight, but the aftermath forced us to reconcile.
Sylvia turned and pouted at her.
"I said sorry to you earlier," Alina muttered, looking away.
"What's done is done," Sylvia sighed. "We survived the fight, but we are left here. And Celia is stuck there."
Suddenly, the comms unit on Sylvia's wrist crackled.
"Commander," a Vanguard scout reported from the surface relay. "Be advised, someone has entered the chasm. They bypassed the perimeter guards. They're heading down to your coordinates."
Sylvia blinked. "Who authorized a descent? Stop them immediately."
"We tried, ma'am. He... he wiped everyone above. We couldn't catch him."
Sylvia's confusion lasted for exactly two seconds before her posture entirely relaxed. A heavy, profound sigh of relief escaped her lips.
"What's the sigh for?" I asked, gripping the hilt of my sword.
"I think," Sylvia murmured, looking toward the dark tunnel leading back to the surface, "he has spent enough time."
Footsteps echoed from the darkness. Slow, deliberate, and completely unhurried.
I readied my stance, my ionizing mana sparking to life. As the figure stepped into the dim celestial light of the cavern, my eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
"You?!" I gasped.
It was a tall man with messy black hair and piercing blue eyes. He was wearing a heavy leather satchel across his chest, strapped with various complex gears and metallic vials. Resting on his shoulder was a strange, mechanical device—a sleek, clockwork swallow forged from dark gunmetal, its intricate metallic wings folded neatly against its body.
The pervert from the bar. The scammer who took my 10 Gold.
I didn't hesitate. Faster than he could blink, I drew my electrified blade and pointed the crackling tip directly at his throat.
"Why are you here?" I demanded.
"Navina, calm down!" Sylvia shouted.
Alina stared at the man. "I saw him at our guild before we departed for this raid. Who is he?"
"Kaiser," Sylvia answered simply.
The man completely ignored my blade. He didn't flinch, didn't panic, didn't do the pathetic squealing act he had performed at the Gilded Chalice. He just looked past me, his blue eyes locking onto the boy on the floor.
"You're just sitting around?" Kaiser asked, his voice a cold, raspy drawl.
Lucas scrambled to his feet. "I tried everything! I tried hyper-dense celestial drilling, physical mining strikes, even cooling it! The ash eats the magic and rusts the physical tools! It's a dead end!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Lucas."
Kaiser reached into his satchel, adjusting a dial on the mechanical swallow perched on his shoulder.
"I have a request for you," Kaiser said, his tone shifting into absolute command. "I need you to synthesize a cure for breathing dead ash. Go to the surface and work on it."
"A cure?" Lucas blinked. "But Celia—"
"I'll bring Celia back now," Kaiser interrupted. "Leave it to me."
Lucas stared at him for a second, then nodded firmly. "Got it. I'll think of a way."
I watched this exchange, my frustration boiling over. Who the hell does this guy think he is? Just walking in here, acting so chill like he owns the place?
"Listen to me, you sleazy—" I started, pressing the blade a millimeter closer to his neck.
I cut myself off.
Kaiser finally looked at me. His blue eyes weren't the playful, perverted eyes from the bar. They were completely cold-blooded, hollow, and utterly disinterested in bothering with me.
He didn't see a Guildmaster. He didn't see a threat. He looked at me like I was a nobody.
He simply turned his body and began walking toward the collapsed, ash-covered wall, brushing right past the tip of my electrified sword.
As he moved, a sudden, terrifying chill ran down my spine.
What is this strange feeling?
My Sword Saint reflexes screamed. It was a visceral, primal instinct—the exact same murderous premonition of death I only felt when my body reflexively dodged a lethal blow. Every nerve ending in my body told me that if I were to attack this man right now, I would die instantly.
I swallowed hard, my grip on the sword trembling.
"You stop there," I called out. "We're not done yet."
Kaiser paused his steps. He didn't turn around, but he tilted his head slightly over his shoulder.
"Oh yeah?" Kaiser replied, his tone chillingly flat. "What else is left to do?"
"You are the last person who interfered with our Aether-Voxes before the raid," I said, my voice hardening. "What happened today... locking us out of our own channels, the perfect timing of the explosive... it wasn't some Elvian hacker or Dwarvian spy. It was the bug you put into our comms to track us and hear us."
I took a step forward, the static in the air rising. "You're X, right?"
Alina gasped, her purple eyes widening in sheer shock as she stared at the man.
Kaiser didn't even blink. "That's quite the wild fantasy you have."
"If you're really just an engineer or a mechanic like you claim," I countered, "you have no business being here in a Priority combat zone."
Sylvia turned frantically toward the boy on the floor. "Lucas, do something!"
Lucas just waved his hand dismissively without looking up. "He can handle himself. Let him cook for now." With that, he lay back on the icy floor, staring at the ceiling, completely absorbed in solving the ash cure.
Kaiser turned his head away from me and attempted to walk toward the collapsed wall again.
Schwing.
Alina drew her amethyst blades, moving with blinding speed to block his path. Sylvia gasped, utterly shocked by her own guildmate's aggression.
"If what Guildmaster Navina is saying is true," Alina said, her voice devoid of emotion, "then you are an equal threat to both Requiem and Crimson Eclipse. Even if I fought alongside your side against the Mother, it was my choice, not the result of your manipulative words."
She leveled her dual blades at his chest. "Tell us your true identity. Move a muscle, and you are gone from this world."
Kaiser literally turned his head back, looked at her blades, and calmly took a step away from both of us.
He moved a muscle.
Alina attacked.
"Heavenly Stance: Flowing Echo!"
Alina moved faster than sound, her amethyst blades carving a deadly arc toward his collarbone. I didn't hesitate to join her, shifting my Arcflinger into a crackling plasma-whip to cut off his retreat. We weren't holding back. We were tryharding against a man who claimed to be a C-rank explorer.
But he wasn't there.
Kaiser dropped into a flawless backward bridge, letting Alina's blades slice through empty air millimeters above his nose. Before I could snap my whip, he used his hands as a pivot, launching himself into a sideways aerial cartwheel. He landed perfectly on a jagged stalagmite, his balance completely unaffected by the uneven terrain.
Alina lunged again, chaining her strikes into a relentless barrage of slashes. Kaiser simply swayed. He ducked, pivoted, and weaved through her assault with impossible, zero-wasted movement acrobatics. He didn't draw a weapon. He didn't use magic. He just dismantled our trajectory paths with pure anatomical precision.
"Celestial Binding: Chains of Light!"
A burst of radiant energy exploded between us, forcing Alina and me to jump back. Sylvia stood with her hands glowing, panting heavily.
"Stop fighting a losing battle!" Sylvia ordered, glaring at us. "He is not our enemy!"
Alina glared at the Commander but reluctantly lowered her blades.
Sylvia then turned her frustrated gaze to the man standing casually on the stalagmite. "And you there, Kaiser. Stop staring at the closed wall."
Kaiser hopped down, dusting off his leather satchel. "Yeah, right. This is impossible to open physically. I'll find another way inside by the crater's edges." He tapped his chin, his analytical mind visibly turning. "This crater was once a massive war defense camp during the Great Divide. There has to be other hidden paths leading into the deeper architecture."
Sylvia's eyes widened. Her brain worked into overdrive as she realized the sheer logic of his deduction. She immediately ran to her tactical pouch, pulling out a sealed, ancient architecture map of the region, and handed it to him.
"Take this," she said softly.
"Thanks," Kaiser murmured, slipping the map into his satchel.
I stepped forward, gripping my sword tight, ready to demand more answers. But as I opened my mouth to speak, Kaiser turned around.
His blue eyes met mine, carrying a cold, crushing weight that felt heavier than the ambient gravity of the chasm.
"Navina," he said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "If you can't wake up from a nightmare... maybe you're not asleep."
I blinked, momentarily paralyzed by the sheer psychological pressure of his words.
"Stay where you are, or..." he warned.
"Prepare to bury yourself," he added, turning his back to me.
Alina, neglecting his warning entirely, tightened her grip on her blades and prepared to launch another high-speed assault.
Smack.
Sylvia appeared directly behind her and punched the Sword Saint squarely on the back of the head.
"Eek!" Alina yelped, rubbing her head and glaring at her superior. "What was that for?!"
"Kaiser is not the enemy," Sylvia stated firmly, her tone leaving no room for debate. "Let him go."
I stood there, the static fading from my skin, and stared at Kaiser's retreating back as he walked away into the dark tunnels of the crater edges.
The sleazy mercenary from the bar. The genius engineer. The cold-blooded executioner known as X.
Who is he truly?
Perspective: Kaiser Everhart
As I turned the corner into the darker ridge tunnels, I heard a sharp whistle behind me.
Without breaking stride, I reached my left hand backward and caught the small, metallic vial Lucas had thrown perfectly into my palm.
"This will buy some time from the deadly ash," Lucas called out. "Give it to Celia once you're there. I'll make another one for you after you return."
"That'll do." I simply pocketed the vial.
I locked my eyes on the ancient Dwarven architecture map Sylvia had handed me. The main chasm was entirely sealed, which meant I had to rely on lateral entry points. First Principles. The crater was a military stronghold during the Great Divide. Strongholds require multiple logistical arteries to transport supplies to the lower depths without passing through the central command.
I navigated the dark, winding tunnels, cross-referencing the map with the natural airflow. The first auxiliary path I found was completely buried by a century-old landslide. The second path, a narrow ventilation shaft, was entirely clogged with hardened, toxic ash.
Third time's the charm.
I moved further east until I found a partially collapsed service tunnel. I manually shoved a few heavy boulders aside, revealing a claustrophobic, downward-sloping crack in the earth.
Perfect. If I ever needed a coffin, this would save me the burial fees.
I squeezed myself into the jagged rock crevice, shimmying downward into the darkness. The physical friction tore at my coat, and the stale air grew increasingly toxic.
Celia, you are going to pay for making me do this. I'm billing you for the dry-cleaning, the damages to my back, and the emotional labor of crawling through a literal grave.
As I dropped from the crevice onto the floor of the lower chasm, the atmosphere shifted instantly.
I reached into my leather satchel and pulled out a heavy, industrial rebreather mask, strapping it tightly over my face.
The Chasm Interior was a nightmare. The air wasn't just thick; it was raining heavily with the starving, grey ash. But that wasn't the worst part. The ash bomb had disturbed the skeletal remains of the crater. The toxic dust was clinging to the bones, animating them into grotesque, stumbling Dead Soldiers of Ash. There were hundreds of them, wandering aimlessly through the toxic grey blizzard.
Before I lost visual on my satellite, Celia's cursed mana signature spiked violently toward the eastern depths.
I drew my weapon.
The mechanical swallow on my shoulder unlatched, its metal wings extending with a sharp click before locking into a rigid, double-bladed sword. The edges hummed with a hyper-dense, kinetic frequency.
I didn't have time for stealth.
I had to blitz.
I stepped forward, dropping all of my self-imposed physical limiters.
The first ash-soldier lunged at me. I didn't even look at it. I stepped inside its guard and swung the double-bladed swallow in a flawless, horizontal arc. The blade cleaved straight through its armored neck, decapitating it instantly.
I didn't stop moving. I became a blur of dark motion in the grey storm.
3 more soldiers charged. I vaulted over the first, using its shoulders as a springboard, and drove the back-blade of the swallow through the skull of the second. As I landed, I pivoted on my heel, sweeping the blade through the legs of the third and shattering its structural integrity.
East. Keep moving east.
I sprinted through the horde, my blade solo wiping. I didn't bother dodging the slow attacks; I simply removed their heads from their bodies before they could complete the swing. Limbs, heads, and torsos were cleanly severed, returning the ash-infused bones to the ground.
But I couldn't dodge the environment.
The ash storm was absolute. Despite my speed, clumps of the starving, radioactive dust landed on my back, my left arm, and my hands.
It was agonizing. The ash didn't just burn; it aggressively consumed the skin reaching my blood, searing my skin with a horrific, deep-tissue burn that felt like being submerged in boiling acid.
Ignore it, I told myself, my heart rate remaining artificially steady even as the pain threatened to black out my vision.
You have to go. Your health is not the priority. Just keep moving.
I carved my way through the last blockade of ash-soldiers, crossing the ruined expanse of the chasm until I reached the eastern wall.
There it was. A small, hidden passage leading deeper into the abyss.
It was lightly blocked by a pile of heavy, ash-covered rocks.
I didn't have a tool. Not that it would work...
I grabbed the rocks with my bare hands.
The moment my skin made contact with the concentrated ash, the burning sensation multiplied tenfold. I maintained my absolute physiological control, suppressing my heart rate and isolating the pain feelings in my brain, but the sheer physical destruction of my flesh was undeniable.
Tears reflexively welled up in my eyes, a purely biological response to extreme trauma, as my skin sizzled and cracked against the ash-covered stones.
I gritted my teeth and threw the rocks aside, clearing just enough space to slip through the passage.
I stumbled inside the dark, isolated tunnel, collapsing heavily against the cavern wall.
My entire body was trembling violently.
Using my good hand, I fumbled through my satchel, pulling out a small tube of high-grade alchemical gel. I slathered it aggressively over my burned, blistering hands, hissing as the cooling agent fought a losing battle against the ash burns.
I was breathing heavily, my lungs burning. Even with the industrial mask, the toxic atmosphere had done its damage.
I broke out into a violent coughing fit, my chest heaving.
I barely had the strength to stand. I slid down the wall, taking a seat on the cold stone, my vision blurring at the edges.
"Celia..." I whispered, the raspy sound muffled by the rebreather. "I hope you're doing better."
I pulled the heavy mask off my face. Another violent cough ripped through my throat, and I felt the warm, metallic taste of blood fill my mouth. I quickly wiped the red splatter from my chin with the back of my unburnt arm.
I don't have time.
I forced myself back onto my feet, leaning heavily against the wall for support. My analytical mind was fading, replaced entirely by a singular, blinding objective.
I will find her.
I will not lose my Celia.