I was sitting in my living room, drinking Rooibos tea with Ouma biscuits, while scrolling on my phone. I was going through the Hunter's Guild's website, looking for an adequate rift to book for me and Simon to hunt. There were quite a few E-rank rifts across the city of Pretoria, so I sat there scrolling for quite a while. Not only did I want to prepare for the coming horde, but I needed the materials for my business at least until I had the whole guild thing figured out. I paused my scrolling to take another sip before I found the perfect candidate. It was an E-rank rift filled predominantly with wraith-like creatures of the death affinity; the rift was three years old. It had only been cleared a few times since its appearance, but no one has ever been able to close it, due to the difficulty of fighting these creatures without an adequate gift. The fact that it has never been closed meant that it has been gaining a lot of mana through the years, making it ripe for the picking.
But for Simon and me, it was the perfect rift; our soul-attuned gifts were the perfect foil for these intangible creatures. So without further delay, I booked the rift for the next three days. Simon had acclimated surprisingly well to city life in the past week; my only concern was how close he was becoming with the secretary, Angelica. I had noticed this budding relationship a while ago, but Simon was a grown man; his choices were his own. I had far larger problems to focus on than my cousin's sex life. One of which was how quiet Baron Liam had been for the past month. I knew his type, the sly and cunning bastards always had a trick up their sleeve, so my mind was ill at ease at his inaction. I could not allow him to play this game at his tempo, or I would be doomed to fail. Even if I knew I was more powerful than him, he had been in this aristocratic game for far longer than I had, so he was sure to know how to play.
Getting up to clear my thoughts, I looked towards my cousin. "Simon, you lazy bastard, it's time to put you to work," I said with jest.
He was busy taking a bite out of a biscuit when I spoke, causing him to almost choke as he heard my words. He pumped his chest to help the biscuit go down before looking at me again. "What do you mean?" He asked, confused.
"I mean that it is time to clear a rift, so get your stuff, we are leaving in twenty." His face grew serious when he heard my words. Nodding to me, he got up and went to his room to prepare. I did the same, but due to my peculiar gift, there was not much to do.
I only put on comfortable workout clothes, as my gift could provide both defense and offense. I was not really bothered with getting armor due to it; sure, it could probably not hurt to have, but it was not necessary. After putting on the new clothes, I grabbed a backpack for any spoils we might attain. And with that, I was ready, so I called Elijah to get the car ready while I started walking through my mansion towards the front gate. Simon met up with me at the front door. He wore simple leather armor, with his spear held in his right hand. His face was the picture of professional seriousness. He had been raiding rifts since he was old enough to fight. I really could not have gained a better ally. One not tied to me by money, but a bond of blood. Simon had always craved freedom for as long as I could remember; he did not like being shackled to his tribe and the responsibility of being heir. He wanted to see the world, to explore and be free. And I gave that to him; his loyalty to me was unquestionable. So too was my trust in him; it was hard for me to trust people, but with Simon it came as second nature. He was the only person I could truly be myself with, and that meant more to me than any promise ever could.
The atmosphere within the car was a quiet tension so thick it could be cut with a knife. It was like the calm before the storm; the closer we came to the rift, the more a sense of foreboding grew. My instincts told me that something was wrong, the same feeling when two predators came in contact with one another. The feeling that a single mistake could spell disaster. I tried to steel my nerves, but it was to no avail. A silent voice at the back of my mind whispered that I was a fool, that I would die like a dog within this rift. But my pride refused any such notion, my eyes grew cold as they passed over Simon. He was just as tense as I, so it could not be a figment of my imagination. Something was seriously wrong, but I had no idea what it could be.
When we arrived at the rift, I saw the military had long since cordoned off the area. We had to stop by a military checkpoint to verify our identities before they allowed us to proceed. Their farewell felt more like sailors being sent to the gallows than hunters being sent to a rift. That had the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. When I saw the rift itself, my heart nearly skipped a beat. The usual yellow color of an E-rank rift was so dark it was almost the orange of a D-rank rift. The rift was on the cusp of evolving its grade, and that was terrifying. But it was too late to back out now, so with cautious steps, Simon and I walked through the rift. The Vertigo of interdimensional travel hit almost instantly. The feeling of being displaced was so intense, I felt like I was falling continuously. Memories flashed through my mind, the strange blue plane of existence, the climb to the mountain's summit, and finally the strange throne, all moved through my mind as I remembered the strange trial I had done.
But before I could ponder on what it all meant, we arrived. The rift was unlike any I had ever seen; the world was in an eternal state of twilight. There were two eclipsed suns floating in the sky, bathing the terrain with a pale white light. The terrain itself looked dead, completely devoid of life; the only thing present was gravelly ground with rocky outcroppings. There was a dry wind that brought strange whispers into my mind, too soft to make out what was being said, but loud enough to make me feel something I had not felt in years, fear. Simon was standing next to me, spear held at the ready as he surveyed the area for any potential threats. He activated a gift, and within the spiritual plane, I could see the aspect of a lion surround his body, as his eyes changed to match that of the lion, giving him its strength. Simon was a true shaman, but unlike his father, who could summon the power of his ancestors, Simon could summon the power of spirits to temporarily give him their strength.
A loud, desolate howl filled with pain and anger reverberated through the rift from the right. Before I could even ponder what it could possibly be, my instincts screamed at me as I jumped down with my stomach landing on the gravelly ground. A clawed hand had struck where my head was only seconds prior. The creature wore what looked like tattered black robes across its floating, mummified body. Its fingers were elongated and ended in long black claws like needles pierced into its skin. The wraith howled in anger at having missed its prey. Before five more wraiths appeared as if out of nowhere. Shit, shit, shit, if I did not do something, I would die here. I'd be damned if I let that happen, so on instinct I called out to Judgement as I became wreathed in blue and black fire. A guttural roar escaped my lips as I was consumed by a blazing wrath that clouded my mind. The wraith who had attacked me was directly within the blast zone. The fire latched onto its mummified flesh like shit to a woolen blanket as it began to devour the very energy that made up its being.
An agonized howl escaped its lips as the fire spread. I could not even focus on what was happening as the wrath consumed me. It was like the force from which my power was derived, demanded retribution for the injustice it had witnessed. I could not explain why my gift was reacting as it did, but I did not care. The rage pouring through my veins stoked the flames of my judgment. I formed spears from my soul, wreathed in my flames of judgement as they pierced through spectral flesh and bone. Wherever my flames touched, the skin began to dry and flake, as the life within was drained to feed the fire.
Simon did not remain idle as I lost myself within my power. His spear was a blur as it pierced intangible flesh with precise, practiced motions. He moved like a warrior trained from birth to execute a single task. The beauty of his movements and the perfection with which he executed them was mesmerizing. Similar to my own gift, it never seemed like his spear touched his opponents, yet the end result was visible for all to see. Limbs and heads were separated from their main bodies as the wraiths fought back against his onslaught. No matter how many we killed, there was always more to take their place. It was not long before we were completely surrounded by these creatures born from death.
I had to change my strategy, as more wraiths appeared. I was draining too much energy to be sustainable in extended battles. So I formed a sword in my left hand, overflowing with my fire. I had little choice but to enter melee as the surrounding wraiths began stepping ever closer. My senses were working at the maximum they were capable of. Trying to avoid attacks from every possible direction was an exercise in futility, but I had little choice. Even with all my new advantages, there were simply too many enemies to fight efficiently. After an unknown amount of time, the crowd had thinned a bit. But not without a price, as my entire body was littered with claw marks and wounds. The fire surrounding me burned all of the death mana before it could poison my life energy, but it could do nothing for the blood pouring out of my wounds.
I was at my wits' end; the crowd of enemies never stopped in their onslaught. My muscles burned from exhaustion as the energy began to leave my body. I began to enter a trance-like state, as every attack blended into the next. My mind began to slow, while my body's tempo kept increasing. My lungs could not keep up with my body's exertion, causing me to freeze up at the wrong moments, leading to me gaining more wounds. My body was deteriorating, but my gift was gaining power from seemingly nowhere. Even as my body began to fail me, my gift did not; at some point, my body just gave up. I could hardly even move my arms, yet I continued fighting; my very survival depended on this. When my body refused to obey my commands, I focused my energy on controlling my gift. I used it to suspend my body above the ground while I created spears, axes, and even swords of spectral mana surrounded in my flames of judgement to repel my enemies. Hundreds died by my hands, and hundreds more fell to the tip of Simon's spear.
When the onslaught finally ended, I was in no state to even comprehend what had happened. It was as if my mind had just shut down and instinct had taken over. But even when the battle subsided, the wrath of my gift would not calm; it was as if this very plane disgusted my gift on such a primal degree that as long as I remained, I would never know peace. This was reinforced by the images that flashed through my mind; instead of the desolate wasteland, I saw a lush plain, filled with wandering souls enjoying their afterlife. But as quickly as the images appeared, it was replaced by the darkness that had become.
The same desolate roar from earlier reverberated through the plain once more, but this time filled with an anguished fury. My exhausted muscles clenched in fear when I heard it. The wraith that approached us was unlike any I had seen previously. He was not mummified like his brethren; you could see its muscles coiling underneath its tattered robes. It wore a rusty crown of iron, with a few tufts of pale hair flowing in the bone-chilling wind. Where the other wraiths only had empty eye sockets, this wraith had two flaming eyes that stared into my very soul. Its very presence brought the unmistakable feeling of death with it. My tired eyes looked towards Simon, seeing as he took ragged breaths, his arms looked heavy as his exhaustion set in. But the intensity of his eyes never faded, not even when we were in the presence of death itself. A barbaric grin split my lips as I looked towards the wraith king.