Gravity returned to Alex as he settled on the ground. He’d been excited to step from the Rift and back into the real world. Eager for the fresh air of his ho world and a short break from the constant eyes on him in their travel across the Rift lands.
He’d also been eager to get back on the road, assuming it would be an easy ti for him to resu focus on his testing.
With the huge leap in Intellect, his spells were stronger, and if Maelis was right, he should more easily be able to understand the intent and concepts behind new runes.
Over the last few days of constant managent, travel, and coordination, however, he'd barely managed any testing. He’d used the limited downti to think through so new spell combinations and routes he’d like to take his studies next, but without the use of actual clone bodies, he’d been limited to what he could accomplish in his mind.
All of that together drew his thoughts away from what it was really like outside the Rift.
The sewer stench slapped him in the face the mont his senses returned, bringing reality crashing back around him.
Alex knew the sewers were waiting for them. He’d been putting extensive thought into how he’d manage to get a large number of alien creatures out of the Safe Zone without causing a panic. He just hadn’t anticipated the stench being quite so overwhelming.
His sense of sound was assaulted next.
Screaming, crying, and arguing could all be heard echoing from the nearby sewer walls.
“The hell?” Alex moved away from the portal even as Robert, Aisha, and Luis stepped out after him. He tucked the Runic Apprentice amulet back under his shirt as he stepped over the bodies of Kinley’s n. They still lay where they’d fallen.
Even though more than a week had passed in the Rift, little more than 24 hours had passed in the normal world, and the Hunters Association hadn’t yet made it to the Rift site.
The confirmation made him groan in frustration.
He moved through the curving tunnel that exited into the larger underground chamber. There, across the small gap of sewage, he saw ten humans huddled around the previously abandoned camp.
Kinley’s bounty hunters had used the camp to hold his clone and other innocents hostage, staging them in a cage while waiting for the cleansing of existing prisoners.
Those sa prisoners, gladiators, and once-office-workers now stood in the camp.
“Take the lead,” Alex told Robert. “A familiar face here will do more for us here than I could.”
Robert picked up his pace and passed Alex just as they stepped onto the tal crosswalk, its sound drawing attention from the group. Several of them ceased their arguing, falling into combat stances, though only one of them held a real weapon, while two others held discarded tal or wood like quarter staves.
“Hey! What are you guys still doing here?” Robert called, waving his hand. “Jeremy, is that you? Thank god you’re still alive.”
At the use of a familiar na, the group slowly lowered their guard, one man stepping forward with a smile as they got closer and Robert’s face beca visible in the dim light.
“Rob! You guys made it out!”
“We did. There are quite a few more staged in the Rift behind us waiting to co out.”
“Why are they waiting in there?” another man asked, eyeing Alex as he greeted the trio of familiar fighters.
Alex looked around the small camp, counting twelve people. His original assessnt hadn’t noted the two figures who lay motionless in their blankets, watching the conversations around them with blank looks.
Several of the others watched on as well, though they didn’t stand from where they were seated. Two of those clutched at bandaged wounds, but didn’t seem in dire need of healing. One younger man stood out to him, positioning himself between the newcors and the hapless few. He had dark hair and a dirty face that kept a grim expression as they approached.
Robert continued his conversation, answering Jeremy. “They’re in there so we can figure out what we’re doing before they all start coming out.”
“How many are there?” Jeremy asked.
“Another nine of us from the arena.”
“That’s not too many. Why not bring them here, and we can all figure out what we’re going to do?”
Alex raised an eyebrow at the comnt, but stayed quiet.
Robert shook his head at the suggestion. “We have a couple dozen Koru’qai with us as well. They’ll be joining us soon. Just need to make a plan to get them out of the Safe Zone without causing too much of a stir.”
“The Koru?”
“What?!”
“No, you can’t—”
The chorus of answers to Robert’s statent wasn’t surprising to Alex, but he was interested in watching all of the reactions while he wasn’t the focus of attention.
A woman stood from where she sat and almost tripped as she tried to grab onto Robert. “No, Rob. Please, you can’t bring them out here. How would you— no, I an. Please, no, please.”
Jeremy was shaking his head as well. “They can't leave the Rift without it breaking, right? A lot of Koru died in the escape, and we culled plenty of monsters on our way out of the jungle. It shouldn't be anywhere near close to a break.”
Alex was impressed with his knowledge of the Rift chanics, considering his situation.
Perhaps he was doing so adventuring before he was taken.
The woman beside Robert continued to cry, while a man near the seated group dropped his head into his hands.
Robert looked to Alex then, unsure of how much he wanted to share about the ability to bring out the Koru’qai.
Alex shook his head and stayed where he was.
“We can bring them out. They want to leave the tribe, so we’ll give them a place to stay,” Robert said.
“Why would they…” Jeremy thought aloud. A mont later, his eyes scanned their group before locking onto Alex. “You. You’re him, aren’t you? It’s the only reason they’d leave the tribe— if they thought there was another chief to follow.”
Alex nodded.
The quiet that followed had several more pairs of eyes turning toward him. Jeremy puffed up his cheeks and blew out so air. “Well, after what I saw, I’m not sure who the hell’s going to try and stop you. But I can tell you I don’t want anything to do with the rocky bastards.”
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“Jeremy, co on. That’s a bit harsh,” Robert said.
The other man seed unapologetic. His broad, bare shoulders straightening. “They just went about their lives like we weren’t being kept there. They followed him like he was so sort of chief worthy of anything but hatred.”
They went back and forth several more tis, but Alex slowly tuned the conversation out. He was happy to help people as he could, but he realized he also wasn’t there to change people’s minds. They didn’t have to join him, and they certainly didn’t have to like what he was doing.
But he realized his power was reaching heights that made it so it didn’t really matter. Even though the group of escapees was powerful compared to the normal population, they weren’t a match for him, even together.
He surveyed the group once more, seeing no one else who caught his eye besides the younger man. They watched each other for a mont before Alex returned to scanning the surroundings.
The logistics of getting not just the Koru out but also the supplies and wagons they planned to pull in would be challenging. The vertical nature of the sewers ant that he’d likely need to use his spatial items to get things out in trips.
It would take a shuffling of resources from his Realm Walker’s Storage, mainly because the new stone pillar he had was taking up a majority of the space.
He took into account the supplies they had in the Rift and how many trips it would take to get them out. The scope of the task ca together easily in his mind. He sighed and scratched his forehead, thinking of the work that would take.
“Nothing to do but to do it,” He said to himself. Refocusing on the conversation, he heard that they were still going back and forth on the morality of bringing Koru’qai to Earth. He coughed once in an attempt to interrupt the conversation.
When that didn’t work, he simply started speaking, knowing that at least his people would pay attention. “I’m going to go back to the Rift. I want to chat with Walter and Martin.”
He was pleased to note that the conversation paused when he spoke, even though he didn’t raise his voice.
Aisha tilted her head at his statent, but seed to understand. “Do you want to co with you?”
“No, you stay here. Watch out for Robert and see if these people need anything. A few of them seem shell-shocked and might just need so ti. Offer the black haired teen to co with us. He’s weaker than most, but he’s protecting one of the injured. If he wants to bring them, accept.”
He thought for a mont before jerking his head to the side to call her closer. “I know so of them who fled are likely already back on the surface, but we need to try and keep things quiet about the Koru until we’re ready to move. If any of this group seems like they’re going to go and make a fuss about the Koru, subdue them how you can. If they go out screaming about a group of Rift dwellers about to be marched through the Safe Zone, it’s going to cause a huge panic.
“Right now, we have a window because the sewer exit is in a construction and industrial zone. I'm hoping there are few enough people around that we can get out without causing a scene."
“Didn’t you say you had governnt contacts?” she whispered. “Can they clear the way for us?”
“Eh,” Alex said, teetering his hand back and forth. “They might be able to. But this is a large group, and I’d rather ask for forgiveness than for permission. Plus, I told you before: I don’t work for the HA. I just work with them and know that it’s best to play nice.”
She nodded. “Understood.”
Turning, he walked back across the walkway and down the small tunnel. He felt bad at the idea of potentially keeping traumatized people from freedom that was so close, even if it was just temporary.
That’s a soft way to think. I accepted the oaths of the Koru, and that goes both ways. Soone leaving here to try and stop us could cause serious issues.
Once he neared the Rift again, he stopped and thought through next steps. While he thought, he watched the spinning blue portal and was interested to note that it had changed. It appeared to be a normal Rift to his eye once more.
Because Kinley is dead, and I have the stone?
He couldn’t wait to spend ti testing the stone’s effect on his magic, but forced the thoughts aside.
Once he was certain of the order of things, he walked back into the Rift.
He was greeted by their temporary camp around the inside of the Rift territory. Nearest to the portal were where most of the humans were, since the majority of the Koru felt too uncomfortable around the portal itself to stay within thirty yards of it. This was a phenonon that had briefly been described to him by Eura, but not sothing he’d really understood until speaking with the Koru.
They described it as a deep-seated feeling that sothing was wrong in the area. They felt as if the natural magics there were wrong, and he could only relate the descriptions they gave to the feeling of unease that soone might feel around a graveyard on a late night in an abandoned area.
So of the Koru’qai seed unbothered, while others refused to be near it.
“Back already?” Scott said with a friendly wave.
“Just for a minute. I need you to help start staging the supplies closer to the Rift. Get them lined up here in a few rows of five. I’ll need to take them out in groups to get them out of the sewers and onto flat land. For now, make sure no one sses with this…” he held out his hand and pulled his right hand further away from the bracer while using [Feather Step] to jump in the air.
The pillar of brilliant blue stone dropped to the ground.
Scott’s eyes went wide, and he took several steps back.
“I’m serious, though, Scott,” Alex said, dropping his voice. “Protect it at all costs and don’t ss with it. All right?”
The black haired man bobbed his head without taking his eyes off the magical stone.
Looking past the gladiator, Alex saw how the stone grabbed many of the Koru’s attention as well. It cause so of them to hum, and others to wave in his direction.
“Good. Stay patient in here. It’s going to take a little longer to get out since I’ll have to take all the supplies out myself. With the ti dilation, it’s going to feel like a longer wait in here, but it’ll be worth it.”
“R-Right. No problem. I’ll pass on the word.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Alex returned to the sewers and found a comfortable spot that didn’t sll as bad as the open tunnel, but still had a good enough view of anyone entering.
Splitting his mind, he began the process of creating his [Fractured Body] clones. The process would take a bit of ti, but having extra bodies outside of the Rift would be valuable on many different levels.
With one mind focusing on the creation of the clones, he split his mind into all four lines of thought. One thought more on logistics, while another thought on communication steps with the Hunters. He ant what he told Aisha and knew that asking for forgiveness after getting the Koru away from the Safe Zone would be the best route to take things. However, not communicating with anyone, especially the director, could lead to more issues down the road.
The final mind examined the Rift portal nearby. He’d put considerable thought into the elven ritual during their trek to the Rift exit.
With his increased stats and the Cadence Stone, he was confident he could make a much closer attempt at success.
At the thought of the item, he removed it from his ring and held it in his palm while activating its effect. With the flows of mana more visible than ever, he observed how it moved around the portal and how it swirled. It both drew in mana and expelled it at the sa ti.
An hour passed in this fashion, focusing on the Rift, next steps, and imdiate preparations.
For a ti, he entertained the idea of trying the elven ritual right then and there. He had the downti to make the attempt, and a Rift sitting right there.
But the mont he considered the worst-case scenario, he dismissed the idea. The best outco was that the ritual recreation was successful, and he upgraded the Rift from an Epic E Rank to an Epic D Rank. This would have the benefit of allowing him to reenter the Rift and see how things had changed. However, that also ca with the downside that he’d already reported the Rift as an E Rank Rift in his voicemail to the director and in his information to Sarah and Jonathan.
If the HA showed up the next day or so, only to find that the Rift was a D Rank, he’d be forced to lie and say that he’d misspoken. It was shaky ground, and he hated the idea of lying, even if it would be for such a great discovery.
So even the best-case scenario had downsides he wasn’t comfortable with.
The absolute worst-case scenario was that the Rift had an effect he was hoping to avoid. He knew from the Integration Champion title he’d received that his attempt to stop the Sun Elves had been at least partially successful. The most obvious conclusion to that was that he’d prevented the Rift from imdiately breaking open and releasing the powerful elves to Earth.
If sothing like that happened in his attempt, he’d be responsible for a Rift Break the scale of which he’d never even heard of before. Even worse, it would happen in the heart of a Safe Zone, under the ground of hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting civilians. Most of which weren’t even awakened.
The thought alone made him sick.
He pushed the idea aside. As eager as he was to see if he could achieve success, he wouldn’t take those risks.
While it did temper his excitent, it didn’t stop him from making plans for Scout to leave the sewers and hit the countryside imdiately. If they could find a Rift between Philly and Jersey, Alex would have the group stop there to make camp for an afternoon or evening.
The caravan could rest and recover from travelling while he tested the Rift… away from potential collateral damage.
He let out a breath and refocused his minds on their given tasks. Patience was needed more now than ever, and daydreaming about potential progression wasn’t worth the loss of anything else he’d gained in the last several weeks.
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