Ergency Rift?!
Hell fucking damn!
This was absolutely the worst-case scenario for any Rift Expedition. And Tave had walked right into it. Worse still, this was a Rift one full tier above his own Gaia Stage.
But there was no ti to panic. No ti to think about how screwed he might be. He snapped into survival mode.
The wind was brutal. Howling, heavy, relentless. He dropped into a crouch, bracing himself as he scanned his surroundings.
Where the hell was he?
Trees. Dozens of them. Dense. Towering. Packed in all directions. But sothing felt... off. They didn’t look quite like normal trees. More like massive, vertical shafts of wood rising straight up into the air. Their surfaces were too smooth, their shapes too uniform, like giant pillars masquerading as trunks.
This wasn’t normal terrain. This wasn’t land.
A gnawing instinct churned in his gut, and Tave didn’t ignore it. He imdiately called out to Fang.
The Shadow Wolf erged like smoke, slithering low across the ground before scaling one of the trees in a silent rush.
Tave activated Sharing Vision, his senses shifting as Fang’s eyes beca his own, and what he saw stopped his breath cold.
No way. No fucking way!
He blinked, confird it, and saw it again. Endless sky. Open air in every direction. And beneath the forest floor... a curve. A slope. Feathers. Skin. Muscle.
They weren’t standing on land. They were on the back of a monster.
A flying monster. A supermassive one.
Fuck!
Tave felt the weight crash down on him like a hamr to the chest. His breath caught, his pulse spiked.
This monster... He knew exactly what it was.
This was a Tier 8 Monster. Skarathor, the Worldwing Colossus. A legendary airborne beast.
Tave felt the pressure settle over him, sharp and imdiate. As he tried to process everything he’d just uncovered. He forced himself to focus, sorting through each detail.
This creature, for all its massive scale and high-tier classification, wasn’t inherently hostile. Its nature was neutral, rarely aggressive unless provoked.
But that didn’t make it safe. What made it terrifying wasn’t its intent. It was its size. It was simply too big to ignore.
Fuck!
And worse. Was he alone?
If the others had been dropped elsewhere, on the ground below, or on different sections of the Rift. And he was up here alone...
Then this was doom. Actual doom.
Tave struggled to stabilize his footing. Even with the massive feathers beneath him breaking the wind, the sheer scale of the beast beneath his feet made every movent feel like balancing on a ship’s deck in the middle of a storm.
He imdiately called out to Fang, sending the Shadow Wolf to scout the nearby area in search of any sign of the others.
Without wasting another second, Tave began running, letting his instincts guide him. The others couldn’t be far, not if they were dropped in the sa region. He narrowed his senses, eyes scanning the strange, tree-like structures, ears straining for any sound beyond the constant rush of wind.
It was a relief that it was still dayti. At the very least, visibility worked in their favor.
But a bigger question lood. Did the others even realize where they were? Did they know they were standing on the back of a living, flying monster?
Then. He heard it. Footsteps.
Sharp and fast, coming from just ahead. He dashed toward the sound, pivoted around one of the towering "trees" and there, erging from between two enormous vertical shafts of feathered spine, ca a familiar figure. Panpan.
Her face looked tense, very unlike her usual calm self as she hurried straight toward him.
"Tave, are you alright?" she called out first.
"I’m fine. Have you found the others?"
"No. Not yet."
"Let’s find them. Stay close to . I’ll explain everything as we move."
He kept his voice low and urgent, already taking the lead as they started to run together.
"Panpan," he said quickly, glancing her way, "we’re standing on the back of a massive flying creature."
Panpan didn’t flinch.
She already knew.
She gave a small nod. "That was the first thing I did when I landed. I climbed one of these... whatever these are, and try to understand our surroundings."
Panpan was an archer, accustod to height, to movent through trees, to scanning from above. It made perfect sense that she had reacted quickly upon arrival, climbing one of the towering feather-spines to assess their surroundings.
And given that Tave was the only official Scout on the team, Panpan had been designated as the backup for reconnaissance if anything went wrong. She was ready for this kind of situation.
Suddenly, a figure shot through the feathery canopy with fluid, practiced motion.
A tall man with long white hair. Velion. Their team leader.
"Panpan. Tave. Have you found the others yet?" he asked quickly, his voice calm but focused.
"No," Tave responded, "we were still searching."
They continued together, carefully, swiftly. Fanning out while keeping sight of each other. The search lasted several tense minutes until...
Against all odds, all ten mbers of their expedition were found to be trapped on the back of this colossal beast.
A full team. All together. Still alive.
They regrouped in a relatively stable area, which, based on Tave’s quick scanning and positioning, seed to be near the base of the creature’s neck, where the movent was slightly steadier.
And now, with the truth of their situation settling in, the entire team gathered to confront the reality of what lay ahead.
An unstable Rift. A Tier 4 Ergency Rift on the back of a Tier 8 flying monster.
This wasn’t just a mission anymore. It was a disaster. And they needed a plan. Fast.
"We’re trapped in an Ergency Rift. This is bad. Really bad," one of the knights stamred, unable to hide the rising fear in his voice. "How the hell are we supposed to survive this?!"
"Worse, where exactly are we?" another chid in. "I heard what Tave said earlier. Tave? Can you explain again? Clearly this ti?"
Tave gave a slow nod. "Yes... we’re currently standing on the back of a massive flying creature. Not just any beast. It’s a Tier Eight monster."
"Tier Eight?!"
Panic washed over several faces. The shift in their expressions was imdiate. From alarm to pure dread.
"How do you know it’s Tier Eight?" one knight snapped, clearly at the edge. "Tave? Have you seen one before? Don’t exaggerate. Alright, maybe we’re on the back of a giant flying bird-monster. But Tier Eight? That’s ridiculous!"
Tave paused for a mont, holding his breath as he fought to keep his voice calm. Anything to avoid feeding the panic.
"I’ve studied monsters. Extensively. I know their classifications, behavior, biology, and from the size, the shape of the terrain, the environnt, and the movent patterns, I can identify this one."
He took a breath. "This is Skarathor, the Worldwing Colossus."
Then he went on to explain it in more detail. The sky-beast so massive it was mistaken for a floating island, so high up and wide it could support forests on its back. A creature known for its neutrality, yes. But also for its unimaginable power.
"So basically, we’re standing on a floating island... that breathes," one knight muttered, clearly shaken. "And worse, it’s a Tier Eight creature."
"Tave said it’s not aggressive, right?"
"Yes. But that doesn’t an we’re safe."
All eyes turned toward Velion, their team leader. The tension was thick. No one wanted to say it out loud, but it was clear. They were waiting for him to decide what they did next.
Because if they hesitated too long, the next breath this monster took could be their last chance to act.
Velion stepped forward, his voice calm and steady. The kind of tone ant to hold panic at bay before it could take root.
"Ergency Rift. Tier 4," he said evenly. "Let’s not let the na push us deeper into fear. This is the reality. We accept it, and we build our strategy around it. The mont we lose clarity, we lose control."
He paused, letting his eyes sweep over the group.
"We have ti. Not much. But more than most Rifts ever offer. And while ti alone won’t save us, it gives us just enough space to breathe. What we need now is strategy. Intelligence."
His voice grounded itself further, more solid with each word.
"I’ve stepped into a Tier 5 Rift before. But I had a team made entirely of Gaia Grand Masters."
He let that settle. "The strongest among us now..." he glanced around, then said quietly, "...are Gaia Masters."
Finally, he turned toward Tave.
"I’m open to input. Especially from those who hold critical information."
Tave caught the weight of the mont. He’d already shared fragnts of what he knew with Velion earlier when they were scouting. But now it had to be said clearly, in front of everyone.
He stepped forward, steadying his voice.
"The good news... is that based on everything I’ve seen. There are no other monsters up here. None, aside from the one beneath our feet. Normally, that’s how it works with creatures this massive."
He took a breath. And then another.
"The bad news..." he exhaled slowly, "...is that we have to get down. Off this creature. To the ground below."
The words struck like a shockwave.
"Down?!" soone gasped. "As in, off this flying island?!"
And there it was. The full, raw terror of what that ant. They couldn’t fly. They had no wings. No magic powerful enough to carry ten people safely across thousands of ters of open sky.
Jumping ant death. Instant. No saving throw. No miracles. Just a clean, brutal end.
How the fuck were they supposed to get off this thing?
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