The sky over the cliffside was overcast, heavy with clouds that refused to rain. Wind howled through the trees like a warning. Beneath it all, the land groaned quietly—a strange, pulsing hum just barely audible to those sensitive enough to feel it.
Sylvie was the first to speak. "It's getting louder."
Reynar stepped carefully around a jagged fissure at the rift site. "The system says the instability has increased by 3% since yesterday."
Liora knelt beside a patch of scorched grass. Her fingers brushed against a strange residue—blackened soil, laced with red threads of mana. "This isn't natural. Something's leaking out before the rift even opens."
Sylvie narrowed her eyes. "Or something's pulling it open."
They spread out, investigating the area. Small animal tracks were scorched clean off the trail. Old trees were split open from within, their sap turned to crystal. It was as if the ground itself had been cursed.
And then Sylvie called out: "Here. Footprints."
Reynar rushed over. She was crouched by a stone outcrop where the soil had been recently disturbed. Heavy bootprints. Not monster tracks—human. Several pairs, marching in formation.
Liora's voice was grim. "No villager patrols ever come this deep. These are fresh."
Reynar followed the trail with his eyes—leading directly toward the heart of the future rift site. "They're preparing something."
They followed the prints a short distance until they found it.
A stone circle, half-buried in dirt and moss. Fresh carvings had been etched into the surrounding rocks—symbols Reynar didn't recognize, but they radiated the same dark pressure as the void corruption. At the center of the circle was a stone basin, its interior coated in dried blood.
Sylvie hissed under her breath. "This is a ritual site."
Liora scanned the markings. "Some of these symbols… they match the ones I saw beneath Windrest."
Reynar's fists clenched. "So Windrest's government really is involved."
"Not just involved," Liora said. "They're accelerating the rift—fueling it with blood sacrifices."
Far away, in Windrest...
In the depths of the central tower, Lord Castien stood before the same crimson-veined crystal. The masked cultist bowed low beside him.
"The site has been prepared, my lord," the cultist whispered. "The tether is stable."
Castien's gaze didn't leave the crystal. "Good. Then when the rift blooms, it won't just spawn monsters."
"No, my lord. It will birth a gateway."
Castien smiled.
Back in Eidenweld, the trio sat around their campfire that evening, the forest unsettlingly quiet around them.
Reynar stared into the flames. "If they're using the rift to open a direct path for the Void King…"
"Then this isn't just another dungeon," Liora said. "It's a battlefield. And we're already standing on it."
Sylvie said nothing, but her golden eyes reflected the fire, hard and thoughtful.
"We need to destroy that ritual site," Reynar said.
"No," Liora replied. "Not yet. If we act too early, they'll relocate, and we'll lose our only lead."
Sylvie finally spoke. "Then we wait. And we prepare."
[System Notification]Quest Updated: Rift Interference DiscoveredNew Objective: Monitor the Ritual SiteBonus Objective: Identify the leader of the external interference
Current AffinityLiora: 88%Sylvie: 52%
As the wind howled through the trees again, the fire crackled defiantly, and three shadows remained beside it.
Waiting for war.