Book 3, chapter 22, ancient city

For months, Maria's team travelled through the monster-infested jungle, ever wary of a surprise attack. The expedition was hiking along the bank of a narrow, slow-flowing creek when they ran into a grizzly sight.

A grizzled scout was staked to a tree, their guts spilling down their pants to stain the forest floor. Willow jacks, and corpse flies buzzed happily around the body, burrowing into the rotting flesh, and eating their fill.

Maria's expression darkened as the took in the gruesome image. The man had gone missing two days back, a good soldier that didn't deserve this brutal end.

Her eyes flicked over to the still uncooperative redhead walking in the middle of her group, the manacles around her wrist and neck clanking softly.

That girl was beyond troublesome, trying to escape a half dozen times over the last three months. Part of her wanted to just gut the girl, and be done with it. Sadly that was not an option. Maria had her orders to bring the girl back to Ducal alive for a proper execution.

Then there was that other problem, the people responsible for setting up this gruesome display. Three extremely elusive barbarians had dogged them relentlessly, harassing her expedition at every turn.

The thought of being hunted filled her with blinding rage. Her captive noted her fury and gave Maria a thin-lipped smile.

"You know, if you just let me go, my war party would stop killing your soldiers." The woman said, her tone condescending.

They had of course taken everything from the redhead, collaring her to restrict her skills. Everything except that necklace, to help translate.

"Your thugs do not scare me Viotti. We will catch, and kill them in due time." Maria said, with feigned confidence.

The girl scowled. "I keep telling you, I am not this Viotti girl you are looking for. I am Terra of the Derdan tribe. You have the wrong person." The redhead snarled.

One of the redhead's body guards smacked her upside the head for talking out of turn.

Maria raised a hand to pause any follow-up beating. Her soldier gave the redhead a death glare but refrained from hitting her further.

"You think I would believe anything you say? You fit her exact description. The red hair, the height, your apparent age. Just because you recently got some tattoos doesn't change anything. You are a traitor, the scum of the universe, and I will make sure you get your due punishment." Maria said coldly.

The redhead glowered over at her, her expression hard to read. The girl didn't get the chance to respond as one of her scouts rushed back into camp.

Calming her flaring temper, she moved away from her captive. Once out of hearing range of her prisoner, she received the scouts report.

"What did you find Alex?" Maria asked, forcibly pushing down her bubbling anger.

"It looks like we have found a city and a big one. Hundreds of buildings, all overgrown by the jungle. There is also a massive tower," Alex said, gesturing excitedly with his hands.

Maria's foul mood fled, replaced by a burgeoning excitement. Now this was good news. An Abandoned city in the heart of the planar space, could be rife with riches.

Maria waved him off and subtly took out an item given to her by Jerald of the Hather clan.

A smile tugged at her lip. The astrolabe pointed her right towards the city.

She no longer regretted signing up to support the Hather clan in this conflict. Stealing the heart of the planar space should be a piece of cake, given her backing.

All she had to do is steal it before others could. Maria didn't know why both Clan Lauraunt and Clan Hather wanted the heart so badly.

Given that her old commander field marshal Tanis, and even sword saint Alexandria were participating in this event, she would have to go all out to win.

Those were not even all of the competition from her own queendom of Ducal.

Her expedition had already run into and killed or robbed several other groups from different planets or factions in the Kelvish dominion.

It was starting to look like the major players in the dominion were going all out to see who could steal the heart of the planar space first.

Maria smiled darkly, already making plans to deal with Tanis and Alexandria. Then there was that walking calamity Prince Malden who had been sighted running amuck.

Dealing with him could decimate her forces, leaving her weak, and easy pickings for her enemies.

That was why she directed her team to avoid his group, retreating.

The question was, could she get her enemies to kill each other? She laughed to herself, suddenly excited.

With so many strong fighters on the field, all fighting for the same thing, this was going to be a blood bath. A true test to see who would come out on top.

***

Zee and the team scouted the edges of the overgrown city, finding little that might cause them danger. The place seemed completely abandoned, the only habitats now the wildlife that now took up residence.

Pushing into the city, this quickly changed, as not even small birds flew about. The city had an extremely ominous feel, giving similar vibes to when they had invaded the Clackson hive queen's territory all those months ago.

Not wanting a repeat of that situation, they moved forwards at a snail's pace. The team took their time to scout every building for both treasure and danger.

Their caution paid off, as they discover the reason the wildlife kept away.

While out scouting with the surprisingly sneaky Greg, Zee spotted another group entering the outskirts of the city.

It was a group of ten dark-scaled lizard men, the same species as those jerks who attacked Yukna. This group looked about as well off as the others had been. All of them wore threadbare clothing, carrying shit quality weapons and armour.

Okay maybe she was being too hard on them, their gear wasn't actually that bad. Her poor assessment was mostly because they lacked any subtlety. The squad of ten squat lizard men were making a lot of noise as they bashed in doors and shatter walls to loot buildings.

Their looting echoed across the city, the noise making her cringe. She was honestly not even surprised when they got attacked. Those little jerks were asking for it.

Even with her focus on the group, she almost missed it when the attack started.

An incorporeal wraith appeared behind one of the dark-scaled creatures and plunged an arm through its back.

The small creature arched its back in silent agony, going limp as it was then dragged into a fold in space, vanishing.

A spear clattered to the cobbles, bouncing once, before rolling to rest against a thick root. Another fell just as silently, taken out in less than five seconds gone without a trace.

Zee glanced over at Greg, who was crouching a few feet from her, using the dense foliage to hide.

"What the hell was that?" He mouthed, wide-eyed.

"I don't know, but we need to warn the others," Zee mouthed, slowly backing away, careful to be as quiet as possible.

They backtracked through the ruins of the city. A half-hour later, they arrived back at a mostly intact building they were using as a hideout.

After quickly gathering with others, they informed them of what they saw.

"Does anyone know what kind of creature they are?" Zee asked.

Everyone looked over at Dern, who was perched atop a stone table in the centre of the room. His body was a small intricate suit of plate armor, holding a comically small glaive, only about the size of her fist at the moment.

"What? Why are you all looking at me?" Dern asked, projecting his thoughts to all of them.

"Isn't it obvious?"Bastion said." You are a spirit, therefore you should know the most about spiritual creatures.

The others, including Zee, nodded in agreement.

"You can't be serious, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The creature looked like an incorporeal ghost, not a spirit." Dern said.

"Isn't that the same thing?" Bastion asked, parroting her own thoughts.

Dern sent them all a mental facepalm.

"You make lizards everywhere look smart in comparison. Of course, they are different! A ghost is a remnant of a once-living being, refusing to leave the physical plane. A spirit is an energy state being that has formed its own consciousness and soul." Dern said slowly like he was explaining something to a child.

"Is it just me, or do those sound like the same thing," Bastion replied innocently.

Greg smacked Bastion on the shoulder. "Stop being difficult," Greg grunted.

Bastion rubbed at his shoulder, glaring at the large Arminian.

"You guys are no fun." Bastion mutter.

"Jokes aside. Dern, do you know what these things are?"Allison asked, her expression as calm as ever.

Dern sighed. "Yes, I think so. From Zee's memories, they exhibit much of the same behavior and powers that rift walkers have." Dern said.

By now, everyone knew just how close she and Dern were, so they were unfazed by his casual statement of reading her mind. He might have his own body, but he lived inside of her head, his soul woven intrinsically to her splinter, the core of her power.

"Rift walker? What is that, and how do we kill it." Allison asked.

Dern's armored form turned towards Yukna, addressing her instead of the princess.

"About that, they can very troublesome to detect. Yukna and I will need to create some detection arrays for each of us, or they will pick us off one by one." Dern said.

"What about killing them, will my sword work," Zee asked.

Dern hummed softly. "I was getting to that. For monsters, their bodies are extremely weak towards infused attacks. Allison's flames, and Zee's spirit echo in particular should be able to kill them.

The only problem is, rift walkers are ambush predators. Most variants will attack you from the back, paralyzingly you before dragging you into their realm to eat you." Dern said.

"How many can we expect? Do they work in a pack, or are they, solo hunters?" Allison asked.

"Not sure. My knowledge of them is second-hand at best. We will need to be extra careful not to be dragged into their home dimension. You fleshy beings will not be able to survive there long even if you kill the rift walker who drags you there." Dern said.

"What is their home dimension? Is it like the Null realm? "Zee asked curiously.

Dern shrugged, a cute gesture on his small armored frame. "Hard to say. These monsters can dwell in most of the myriad planes, even the Null realm as far as I am aware." Dern said.

The thought of being dragged into that dark abyss again made Zee shudder. "Dern, you said you can make us something to detect them? What is the timetable on that, and how effective will your creations be?" Allison asked.

Dern shrugged. "Shouldn't take Yukna and I more than a day or two. As far as effectiveness goes, we will have to see. We will need to test the prototype and tweak it to find the correct configuration to detect this variant of Riftwalker. It might take a while to get it right, " Dern said.

Allison nodded, glancing back to the rest of the team.

"So, who wants to be the test dummy," Allison asked.

Everyone looked at Bastion, who was startled by their sudden attention. He scowled. "Oh no. Not again. I refuse to be the test dummy for one of Dern's schemes again." Bastion refused.

"This one won't end so badly. You will be fine." Yukna said sweetly.

Bastion shook his head vehemently.

He gestures toward his hairless face. "Look at me. My eyebrows still haven't regrown after testing your last prototype." Bastion spat.

Zee couldn't help but grin, laughing at the concerned look on his handsome face.

"What are you laughing about? Maybe you should volunteer this time." Bastion said, his face scrunched up into a pout.

"No thank you, I like my eyebrows just the way they are," Zee said.

Yukna rolled her eyes.

"You two are being overly dramatic. This one isn't even an explosive." Yukna said, with an inviting smile.

Bastion snorted. "That doesn't matter. Anything you or Dern touches breaks, and I get burned when it explodes." Bastion complained.

Zee gave his shoulder a comforting pat. "Don't worry Bastion, it's just eyebrows. You can grow them back." Zee said.

He scowled at her but didn't pull away from her touch. "I am not worried about the detection amulet singing off my eyebrows. Knowing my luck, I will get dragged into their home dimension." Bastion said.

Allison smiled. "Ahh, so that is the problem. Don't worry Bastion, we have just the right person to keep that from happening. Zee, you have the best senses out of all of us. You will go with poor little Bastion and keep him from getting kidnapped by the big bad rift walkers." Allison said.

"For someone who never volunteers to be the test dummy, your tone is sure condescending," Bastion said dryly. "Perhaps next time you can test out your fiancé's explosives," Bastion said

The princess smiled. "Humph. Sorry Bastion we already have a gullible dummy to test all of our risky plans. No need for me to do the job, besides I wouldn't want to run you out of work." Allison said.

Everyone, Bastion included burst out laughing, most of the tension leaving the room.

Joking around was a good way to blow off some steam.

They all knew how important that was, as their line of work was incredibly stressful. Willingly putting herself in danger of dying on a daily basis, for months on end was not good for one's mental state.

Still, Zee was used to it by now, the danger a constant companion. Two days of preparation passed in what felt like a blink of an eye.

Before she knew it, she was sneaking through the ruins of the overgrown city, the spire in the distance casting an ominous shadow.

Bastion had many talents, ranging from his amazing cooking to close-quarters combat. He also had his faults.

Unlike Greg, Bastion was not a stealthy person. It was like he intentionally stepped on dead branches, and purposefully disturbed loose rock. For a thief, he was about as subtle as a certain uppity lizard she met in the tunnels under Porten.

Zee, on the other hand, moved like a feather in the wind, her passing making hardly any disturbance.

In this case, Bastion's lack of subtlety was a benefit. They were out here to catch a rift walker, and Bastion was the lure.

Her eyes flicked to his shoulder as she leaped and rushed across the eve of a slanted roof. Dern lurked there, hidden under his cloak, ready to do a counter-ambush. All jokes aside, they were not taking this lightly.

Dern was there for when their carefully laden plan went to shit. Over the last three and a half months in this place, they had all learned some valuable lessons. One of which, was that plans never survived contact with the enemy.

And today was no different. Her skin prickled, as space warped and folded behind her mere feet away. On heightened alert, she leaped forward and rolled as claws snapped through the space she had just been in.

Zee's sword came out of its scabbard as she came out of the roll, whipping the infused weapon across her back.

Her sword cut flesh, gouging a deep gash across the rift walker's forearm. It was a very awkward angle to swing, but she was guided by her omnidirectional spatial ripple skill.

Without missing a beat, she whirled on her heel, kicking outward, catching the startled creature in its torso. She felt ribs crack, as her boot connected, sending the pale, rough-skinned rift walker careening off the roof.

"On me," Zee said calmly, projecting her thoughts to Dern.

"Coming," Dern replied.

The heart of fire drummed in her chest, giving her a burst of speed that she used to pursue the monster.

Zee rushed along the clay tiles, leaping off the roof after it, falling towards the creature that had crashed into the street two stories below.

Below her, the creature scrambled to his feet, frantic as it tried to get it baring. Zee appeared beside it in a puff of blue mist, savagely cutting its leg off at the knee.

The creature still clambering to its feet fell onto its back, its face opening vertically to reveal a horrifying maw. It reached up to grasp at her with cruel claws, as it fell backward.

Undeterred, she lopped off an arm, followed up by slamming her sword into its sternum, pinning the creature to the cobbles with excessive force.

It let out a soundless scream, its eyeless head falling back to thud on the street. Zee held on for a few seconds, letting her spirit echo skill ravage its insides until it stopped moving.

Bastion and Dern arrived a few seconds later. "Wow, that was pretty gruesome. Wasn't cutting off its arms a little excessive?" Bastion said, approaching to stand beside her.

Zee wiped off the ichor coating her blade on the rift walker hide.

"I think she did exemplary," Dern said, walking over to poke at the rift walker's severed left arm curiously.

"Of course, you would say that," Bastion said.

Zee smiled, gesturing to the dead rift walker. "This monster is so, bizarre. That mouth is creepy, it looks like it could bite off my arm in one go." Zee said, prodding at its eyeless face with the tip of her sword.

"Yes, but why is it so ugly? Not even a mother could love that face." Bastion said, gesturing towards the rows of teeth filling its maw.

"Well, maybe it had a good personality, looks are not everything," Zee said.

"It tried to eat you," Bastion said dryly.

Zee shrugged. "A monster tries to eat me every single day. If I judge them for it, I might as well go judging you for punching things." Zee said.

Bastion smirked and punched her on the shoulder. "What about now?" Bastion asked with a sly grin.

Zee rolled her eyes. "Let's stuff the body of this thing in a spatial storage. We still need to go and test to see if that detection array you are wearing works." Zee said.

"Maybe you should take it. They seem to want you over me." Bastion said.

"I mean, who wouldn't? It probably attacked me because of my superior charm, and stunning good looks," Zee said waving a finger at him.

"Well, I can't argue with that," Bastion said, tossing her the detection amulet.