Silas stepped up to the doorway and peered inside. The past few days hadn't really improved the state of the Village Hall. The smell of ash and woodsmoke hung in the air, tinged with the scent of unwashed bodies. A handful of rough planks propped up the more heavily damaged areas, but it still felt unsafe to Silas.

His eyes adjusted to the dim interior and he smirked as he found exactly what he'd begun to suspect. Emilia leaned over a pallet, gently placing a platter of food and water next to the sleeping figure. She straightened up to see Silas standing in the doorway, flinching back slightly at the sight of him. A hint of red spread across her cheeks and she quickly turned and picked up a second tray, moving to the next bedroll. She placed it down and sat, busying herself preparing the meal while she studiously ignored Silas.

He smiled thinly, amused that she was embarrassed to be caught delivering food for Katai. He didn’t care that she was paying him some extra attention - after all, she was there looking after her brother Darius, who was right next to Katai - but she might change her behaviour once she found out about his Class. Thankfully she wasn’t as curious as Silas, because they were all keeping his Blood Mage Class under wraps until they left the village. Revealing it would probably lead to some unpleasantness with the villagers, regardless of their actions during the attack. The only person who guaranteed them any kind of safety in that circumstance was the Questor. And he wasn’t someone they were comfortable relying on.

Kenemen had grown increasingly frustrated and restless as time wore on, with no sign of the Necromancer or his Undead creations. Because of that, Silas, Yoto and Lariss had all started going on regular hunting trips, avoiding the Questor whenever he returned from one of his many excursions. The extra food had certainly been welcomed by the village, with so many injured to feed.

Silas walked up to Katai’s bed and ran his eyes over his friend, eyeing the exposed skin and bandages. It was incredible, the rate at which he was recovering. When he’d been brought in, Katai had looked close to death. All of his exposed skin was bright red and peeling away. Giant blisters had formed on his face and arms where the heat had penetrated deep into his flesh, the largest of which covered his entire forearm. Silas had never seen a man so grievously wounded and still alive. Now however, he was a changed man.

Over the course of four days, his skin had slowly regrown, leaving scars only in the most severely burnt areas - his arms and one side of his face. Even those would probably disappear in time according to Kenemen, who seemed to know more than a little when it came to life-threatening injuries. The man sleeping in front of Silas now looked like the Katai of old, albeit with some new scars. It was a relief for them all - it’d been a challenge to keep him in bed these last couple of days. The fact that Katai was sleeping in the middle of the day showed that he was still recovering, even if he claimed to be fine.

“Has the Questor returned?” Emilia spoke up, eyeing Silas curiously as she waited for her brother to finish eating. The stoic Warrior also eyed Silas, suspicious of the strangers that had arrived along with the bandits. He hadn’t said a word to Silas, but he could practically feel the hostility whenever Emilia was around. Overprotective brother, Silas thought with amusement.

“Not yet. I haven’t seen him today anyway.” He replied, shrugging. “No idea when he’ll be back.” He wasn’t particularly interested in the Questor’s whereabouts. He’d rather avoid him, given how grumpy he’d been lately.

As if in answer, the man in question strode into the room. For the first time since the attack however, his face wasn’t a storm cloud - rather, he looked thoughtful. Hopeful even?

Kenemen looked around, glancing briefly at Silas, Emilia and Darius and then around the room. Satisfied that no-one was close enough to overhear, he looked back at Silas. “We have a new directive from the Palace.”

Surprised, Silas straightened up - they had been doing whatever they wanted for the last few days. It looked like that freedom was coming to an end.

“The short-term situation has been deemed to be manageable, for now.” Kenemen continued, “We have no new leads anyway. So we’re falling back on a long-term plan that has been underway for… quite a log time. Up until now, we’ve had no success, but Katai might have more luck given his unique circumstances.” The man smiled humourlessly, his eyes dark and forbidding. “This means we’ll be leaving in the morning.”

He turned to Emilia. “The Waycrest Elders have been kind enough to grant us another mount, as well as a replacement. I’ll leave it up to you to choose one for yourself.”

With that, he turned back to Silas, who stared at him uncomprehendingly, Kenemen’s cryptic explanation not making a lot of sense to him.

“Make sure Katai is outfitted for travel and everyone’s ready by dawn tomorrow. Don’t keep me waiting.” The Questor left as quickly and quietly as he arrived, leaving the surprised occupants looking at one another quizzically.

Silas frowned, looking down at Katai, who still slept. His friend should be strong enough to walk by tomorrow, but hard travel? It seemed a bit too soon to him. But then again, they didn’t really have much choice. Katai was the Empire’s now, body and soul.

Darius looked up at his sister, ashen-faced. She stared after Kenemen, tears in her eyes at the announcement. It signalled the end of her life in the village. “It’s ok sis, you’ll be able to come back and visit.” Darius said, the stoic Warrior doing his best to cheer her up. “I’ll take care of Ma and try to save some money to come visit you too. Just send the Elders a letter letting us know where you’ll be.” He said, his voice cracking as Emilia turned and collapsed into his arms.

Silas looked away, his face a mask. It was just another day in the life of a Questor, finding another Mage tucked away in a little village in the middle of nowhere. But for people like Emilia and Katai, it was the start of a new life in service to the Nobility, a service that started with ripping away every vestige of their former life, every connection to their home and family. Silas couldn’t bear to see it happening right in front of him, but he was helpless to do anything about it.

They departed the next morning, as the sun peeked over the horizon. They'd said their goodbyes the night before to their new friends in the village. Which turned out to be a lot more people than they’d thought. Once word got out they were leaving, a steady stream of people came by to wish them well and thank them for defending their plot of paradise in the middle of the wilds.

Unfortunately, or fortunately some might think, death was a regular occurrence in the outer reaches of the Empire. There were no patrols and only local militia to guard the villages and small towns dotting the countryside. Because of this, Waycrest had experienced plenty of hardships and would bounce back in a relatively short amount of time - perhaps only a generation or two. The same couldn't be said of the village of Tiaston, it might never really recover from the devastation inflicted upon it.

A handful of villagers were there to see them off as they departed. Some of them having to physically restrain Emilia's mother as she wailed and tried to tear after her only daughter. The group following Kenemen didn’t look back, resolutely ignoring the woman. Emilia however, couldn’t restrain herself and waved tearfully. She watched as the village grew smaller and smaller, until they rounded a bend in the road. With a final sniffle, she faced forwards and drew her cloak over her head, hiding herself from the world.

Katai swayed back and forth on the saddle, his body mostly recovered but still lacking the energy to stay awake for long periods of time. He hunched over the saddle, trying his best not to fall off, even as Kenemen ordered them into a distance-eating canter.

An hour later, they slowed and dismounted, walking alongside their horses. Kenemen once again ordered the group into a canter once he judged the horses well-rested and the day continued in much the same way. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that Katai almost fell from the saddle. Luckily he caught himself just in time and hung sideways from the saddle until Silas caught the bridle and pulled the horse to a stop. After that, Kenemen seemed to realise they weren't going to make it much further.

The next day started in a similar fashion. They rose, ate a cold meal and packed their gear in the grey light of pre-dawn. By the time the sun rose, they were already on their way, Katai in much better spirits. He was feeling whole once more, even the scars on his face and arms starting to fade slightly, the jagged edges of the scar tissue settling down into smoother ridges. It was amazing how much he could recover in a single day – his insane Constitution and health regeneration were doing wonders for his injured body.

They rode into the afternoon, but at a much more sedate pace. Kenemen must have realised they weren't going to make their destination as quickly as he'd have liked, a theory was all but confirmed when he called for another early stop. The group were relaxed and chatting amongst themselves happily as they rode, save for Emilia and Katai. They had both withdrawn into themselves, becoming brooding and moody after they left Waycrest. That came to an end however when Silas spoke up.

"So why are we heading back towards Tiaston?" He said as he spread his bed roll out next to Yoto’s.

"Because Katai is too weak. He could barely take on a mid-level Uncommon with his Rare Class." Kenemen said, not bothering to lower his voice. He spoke matter-of-factly, and even looked over at Katai to make sure he was listening.

"This Necromancer we're chasing. He, or she, I suppose, is definitely going to be in the mid to high levels. As far as we know, Necromancer and its Class variants are generally Rare as well." He said, a frown coming over his face as he pondered, "Not to mention they will have a second Class on top of that. If that's also Rare, or even Uncommon, you'd be no trouble for them. A measly Warrior Class?" Kenemen scoffed, but there was no amusement in his voice as he continued.

"If they have two Rare Classes, it would take all of us to defeat them. Hell, their Necromancer Class and their Undead probably could probably take us all on. So we're going to train."

The group were fixated on the man now. Emilia was staring open-mouthed at him and started sputtering.

"Wh-what?! We're hunting down someone with a Forbidden Class?" Her face drained of all colour and she started breathing rapidly, almost hyperventilating. Kenemen looked surprised, his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline.

"No-one told you?"

"No! I thought you were taking me and Katai to some kind of Mage training!" She said, her voice strangled as she struggled to breath.

Kenemen sighed and shook his head. "No, I’m afraid not. At least, not yet. I believe the Necromancer is the main force behind the bandit attacks, and my job is to hunt him down before he gains too much power. Finding you and Katai was just a happy coincidence." He looked at her curiously before glaring around at the others. “Don’t tell me no-one told you about Katai either?”

Emilia returned his gaze with a look of wide-eyed confusion.

“You told us to keep it quiet. Otherwise we’d have trouble with the village.” Silas spoke up on behalf of the others, a touch indignantly.

“Well, yes but Emilia was always going to find out one way or another.” He said and then shrugged as if he didn’t really care either way. “Well this may come as a shock to you Emilia, but Katai here has a Forbidden Class himself. He’s a Blood Mage in service to the Empire.”

All eyes turned to Emilia, who stared in shock at the Questor. Slowly, her petrified gaze moved over to Katai, who faced her calmly, almost disinterestedly. His eyes gave him away though. The dark pools reflected his hope; that she wouldn’t see him as some kind of monster.

That hope was quickly dashed. Her face twisted into a caricature of fear and disgust, and she stepped away from him, quickly putting as much distance between them as she could.

“Relax Emilia, he’s not like the Necromancer.” Kenemen spoke up, unconcerned at her reaction.

Katai tried not to let his feelings show as he looked away from the woman. It hurt though. That disgust and anger. The fear.

Taking a breath to steady himself, Katai broke the awkward silence. "That doesn't explain why we’re going back. Tiaston will be focused on rebuilding. There'll be no-one to train with."

Kenemen shook his head, a small smile spreading across his face. "Right you are Katai. We're going to a set of caves nearby that you might recognise. Somewhere nice and private where we can train your unique skills."

Realisation dawned on their faces. Emilia still looked lost. Silas was happy, excited at the prospect of adventure, even if it was to do some lame training exercises.

The blue light reflected in Katai’s eyes as he stared at the Rift entrance once again. This time, he was with a group of people and he felt much more confident entering the portal. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous. They didn’t know what kinds of creatures were on the other side, other than the small, upright creature they’d found at the entrance last time. That creature, a juvenile Megasoma, was weak and easily dealt with, with just the two of them. But it had only been a juvenile. There was almost certainly going to be mature varieties, and who knows how many. Or if there were different types? Or completely different creatures. There could be an entire world through there, filled with all sorts of dangerous things. Kenemen’s words of caution were not helping either.

“...if you’re getting bogged down, or a more powerful creature appears, I’ll step in but don’t rely on me. I’ll be leaving you all to your own devices, since I won’t receive much experience from these encounters.” He was looking around as he spoke, making sure they were listening as he informed them how they would proceed. Apparently caution was the name of the game when it came to Rift delves. Which makes sense when you have very little idea about what to expect, Katai thought.

“I can’t get lost, but if we’re separated, I’ll come and find you. Do not keep moving around. Everyone has their own supplies now, so you should be able to survive for at least a few days.” He continued, Katai starting to zone out from the constant drone of instructions before he heard his name called out.

“Katai, you and Emilia need to focus on your Mage skills. Using them in battle will level those skills much faster, as well as giving those Classes more experience. Even if you’re not doing much damage, keep using them, let the others get the kills if necessary.”

Katai and Emilia glanced at one another and nodded simultaneously. He felt a thrill of excitement run through him at the prospect of the coming fights. He hoped there’d be a decent amount, and they wouldn’t just be walking around searching for a couple of days before returning for more supplies.

Silas walked over and joined Katai, the others checking their gear now that Kenemen had finished his instructions. Silas smirked at his friend, “Looking forward to seeing some action after all that laying around?”

Shaking his friend, Katai smiled gently back. “I feel like we’re about to find out exactly how much of a taskmaster Kenemen is. This could be like those training sessions with Hiram, except instead of only lasting a couple of hours, they could go for days.”

Silas chuckled and raised his arms defensively. “Please no, don’t go saying that. It might actually come true! Those were my least favourite parts of the Guard job.”

Katai nodded wholeheartedly. “At least I’ll be able to start learning about these skills.” He cocked his head, recalling something that he was hesitant to bring up with Silas. “So you might recall that one of the skills was the Bond we formed, last time we were down here?” He said, watching Silas intently.

His friend nodded knowingly, already realising where the conversation was headed. “Yeah, you need to train it Katai. Let’s just test it out first - if we see a Megasoma on its own, use my blood and watch my back if it does something weird.”

Katai relaxed, relieved that it wasn’t an issue after all. He nodded gratefully and turned back to face the rest of the group. Everyone looked ready, Kenemen gesturing for Silas to enter. With a deep breath, the two of them led the group into the Rift.

You have entered Sacrascent Rift, home of the Megasoma.

Rift Master: Pole, Guardian of the Sacred Polenciates.

Spawn rate: Moderate.