The Rifts of Psyche by Kyle West (i love reading .txt) 📕

over her blue eyes. “What about Ramore? He’s dead. I supposed you saw that on your way here.” She shook her head. “He turned himself into a human torch to help me escape.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Just the thought of his body back there, pickings for the wyverns . . .”

“The body was undisturbed when we found it,” Fergus said, solemnly. “We gave him a proper burial.”

She blinked. “You did? Well, it’s more than I expected of you. No offense.”

“We only ask that you hear us out,” Fergus said. “Nothing more.”

She looked from Fergus, to Cleon, and finally, her eyes met Lucian’s and seemed to hang there. Curiosity burned. She had to be wondering why they wanted to go to Dara, and how they planned to defeat the Sorceress-Queen. Despite Serah’s words, Lucian knew she didn’t like her from their previous conversations.

“Okay. I must admit, you’ve piqued my interest. It’s not every day you meet people who are so dead set on being . . . well, dead. All right, I’m all ears.” She looked at Fergus’s pack. “As long as you share some of your food.”

“Deal.”

The cave was too small for a fire, and there was no real ventilation, so they ate cold jerky, bread, and crimson fruit, a berry that must have been native to Psyche. Lucian watched the others wrapping the fruit and meat in the bread, eating it like that, so he followed their example.

Once done, Serah licked her fingers. “That’s good eating. Now, you have ten minutes to explain yourselves. Unless you bore me.”

“This might take more than ten minutes to explain,” Lucian said.

“Ten minutes.”

“Okay,” Lucian said. “You want to know how I could defeat those two wyverns on my own?”

“How?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

Lucian was about to tell his story when Cleon interrupted him. “He has the Orb of Binding. There. You asked for ten minutes, and we gave you ten seconds. Does that settle it?”

She looked from Cleon to Lucian skeptically. “You’re joking. The Orbs are just a story. My dad used to tell me that one when I was little.”

“They’re very real,” Fergus said. “I saw its power two days ago in the Greenrift. Lucian was able to do things I’ve never seen any mage do. He created an avalanche and saved our entire harvesting party from the Queen’s soldiers.”

“You mean, he saved you, Fergus?” Cleon asked.

“I will admit as much. The way he handled his Binding stream was blunt and childish, but yes, he saved me.”

“Thanks,” Lucian said.

“It’s true,” Fergus said. “You are a child when it comes to magic. You’re an exile of your academy and barely old enough to have Emerged.”

“I’m twenty-one, thanks.” At least, he thought that was his age.

Serah’s eyes were wide and her face pale. She didn’t answer for a moment, as if she were still processing the information. “The Orb of Binding. That means the others are real, too. That means . . .” She looked at each of them. “Wait. You’re going after the Orb of Psionics, aren’t you?”

“She’s quick,” Cleon said.

She ignored him. “It’s said to be under a White World with red-whorl eye and a moon of violet, violent sky. It’s part of The Prophecy of the Seven.”

“Yes, that’s what Elder Jalisa said,” Fergus said. “We believe the Orb of Psionics is somewhere under the Eye of Cupid.”

“That would take you to the Burning Sands,” she mused. Her eyes went to Lucian and almost seemed to pity him. “That means you have to go through the Golden Vale and Dara, through the Pass of Madness, the Westlands, and finally, the Burning Sands.”

“Unless there’s another way,” Lucian said.

She shook her head. “The Pass of Madness is the only way from the Golden Vale to Psyche’s Planetside. The Mountains of Madness surround the entire moon north-to-south, bisecting it completely. And those mountains reach tens of kilometers high. Their surfaces are too sheer to climb. Such is the reason for Dara’s existence. It straddles both sides of the moon, Planetside and Voidside.”

“So, we have to go through Dara,” Lucian said. “That can’t be avoided.”

“I’m afraid not,” Serah said. “If you really want to find the Orb of Psionics.”

“We do,” Fergus said, puffing out his chest. “At the behest of your father and the Elder Council, we’ve been sent on a quest for the good of all Psyche.”

“A quest?” Serah asked, with a chuckle. “You’ve been dreaming of this moment, haven’t you? And when and if you do find the Orb of Psionics, you intend to use it against Queen Ansaldra, no?”

Ansaldra. So, that was her name.

“She’s no queen of mine,” Cleon growled.

“That sounds quite personal to you, Cleon.”

“It is. My reasons are my own.”

“No worries. I didn’t plan to ask.”

“So, will you help us find Slave’s Run or not?” Fergus asked. “You need not actually go with us to Dara. We only need to know the entrance.”

She gave a dark chuckle. “That’s rich. First, you don’t even know what you’re asking. And second, if you guys really want to use the Darkrift, you’ll lose your way the minute I show you the entrance.”

“What do you mean?” Lucian asked.

“Slave’s Run is hard to reach,” she explained. “It goes deep underground, as deep as the Moon Sea.”

Lucian frowned. “The Moon Sea? I don’t understand. There’s a sea under the Darkrift?”

Fergus nodded. “It’s not confirmed, but it’s said most water settles deep underground on Psyche before filtering up through the surface again.”

“It is confirmed, because I’ve seen it,” Serah said. “The water glows with some form of microscopic life, and Slave’s Run follows it. On one end of the Moon Sea you can climb up and reach the Blue Rift, from which comes most of the Riftlands’ water. The surface of this moon is quite porous. An effect of the low gravity and the tidal forces of Cupid.”

“Leave it to a Gravitist to explain the workings of gravity,” Cleon said.

“I digress. Basically, you can use Slave’s Run to reach the Mountains of Madness and enter