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

more different, but didn’t bother mentioning it. “I hope we see it soon.”

“We should continue,” Fergus said. “I have a couple of hours left in me. I think.”

“Are you sure, Captain?”

“I wouldn’t say I was good if I wasn’t, Serah. Lead the way.”

“Actually, you would say that.”

Fergus grunted. “Lucian can stream the sphere.”

Lucian took over the lighting and fell in behind Serah while Cleon and Fergus brought up the rear.

They walked far longer than two hours, and every bit of distance put between them and their pursuers made Lucian feel better. The terrain sloped down even more, to the point where sometimes they had to climb hand over hand.

“I can’t help but feel we’re descending into an abyss,” Fergus said.

Some rock broke under Lucian’s right foot. It fell into the darkness, and he didn’t hear so much as an impact. That wasn’t a good sign.

“This is the way we need to go,” Serah said. “There’s a bottom somewhere.”

Soon, the slope was so steep that they couldn’t proceed any farther. They found a ledge just large enough to accommodate the four of them.

“This will have to do for now,” Fergus said. “We can figure things out when we wake up.”

It felt dangerous to sleep so close to the edge, but Lucian saw no other option. After streaming his ward, he slept.

The next day, they descended into “the abyss,” as Cleon had called it. It took the greater part of the day. At various points, Serah was forced to use her magic. Even with the lower gravity of Psyche, the climb was terribly draining. Lucian and Cleon shared the responsibility of providing light, Lucian with light spheres, and Cleon with fire orbs held together with Gravitonic Magic. The flickering fire made shadows dance in every nook and crevice, making it difficult to find handholds.

“How much longer?” Cleon asked. “Fergus could just focus a light beam and see how much farther we have to go.”

“As I said before,” Fergus said, between breaths, “doing such a thing would be supremely idiotic. Anyone, or anything, down in this abyss would see us coming.”

“Which begs the question. Why are we climbing down this rotting thing, anyway?”

“Because,” Fergus said, dropping to a lower ledge, “we need to go down.”

Lucian peered into the darkness. “I think I see something.”

Everyone stared into the dark abyss. A single light shone in the distance, like an eye staring.

“Nope,” Cleon said. “Don’t like that.”

“The way is down,” Serah said. “A single light won’t bite you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

They continued to work their way down until the rock walls of the abyss simply . . . fell away. Below them spread a giant cavern. The abyss was more of a deep hole in the ceiling of this entire cavern below. And what was more, Lucian could see that the single light now had separated into multiple lights.

“Looks like our friends are down there,” Lucian said.

“Impossible,” Serah said. “How could they get there before us?”

“The lights are static,” Fergus said. “Looks like they’ve set up camp.”

“Whatever the case, isn’t that good news?” Cleon asked. “It must be a half a kilometer drop to get down there, if not more. No way they could get to us now, even if they could see us.”

Lucian allowed his sphere to wink out. It probably wasn’t bright enough to be seen, but it was better to be careful.

“Maybe it’s not the Queen’s men at all,” Serah said. “More likely it’s a group of frays. An outpost, maybe. In fact, I seem to remember there being one in this huge cavern, where the frays like to forage and fish.”

“Will it get us closer to Slave’s Run?” Fergus asked.

“For sure,” Serah said. “It’s a risk, but if this is the place I’m thinking of, it’ll only take a couple more days to get to the Moon Sea.”

“Are you kidding me?” Cleon asked. “Meeting a group of frays could be worse than Mage-Lord Kiani and his men. What if they’re Burners?”

“Burners don’t live in communities,” Serah said. “Burners survive alone and will attack anyone they don’t have a strong personal connection with.”

That reminded Lucian of Ramore. From Serah’s stoic expression, it was clear she was doing her best to put that out of her mind.

“So, it’s either the Queen or frays,” Fergus said. “I don’t have a mind to climb all this again. What took two days before will take a week or more going up.”

“You’re right,” Serah said. “Once we’re down there, I can investigate and see what we’re dealing with. Or we can try to go around them.”

“I don’t understand,” Lucian said. “How are we even going to get down there?”

“We could do it like the mountain,” Serah said. “That’s the only way I see happening.”

Fergus nodded. “We have no choice but to be seen. Both the light I stream and Lucian’s tethers will be highly visible.”

“So we’re doing the same thing?” Lucian asked.

“Fergus will have to set up a beacon again,” Serah said. “I know you’re drained, Fergus, but we really have no other choice.”

“I’ll have to let this ward dissolve to be sure I can do it,” Fergus said. “If those men are anywhere close to us, I’m afraid any fluctuations we make in the ethereal field will draw them right to us.”

“They are still two days away from this place, if they’re heading here at all,” Serah said. “I’ve walked that trail before. Even if they are hoofing it, I don’t think they could make it before us.”

“I’ll have to trust your judgment,” Fergus said.

“We need to do this quickly,” Serah said.

“Four at the same time would be too draining, even with the Orb of Binding,” Lucian said. “It was overwhelming last time, and this distance is much farther than across Snake Rift.” He peered down into the darkness. “I can probably tether two at a time safely, if it’s about as far as the mountain.”

“I admit, I’ve never seen anyone create a tether like you,” Fergus said. “Very well. Let me know