Chapter Sixteen: The Rift

  "Ugh, my legs hurt..." Finally, I can sleep.

  Tairen y inside his tent, exhausted after a full day of running from that clumsy oaf.

  — "Sir, do you know what's happening tomorrow?"

  — "What?"

  — "You're waking up at the crack of dawn."

  — "Screw you..."

  Tairen closed his eyes, determined to sleep—but suddenly, a thought struck him and erased that possibility altogether.

  "Sleep? Who sleeps when the city needs protection?"

  "I am Batman!"

  — "Cut it out."

  — "You're a joy-killer."

  — "Anyway, sneak into the command tent… and stay incorporeal."

  — "Got it, Batman."

  Sada darted off toward the command tent.

  Tairen: "Of course I'm Batman."

  Sada's awareness slipped into the tent, and Tairen watched through him, living two moments at once.

  Some who had this ability used it for twisted purposes, but Tairen had sworn never to—out of ethics, yes, but more importantly because it was actually harmful.

  "Anyway..."

  Inside the tent stood a tall, broad-shouldered man—the same one who had chased Tairen all day.

  Beside him were a boy with strange yellow eyes and a girl in winter attire, with long white hair tinted faintly blue, and pale grayish-white eyes with irises of the same shade—an unnerving look.

  The boy broke the silence with a mocking tone:

  "Seriously, why do we have to bring some zy, useless, weird, and rude guy with us?"

  "Dear heavens, what is that? By the Maker above, what a vile creature!"

  The girl replied in a voice as cold as a winter breeze:

  "I know... but we don’t have any better options. Desperate times, Chaos Pole."

  "So the team is: me, you, that weird guy named Tairen, Rhino... and..."

  Wait... they’re talking about me!

  Me? Awesome! I’m not useless—and I’m definitely not rude or weird.

  I’m funny, damn it!

  Who even named this clown “Chaos Pole”?

  Seriously, if anyone’s a ringmaster, it’s me. He has zero sense of humor.

  Anyway, first piece of intel: that idiot awakened his dormant self and got his real name.

  And I’m going with the main squad. With the elite...

  "Should I be happy that I'm with the strongest? Or terrified because they're heading into the Great Rift? Eh, doesn't matter—sleep now."

  He shut his eyes again—only to hear a loud noise and a sudden fp of the tent.

  He woke up... dawn had come. Time for training.

  "Damn it..."

  After a week of psychological torment in this pce that knew no value of sleep, here he was, stepping toward the Rift with a band of misfits.

  He’d taken a few punches from that boy—thanks to that girl he knocked over while running from the guard known as "Rhino."

  She was the younger sister of Chaos Pole, visiting that day from who-knows-where.

  And by the way, "Rhino" wasn’t that guard’s real name. Just a nickname that stuck.

  And so it begins...

  Chaos Pole, in his usual tone, said:

  "Try to regroup as soon as you're in… and don’t die, you bastard Tairen."

  "Damn him… I don’t even need to go in. I’m just doing this so no one gets suspicious. I’ll leave a void mark for Sada’s dash—if I need to, I’ll try to use it to escape."

  Tairen stepped into the Rift… and vanished.

  He was falling—twenty meters down—from the edge of a strange-colored root.

  Below him… thick fog.

  He pushed himself upward mid-air using his movement ability, nding back on the root.

  A strange root, as if something flowed through it beneath its surface.

  Around him, a chilling fog bnketed the world.

  "Dear heavens… I’m lucky… again!"

  -----------

  End of [Part One: Echoes of the Void] from Volume One

  Hi guys . It's me—the weirdo who's writing this.

  I’d really appreciate any criticism or feedback, anything at all—I’ll literally respond to everything.

  I hope you enjoy whatever this strange thing I'm writing turns out to be:]