Ch 8 - Rescue

Tension at the Outer Zone Security Post mounted as energy burst across the portal's surface and flung sparks into the air. Its edges buckled and rippled in uneven spasms.

[Warning: Rift Stability at Critical Levels. Structural Collapse Expected Shortly.]

The alert blared across the screens of the Rift monitoring devices. Red text filled each one. Reid pulled out his phone and redialed. The line rang once before someone picked up.

"Director Shin, the Rift is collapsing," Reid said.

"...I've already contacted the Awakener Affairs Bureau," Director Shin replied. "The earliest they can get an A-rank here is six hours from now."

"That'll be too late." The Rift would not hold for six hours. At this rate it would collapse within the hour, possibly sooner. "Can't they ask the guilds for help? One of them must be able to spare an A-rank."

"You know very well that the government's relationship with the guilds has been strained lately, Reid."

Reid did know. The two sides had spent years locked in a stalemate. The guilds resented government oversight, and the government refused to leave organizations capable of leveling city blocks unsupervised.

"So they're not going to do more?" The answer came as no surprise. At the end of the day, it was just a B-rank Rift, and since it was collapsing rather than breaking out, the damage would be limited. Four people would die: three civilian children and one C-rank Awakener.

In the grand scheme of things, that wasn't much. Monsters, ordinary crimes, disease, and old age claimed people every day, and Awakeners died clearing Rifts on a regular basis. A few headlines and angry comments might follow if the story got out, then people would move on. It wasn't enough to move the government.

"...I'm sorry. I'll try contacting some guild members personally. I know a few of them. I'm sure I can—"

"No need," Reid said. "That would put you in a tough spot, Director. I'll handle this."

"What are you talk—"

Reid ended the call and pocketed his phone. He marched toward the Rift, and the crowd gathered nearby turned toward him.

The rescue team captain stood among his subordinates, frowning at the unstable Rift. When Reid started toward it, he shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?! Stay back from the Rift!"

"Sorry, but I need to save my brother." Reid reached out, stepped into the portal, and vanished.

***

"We're so dead," Yuyan said.

Evan agreed. The four of them stared up at the creature looming over them. Evan didn't know what it was, but it was no B-rank monster. It was at least an A-rank boss.

Was that why the Rift was ranked B? The regular enemies were weak enough for a single C-rank Awakener to handle, but the dungeon balanced the scales by hiding a secret boss one rank above its listing. Perhaps this tree-like aberration also explained why the pixies and wolves had kept to their nests instead of roaming and hunting. A bigger predator ruled this land.

Not that understanding the reason would help them. However Evan turned it over, they were going to die. Even Harlan had no answer for this.

"Run, kids!" Harlan shouted, sprinting for the boss's leg.

His sword bit into the creature's trunk-like foot and left only a shallow scratch, but the strike drew its attention. That was the opening Evan needed.

Evan grabbed Marcus and Yuyan, who stood frozen in shock, and dragged them away. They stumbled after him, legs tangling as they fought for footing, and the three of them ran.

The boss raised its arm and hammered it down at Harlan. He roared and loosed blades of wind that carved thin gashes across its bark and did nothing to slow the descent. At the last second, he threw himself aside.

THOOOM!

The impact hurled him through the distant trees, and pixie dwellings splintered in his wake, yet not one of the tiny creatures dared to emerge. Meanwhile, the three students had barely crossed half the open field when vines erupted from the tree's trunk and lanced toward them. Evan and Marcus dove clear, but Yuyan was too slow. A tendril coiled around her torso and cinched tight.

"AAAAAHH!" Yuyan screamed.

"Yuyan!" Marcus lunged at the vine and hacked at it wildly. His blade skidded off as if it had struck stone. Another tendril snapped out and wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides.

Evan's stomach dropped as the two teens were caught. The urge to run clawed at him harder than it ever had against the wolf. The Six-Eyed Wolf had been dangerous but manageable, and he could picture himself bringing it down. This thing, though... there was no way.

Run. You have to run! Save yourself!

Yuyan's eyes found his from within the vine's grip, wide and pleading above a face gone pale with fear. Evan turned from her and bolted for the treeline. He ducked two tendrils, but a third swept his legs out from under him. The ground knocked the wind from his lungs, and the vine snared him before he could rise.

"Aargh!" Evan groaned as it tightened. The pressure set his bones creaking, and the tendril squeezed as though it meant to grind him into a bloody pulp.

"Let them go!" Harlan shouted. Bruises and cuts covered him. His right arm hung at an unnatural angle, yet his left hand still swung the sword.

"RAAAAAAGH!" Wind blades flared around him once more, and a barrage of compressed air struck the roots. This time the blades bit deep. The vines recoiled and released the three students, who crumpled to the ground.

Each attempt to move sent agony rolling through Evan's battered frame. He could not run anymore, and at best he could crawl. How was he supposed to escape this monster when a snail could outpace him?

Harlan wheezed, emptied by that last burst, and the boss gave him no time to recover. Its arm swept across the clearing and caught all four of them, flinging them through the air.

Evan slammed into a tree.

WHAM!

Pain detonated through him as his broken bones ground together. Blood spilled over his lips, his vision guttered in and out, and a high-pitched whine filled his ears. He never registered the fall, only the searing burn of every nerve crying out at once.

God damn it... Just kill me already.

The monster could have finished them all with ease, yet it kept toying with them. Its silhouette swam through his blurred vision, and Evan made no effort to puzzle out what he was looking at. There was no point in searching for a way out anymore.

Finally, some rest...

Accepting death came with surprising ease. Why had he fought so desperately before? The fear and the hunger to survive that had once consumed him now lay far away. Perhaps that was the contradiction of being human. Many people talked about wanting everything to end, yet when death stood before them, they clawed for every breath.

Evan had done the same, but nothing remained to fight with now. For once, he let the fight go. Life had ground him down at every turn, and even transmigration had not freed him from his terrible luck. It had only handed fate another chance to mock him.

Maybe he should have accepted it long ago. Things might have been easier if he had stopped struggling from the start. Yeah... He should just give up.

***

Reid's attention snapped toward the distance the moment he entered the Rift. The creature was impossible to miss, its bulk rising above the surrounding trees. Faint screams carried across the field to his sharp ears.

He sprinted, and his mind supplied a dozen horrors. His brother could already be dead, mangled beyond recognition, split in half or crushed into a heap with nothing left but gore staining the ground.

Reid cursed himself for not entering sooner, for letting hesitation keep him from taking matters into his own hands. He should have known how this would end the moment the Rift admitted only one more person, and now Evan would die because of him.

A memory flashed across his mind: bloodied hands clutching a small child.

Reid ran faster. After years of locking that power away, he reached for it again, and it answered as if it had been waiting all along. Decades of experience forged in countless battles had not faded.

Sacred Light poured through him, strengthening every muscle and sharpening every sense. His speed, already that of an elite athlete, climbed higher still, and the world blurred around him as he covered the remaining distance in seconds.

From the apex of a leap, he scanned the battlefield below. Four battered bodies lay scattered across the ground. A youth with red hair was among them, the crimson strands matted against ruined clothes and grimy skin.

Evan.

Reid landed beside him and gently pulled his brother into his arms. His heart clenched as Evan's limp form sagged against him like a broken doll. Sacred Light flowed from him into Evan, golden warmth seeping into broken bones and ruptured flesh and knitting them together.

Evan's eyes fluttered open and clouded with confusion as they found him.

"...Reid?" Evan muttered.

"I'm here," Reid said, drawing him closer. He wished he could comfort Evan longer, but the monster had already turned toward them.

"Grooooaaarrr!" The boss roared and swung its fist down at them.

Reid sidestepped the strike, and one look was enough to name it. An Awakened Thornwood Tree, a rare mutation born of a warped bond with the Queen of the Woodbound Pixies. It fed on the life force of its caretaker and grew far stronger and deadlier than its original form in return. An A-rank boss had no business appearing here.

Reid's expression darkened. He carried Evan deeper into the forest, well outside the arena, and laid him on the ground. The Sacred Light had already healed the worst of his injuries, leaving him battered but conscious.

"You stay here and don't move around," Reid said, ruffling Evan's hair. "I'll handle the boss."

"You need to save the others!" Evan said, clutching Reid's sleeve.

"Of course. Just leave everything to me." Reid smiled and dashed back toward the boss arena.

Another wave of vines lashed out as the Awakened Thornwood Tree locked onto Reid, but he slipped between them with ease. He retrieved the two wounded students and carried them to safety, then returned for the unconscious C-rank Awakener.

"Now then, to deal with you." Reid turned to the boss. Anyone else would have felt fear before such a creature, but he had faced beasts far more terrifying than an oversized plant.

He drew the standard-issue sidearm of Rift Support Technicians, a compact black pistol meant for emergencies rather than combat, and leveled it at the tree. Against an A-rank boss, it should have been useless. Most Awakeners had long ago abandoned firearms, leaving them to soldiers and government personnel.

"This should be enough."

A/N:

Awakened Thornwood Tree: Let me see what you have!

Reid: A gun! (⌐■_■) ︻╦╤─

It's pretty rare to see a gun in hunter/gate stories. XD

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