Into the Rift

Despite there being faster forms of travel it was customary for there to be a royal procession that took the Spectrel Prince and Princess to each festival. The desert heat and dangerous terrain made the journey to the heart of the region a long and arduous one. And after the events at the Spring Festival in Faeveil, it would be difficult for the Prince and Princess to fully enjoy their time in the desert region of Ardjinn. Rhen was particularly on edge.

Rhynne wanted to reassure her brother but she was just as apprehensive about this ordeal, making their carriage ride largely silent. While there hadn’t been reports of any new rifts lately, the fact that many of the previous rifts still remained meant whatever was happening wasn’t over yet. And both of them were unsure if what happened at the last festival was coincidence or not.

“Do you think that…” Rhen started but his voice trailed off, feeling he might jinx it if he mentioned it at all.

“I don’t know.” Was all Rhynne had to say in reply.

They exchanged concerned glances, understanding what neither truly wanted to say out loud at the moment.

At long last they approached the entrance to Brimstone, passing through the grand gates and into the sprawling stone city, a shimmering oasis in the middle of an arid wasteland. Once inside the heat was much more bearable, pleasant even. The sun’s harsh rays softened to a warm glow, filtered slightly by the abundant plant life that thrived within the shelter provided by the stone walls that surrounded the place. Many small canals and aqueducts wound through the city like veins, pathways carved into the rock connecting to wells and pools for water to be easily accessible to all citizens. Even embedded within various walls were beautiful gemstones and colorful glass that glittered in the daylight, just one of multiple reasons Brimstone Oasis is often called the Jewel of the Desert. It was a stark contrast to the desolate sands and blistering heat just beyond the city’s massive stone walls.

A light breeze wafted a variety of scents from the many different food stalls scattered throughout the festival’s crowded market. Spectrels bustled around between the numerous vendors, some gathered under the shade the plants offered while others basked in the summer sun. The atmosphere was relaxed but lively as Spectrels chatted and partook in festivities. The two royals caught snippets of conversations as they made their way to the plaza center where a stage had been prepared for them.

“Help me decide which desert glass to get.”

“I dunno, they all look the same to me.”

“The same? This one clearly has a more subtle golden hue with green undertones, while this one is aqua blue with flecks of sapphire.”

“It’s glass, man. You sure you don’t have enough already?”

“I get some desert glass every year, it’s tradition at this point. I don’t know how you can be so callous about the artistry of the glass formed by Ardjinn.”

“It’s formed by lava, dude.”

“Hey, that Lgeimat booth is back this year.”

“Where? I was looking all over for it earlier. You gotta show me!”

“Yeah, sure, last I was over there though there was a pretty long line.”

“Let’s go right now!”

“Do you think we’ll get to see Ardjinn this year? I heard Faeveil showed up at the Spring Festival! How lucky would we be if that happened here too!”

“Didn’t Faeveil only show up because there was some kind of crisis? I don’t think I’d feel all too lucky about that.”

“Well it’d definitely be exciting.”

“I’m good with the current level of excitement, actually.”

To both the royal siblings’ surprise, their little speech went entirely uninterrupted. They had managed to get through everything from thanking the citizens and officials for hosting the event to announcing the last of the events and awarding a handful of prizes to the winners of the events held before they arrived. Rhen and Rhynne looked to each other with relief once they had finished and stepped down off the platform.

“Maybe we could take some time to look around now, you know, actually have fun.” Rhen said to his sister with a hesitant smile.

“Hmm, alright, where would you like to start then?” Rhynne smirked a little up at Rhen, already knowing his answer.

“Oh come on,” Rhen huffed when he saw the look on her face. “We haven’t eaten in hours, I know you’re hungry too.”

“I am, it’s just easy to tease you.” Rhynne shrugged as she walked off towards the market with Rhen close behind.

Maybe today would be fine, maybe the last festival was just a coincidence. Rhen still couldn’t help but glance around nervously even an hour after wandering the market and getting something to eat. Perhaps he’s just being paranoid, besides, Rhynne seemed perfectly calm now.

A panicked shout followed by more screams quickly dashed their hopes of a peaceful evening. Multiple rifts were now appearing around the plaza as Spectrels fled to safety. Just as what had happened during Faeveil’s festival, one massive rift began to open at the center above the stage. Though this time there appeared to be some kind of vine-like tendrils reaching out of the rifts to grab the frightened Spectrels unfortunate enough to still be within range. Try as they might, no matter their power or ability, the Spectrels that had been grabbed couldn’t get out of the vines’ grasp and anyone that attempted to help was only snatched up as well.

Rhen and Rhynne were frozen as they watched in horror. When this happened at Skytree Lake, Faeveil had appeared near instantly to stop it. If Ardjinn was going to appear he seemed to be taking his time. A few Spectrels had already disappeared into the largest rift. Was… Was he not coming? What could they even do if the last time this happened it took one of their Gods to deal with it?

Rhen’s legs were shaking but he couldn’t just stand here and watch. He stumbled forward as quickly his legs would allow and grabbed the nearest Spectrel being pulled into a rift by the vines.

“Rhen! Don’t!” Rhynne shouted after him.

In the distance a volcano erupted, raining molten hot lava and sending tremors across the ground. Something else was launched out of the volcano as well, and it was rapidly approaching the plaza. A trail of fire followed Ardjinn through the air before he landed with such force the stone beneath his feet cracked. He straightened up, one of his four arms brushed a bit of lava off himself, flicking it to the ground where it sizzled.

While the captured Spectrels were still struggling to keep from getting pulled into the rifts, Ardjinn simply cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. His many eyes darted around briefly before he leaned forward then shot off in a blur of motion. The only indication of his path being another trail of fire left in his wake. All the vines from the smaller rifts released the Spectrels they had a hold of, reduced to ash in mere moments after having come into contact with the God of the desert. Even the little rifts themselves seemed to crackle and ignite, closing and disappearing with a hiss quickly after. The newly freed Spectrels looked around at each other before spotting Ardjinn again as he came to a stop in front of the large rift at the center of the plaza.

Ardjinn stretched slightly, clearly not taking any of this very seriously despite whatever terrors could lie beyond these rifts. More vines shot out to grab the fiery god as he merely stood there in front of the massive rift. They burst into flames from the extreme heat radiating off his body before they could even touch him. What was left of the vines retreated back into the rift and it seemed like Ardjinn was getting bored with this when suddenly an entire tree came through the rift, thrown directly at Ardjinn. He braced himself and stopped it with all four of his arms, quickly reducing the tree to cinders.

“That can’t seriously-” The God was abruptly cut off from his taunting when a huge boulder came sailing through the rift immediately after, having been obstructed from view by the ash and cinders of the tree before it. It slammed into him and sent him into a wall with it. For a few moments there was no response from Ardjinn, but soon enough the boulder shook then was lifted into the air as he hefted it above his head. Though it was several times his size, Ardjinn appeared to have no real trouble hurling the massive rock back at the rift.

“W-Wait! There’s still Spectrels in there!” Rhynne shouted at the reckless God from where she knelt with her brother and the Spectrel he had been trying to save.

“Huh?” Ardjinn seemed like he forgot there was even anyone else in the area as he looked back to Rhynne. “Eugh, great.” He rolled his head back in an exaggerated gesture of exasperation. “Stay clear.” Was all he said before rushing to the rift in a fiery blaze.

Thankfully more vines had caught the boulder before it could reenter the rift, though they were now swinging it back down on Ardjinn as he approached. It crashed to the ground, narrowly missing its target as he pivoted out of the way. Smaller rocks pelted Ardjinn as he got closer and briefly crouched down, extra pairs of arms appearing from his back to block and deflect, before he leapt into rift.

For several moments that felt like an eternity everyone left on the outside of the rift collectively held their breath, waiting for the God of the desert to reemerge with the abducted Spectrels. Soon enough the vines that remained burned to ash like the others as Ardjinn returned, carrying several Spectrels under his multiple arms. He plopped them all down as the rift disintegrated behind him.

“There.” Ardjinn leaned down a bit and patted one of the already trembling Spectrels on the back, knocking them over. “................... Eh, you’ll be fine.” He straightened up again and looked around at the astonished Spectrels still in the area. The God crossed his arms and cleared his throat then said rather pointedly. “You’re welcome.”

At that the crowd all bowed in reverence to Ardjinn who nodded approvingly.

“Lord Ardjinn,” Rhynne cautiously got to her feet. “How were you able to close the rifts?”

“Hm?” Ardjinn looked around as if he only just now noticed all the rifts had disappeared. “Oh, no idea.” Well at least he was honest. ”Guess whatever it was just couldn’t take the heat.” He shrugged, now radiating both heat and smugness as he turned to look down at Rhynne.

Rhynne looked dumbfounded. This was the Warlord of Flame, the Master of Battle, the God of the Desert, and his answer was just shrugging his shoulders and essentially saying ‘Eh, probably too hot to handle’.

Rhen rose to his feet now as well. “What was it like inside the rift?” He asked tentatively. Having spoken with some of the Spectrels who had been retrieved from the portals at the Festival in Faeveil it seemed none of them could really remember their time in the rift for whatever reason. But perhaps a god would.

Ardjinn’s many eyes turned their attention to Rhen now. “Dark.”

“.... Dark?”

“Yup, dark, could barely see a thing.”

“How did you find all those Spectrels then?” Rhynne spoke up.

Ardjinn simply pointed to his head and the flickering flame that rose from it.

Both royals just stared at him now.

“... Okay, but seriously.” Ardjinn sighed. “It was kind of like space in a way? I could see the others just fine and the vines coming through, but anything else either wasn’t visible or just didn’t exist. Nothing but a void.”

Rhen and Rhynne exchanged glances.

“That’s all I got for you.” Ardjinn said with another shrug. “I’ll stick around, see if it tries to come back.” He looked around the plaza and the citizens that congregated again to get a look at the desert god. “Been a while since I was here last, might be nice.” For once his tone sounded sincere rather than full of himself.

“... Lord Ardjinn?” Rhen hesitated.

“Hm?” Ardjinn turned back to the prince.

“Since you seem able to close the rifts… Perhaps you could go help the people in Faeveil close the ones that appeared there? And there’s still several others scattered around.” Rhen hoped he wasn’t overstepping by asking this of one of their gods, but he also couldn’t just leave those other rifts open if the solution could be standing right in front of them.

Ardjinn stared down at Rhen for an uncomfortable amount of time, saying nothing. Rhen was about to apologize when finally he nodded. “Yeah, I guess I could give it a shot. Haven’t seen the big guy himself in ages either.” Ardjinn scratched his fiery head with a clawed hand. “Hope he’s not still mad about last time.”

“Last time?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay?” Rhen glanced to his sister again.

Rhynne tried to subtly gesture to the fire atop Ardjinn’s head.

Rhen picked up on it the same moment Ardjinn did as well and he turned away from the two royals, both sets of arms firmly crossed over his chest. He cleared his throat once more while Rhen and Rhynne did their best not to snicker at the god standing before them.

“... Look, accidents happen.” Ardjinn started to walk away from the two. “Be on your guard. I can’t always be around to save you.” And with that he left the plaza, the crowd of Spectrels stepping aside to clear a path for him.

Rhen was still a bit shaken but he also was relieved. “This seems promising at least.” He gave his sister a small but hopeful smile.

Rhynne simply nodded and returned the smile.