Chương 35: Shadows and Shards

The path twisted through the undergrowth in long, looping curves that never seemed to lead anywhere. Twice they reached bends that looked identical to ones they'd already passed, though Enzo couldn't be sure if the rift was repeating itself or if every stretch of black-barked forest simply looked the same. The sounds continued. Rustling. The occasional snap of a branch. A low hiss that faded the moment anyone turned toward it.

They'd stopped flinching at most of them, though Sumi still sucked in a breath every now and then when something sounded too close. Kenzo held up a fist, and they stopped.

"What is it?" Enzo asked.

"Look at that." Kenzo pointed at a tree just off the path to their right. Something jutted from the trunk at chest height. Purple and translucent, catching the dim red light and refracting it into faint prismatic shards across the bark. It was roughly half the size of a football, though irregular and faceted in a way that looked grown rather than cut. Enzo's eyes widened. He stepped off the path and reached for it, running his fingers across the surface. Cool to the touch.

Smooth where the facets met, rough where it emerged from the wood. He gripped it and pulled. It didn't move. He adjusted his grip and tried again, bracing his cane against a root for leverage. Nothing. The visible portion was only a fraction of the crystal's mass. The rest was buried deep inside the trunk, fused with the wood as though it had grown there.

"Can't get it out," he said, turning back.

"This has to be a mana crystal though." Kenzo cracked his knuckles.

"Let me try."

"Kenzo, wait—" The big man planted his feet, drew back his right fist, and threw a straight punch at the trunk beside the crystal.

"Arcane Burst." Purple light flared across his knuckles on impact. The side of the trunk exploded outward in a shower of black bark and pale wood. The crystal shattered, fragments spraying into the undergrowth in every direction. Silence. Even the forest seemed stunned. Kenzo turned back to them and rubbed his head.

"Uh. My bad." Enzo stared at him.

"What an unexpected result. Who could have predicted that punching a tree as hard as you can with a magical fist would cause that kind of damage."

"I thought it would knock it loose!"

"You thought wrong!" Enzo waved a hand toward the bushes.

"Well, go on. Fetch." Kenzo chuckled and waded into the underbrush, pushing through branches and stomping down ferns as he hunted for the scattered pieces. A moment later his voice carried back.

"Yo, I just got a notification! New Guide entry." The other three kept watch while Kenzo rummaged around in the bushes. The forest continued its performance around them, but the sounds felt almost halfhearted now, as if even the rift couldn't compete with the noise Kenzo was making. He emerged a minute later with two handfuls of broken shards, dirt and bits of grass clinging to them. He dumped the pile carefully onto the path.

Enzo picked up one of the larger fragments, turned it in the light, and held it between two fingers. Signe and Sumi did the same. He pulled up the notification straight away. — New Guide Entry: Mana Crystals Classification: Crafting Resource Mana crystals are naturally occurring formations found exclusively within rifts. They form as a product of sustained high-density ambient mana interacting with the destabilized fundamental forces that define rift interiors.

Crystals grow within the rift environment over time, bonding to surfaces and structures shaped by the rift's conceptual landscape. Types: Mana crystals are arcane-typed by nature. Creatures occupying a rift passively convert ambient mana through their natural affinities, which may alter the type of crystals forming in their proximity. Typed crystals are uncommon. Crystals of high purity in a single type are extremely rare. Tiers: Crystal quality is determined by the local mana density at the point of formation.

Higher density produces higher-tier crystals. Most crystals within a rift are of a lower tier than the rift itself. Only crystals forming nearest the core, where mana density is greatest, typically match the rift's tier classification. Uses: Mana crystals are universal catalysts. When introduced to other materials, they enhance the material's capacity to interact with mana. This property applies across all crafting disciplines and material types, including metals, gemstones, organic compounds, and liquids.

Personal consumption of mana crystals temporarily expands a mage's capacity beyond their natural maximum, creating a tertiary reservoir independent of base and bonus capacity. This expansion decays over time without continued consumption. Consumption of typed crystals causes a portion of mana absorbed into the tertiary reservoir to passively convert to the consumed crystal's type. Warning: Mana crystals are the primary driver of rift competition.

Their scarcity and universal applicability place them among the most contested resources in magic civilizations, especially those with advanced magitech. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. —"I need them," Enzo said when he finished reading.

"All of them."

"I wouldn't mind having some to experiment with too," Sumi added.

"I'm willing to share. Ninety-ten," Enzo deadpanned. Sumi nodded.

"That's fair."

"Enzo was joking, Sumi." Signe's eyes narrowed.

"At least he better have been." He raised a hand in mock defeat, the other tightening on the cane.

"Oh." Sumi glanced between them.

"It's okay, though, really. I don't want much. Just enough to test." Signe shook her head.

"We'll all need some for the extra mana, if nothing else." She turned her glare on Kenzo.

"Assuming this knucklehead doesn't keep using them as punching bags." Kenzo grinned.

"Honest mistake, Sig. Anyone might have done it."

"At least it confirms we're not just going in circles," Enzo said, still turning a shard over in his hand.

"I was beginning to worry."

"I still am," Signe said.

"There's been no sign of the kids or their parents." Kenzo nodded.

"I was expecting to find them waiting near the entrance. Or… you know." Sumi shook her head.

"Thirst would have become a problem for the kids. That may have forced the parents to look for a way out." The group fell silent for a few moments.

"Let's keep going," Enzo said. They gathered the remaining shards Kenzo had retrieved. The largest fragment was no bigger than Enzo's thumb. He tried not to think about how much had been lost. There would be more. Hopefully. As they continued along the path, the looping curves persisted, the forest pressing in from both sides, the canopy curving overhead like a ribcage closing around them. The ambient sounds had resumed their rhythm. Rustle. Silence. A branch cracking somewhere they weren't looking.

Another rustle, louder than the rest. Nobody turned. Something rushed from the undergrowth to their left. It hit Kenzo before anyone registered what it was. Low, fast, a blur of dark fur and muscle that caught him at the shins and sent him stumbling. He caught himself with one hand and hammered the other down.

"Arcane Burst." Purple light detonated against the thing's shoulder, and it tumbled away, rolling through the ferns before finding its feet. A coyote. Or something that had been one. Larger than it should have been, its jaw hanging at an angle that suggested the bones had rearranged themselves, and dull purple light flickered behind its eyes. Two more burst from the right. One rushed at Signe, the other leapt straight for Sumi.

"Bolt." Enzo's instinctive shot caught the one heading for Signe in the flank. It yelped and spun, legs tangling, sliding across the dark soil. The second reached Sumi before he could track it. She threw her arms up and the thing's jaws closed on her forearm. She screamed and kicked it hard in the ribs. It held on. Kenzo was already moving. He crossed the path in two strides, grabbed the coyote by the scruff, and ripped it off Sumi's arm. Its teeth left furrows in her skin, blood welling immediately.

He slammed it into a tree trunk with both hands. The impact was wet and final. The body dissolved. Between one blink and the next, the coyote in Kenzo's grip lost substance, turning translucent, then vanishing entirely.

"What the hell?" Kenzo growled. The one Enzo had shot was still down, twitching. Real. Solid. Purple eyes flickering. Sumi backed away from it, hands raised but not casting. Enzo fired again.

"Bolt." The spell punched through its skull. Warmth bloomed in his mind. That one had been an Eater. The first one, the one that had hit Kenzo, was circling back from the undergrowth. It moved differently from the dead one. Faster, more fluid, no sign of the damage Kenzo's Burst should have left on its shoulder. Kenzo set himself between it and Signe. It lunged. He met it with a kick that connected solidly with its chest. It flew backward, hit the ground, and vanished mid-bounce. Gone as if it had never existed.

Silence fell. The forest sounds had stopped entirely. Blood ran down Sumi's forearm in thin lines. The wounds were shallow but real, torn skin where teeth had gripped and pulled. She held a hand over the wound.

"Heal." Kenzo stared at his hands, then at the spot where the second coyote had disappeared.

"It was there. I felt it. I hit it."

"The one I killed was an Eater," Enzo said. He looked at the blood on Sumi's arm, the furrows still closing.

"I don't know what those other two were."

"Subconscious manifestations from whatever controls the rift, maybe?" Sumi asked through gritted teeth.

"The Guide said the dominant presence shapes the interior." Kenzo groaned.

"Serious? We gotta fight Eaters and their imaginary friends?"

"How do we tell the difference?" Signe asked. Enzo looked into the forest. The trees stared back, silent and patient.

"I don't think it matters. The injuries they leave are real, so treat everything as if it's an Eater."

"Oh, yeah." Kenzo nodded.

"That makes sense."

"You okay to continue?" Enzo asked Sumi. She nodded.

"Yes. I'll keep healing as we walk." She glanced down at the wound.

"I am worried about infection, though. Even if the one that bit me isn't real, we need antibiotics for the ones that are."

"Or an upgrade to your Heal." She looked up with a thoughtful frown.

"That might work… I'll think about it." Kenzo took point again, but the gaps between them had halved. Close enough to reach each other in a step. They checked the sounds now, heads turning at every rustle, even knowing most of them were nothing. The cost of being wrong once was enough to kill the habit of ignoring them. The path wound deeper. The canopy pressed lower, branches brushing their shoulders in places, and the red light dimmed until Enzo had to watch his footing to keep the cane from catching on roots.

They were hit twice more in the next stretch of forest. The first attack came from above. Something dropped from the canopy onto Kenzo's back, all claws and snarling weight. He reached over his shoulder, grabbed it by the hind leg, and smashed it into the ground. It vanished on impact, but the scratches across the back of his neck bled freely until Sumi closed them. The second was more dangerous. Three shapes rushed them from the left while a fourth circled behind and came at Sumi from a blind spot.

Enzo caught the flanker with a Bolt that punched through its skull, and the warmth confirmed it as real. Kenzo, Signe, and Sumi handled the other three between them, two of which dissolved into nothing when put down. The third stayed dead, purple eyes dimming on the forest floor. Three real Eaters out of eight attackers across three engagements. The rest had been phantoms that hit just as hard and vanished the moment they died. Sumi's reserves were draining faster than anyone else's.

Every wound, real or phantom-inflicted, cost her mana to close. Enzo could see the strain in her eyes and the way she stopped healing the moment the skin had closed enough to stem the bleeding. Then the trees thinned. The path straightened for the first time since they'd entered the rift, the undergrowth pulling back on both sides as if something had pushed it away. The canopy opened overhead, revealing a sky that wasn't a sky.

A roiling mass of deep red and purple, shifting slowly like clouds seen through stained glass. And ahead, the forest ended at the edge of a clearing.