The team arrived early.

  Much earlier than usual.

  The morning debrief room was quiet when Bash walked in, only the soft clinks of metal and the muted

  scrape of armor plates being adjusted breaking the stillness. Tyrish was tightening the bindings on his

  dual zweihanders. Orran sat on a bench, polishing the rim of his shield while his massive zweihander

  lay across his lap. Kayris was already in full motion, stretching her legs and rotating her wrists while

  her blades rested at her hips. Korvex was calibrating the mineral channels of his staff, faint sparks

  dancing at the tip. Rhoen checked the seals on his ammunition cylinders, humming lightly. Vanra stood

  near the front, inspecting her staff and quietly reviewing data on her watch.

  Everyone was alert.

  Everyone was waiting.

  Bash took his usual seat toward the right side of the room, running a cloth over the barrel of his gun

  while trying to ignore the faint echoing ache in his core from yesterday’s barrage of thorns and life steal

  essence. He looked calm. He did not feel calm.

  Before anyone could speak, the door slid open.

  A Ryndorf stepped in.

  He moved with the unhurried confidence of someone carrying orders too important to delay or

  sugarcoat.

  “Team,” he said, stopping at the center of the room, “Rhell has assigned you to a recon mission. A

  significant one.”

  The room straightened in unison.

  Ryndorf raised his hand. A display flickered into existence in the air beside him, showing a topographic

  map of a continent Bash had never seen.

  “This world was discovered only three cycles ago. Initial recon confirms no intelligent life. Not for a

  long time. The portal is new, unclassified, and Black Guilds have first access.”

  Tyrish lifted a brow. “All five guilds?”

  “Yes,” Ryndorf replied. “Each will send a single team. There is to be no conflict between you. Each

  guild has laid claim to one ruined city. Rhell chose the largest.”

  He swiped the air. The map zoomed outward, showing five massive city ruins marked with different

  guild sigils. One, far to the east, bore Eclipse Veil’s emblem.

  “It is the furthest from the portal,” Ryndorf continued. “Hours of travel, maybe more. But the potential

  rewards outweigh the inconvenience.”

  Korvex squinted at the display. “What makes him think the relics here are any better than in other new

  worlds?”

  Ryndorf tapped the map again.

  Half a dozen beast silhouettes appeared on screen.

  “Because of the affinities found so far. The only affinities recorded by recon teams have been space,

  gravity, and time.”

  Silence rippled through the room.

  Vanra inhaled slowly. “That is… extremely rare.”

  “Exactly,” Ryndorf said. “If relics exist here, and they likely do, they may surpass anything discovered.

  The portal is technically at Green-tier based on combat difficulty, but Nexus will not assign an official

  ranking until all five guilds return with data.”

  Everyone nodded.

  The logic was sound.

  The danger was obvious.

  Ryndorf flicked his wrist. Vanra’s watch lit up with a deep blue glow.

  “That is the key to the recon portal,” he said. “The portal is in the recon concourse. Leave immediately.

  Rhell has high expectations.”

  He turned without another word and exited the room.

  The door slid shut behind him.

  For a long moment, nobody moved.

  Then Korvex let out a low whistle. “Well. That is not what I was expecting.”

  Orran leaned back. “I figured he was going to punish us.”

  Tyrish nodded. “Same. Maybe cleaning sewage tanks. Maybe escorting recruits.”

  Kayris smirked. “Or alphabetizing the entire fragment archive.”

  Rhoen laughed. “This is much better than organizing shelves.”

  Vanra finally turned toward them. “How do you know this is not a punishment?”

  The room fell silent.

  After a moment, she tapped her staff once on the ground.

  “Move out.”

  The team filed out of the room, traveling through the guild hall until they reached the internal transport

  portal. They stepped through in sequence, arriving in a dim corridor lined with reinforced plating and

  warning symbols marking it as restricted.

  The doors to the recon portal concourse stood ahead, guarded by six fully armored sentinels.

  Vanra raised her watch.

  A blue beam scanned her wrist.

  The doors parted.

  Two guards waited on the other side.

  “This way,” one said, motioning them forward. “You are the second Black Guild team to arrive. Your

  portal is prepared. Here.”

  He handed Vanra a small device, no larger than her palm. Metallic, angular, with a bright orange center.

  Orran whistled. “An emergency beacon?”

  Vanra chuckled. “I have not seen one of these since I was in the Cycle.”

  Rhoen grinned. “That long? Times must be changing.”

  “Let us hope we do not need it,” Tyrish muttered.

  The guards stepped aside. The portal hummed with a soft silver glow.

  “Good luck,” one guard said.

  The team stepped inside.

  And vanished.

  The world they emerged into was calm and washed in the light of a rising star. Pale orange sunbeams

  stretched across the open plains, stirring gentle wind through patches of long grass. The air was cool,

  fresh, untouched.

  They landed on a slight incline overlooking a wide valley.

  Korvex tilted his head back with a sigh. “This is already better than the last unknown world. At least

  the sun is rising, not falling.”

  Kayris smirked. “You mean the one where we wandered fourteen hours in complete darkness?”

  “Yes,” Korvex replied. “That one.”

  Vanra stepped forward and brought up her map. The blue hologram shimmered, indicating a point far

  ahead.

  “Twenty kilometers,” she said quietly. “Longest route of the Black Guilds, but it is ours. We move

  east.”

  The team shifted their packs and began walking, boots pressing into soil untouched for who knew how

  many centuries. The rising star warmed their backs. For a time, the world around them felt peaceful,

  almost deceptively normal. Grass rustled across the plains, shimmering in the early light. Patches of

  stone broke through the soil in jagged clusters, and small trees swayed to the rhythm of a wind that

  carried no predator scent.

  Korvex inhaled deeply. “Almost pleasant.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Kayris scanned the horizon. “That is usually a bad sign.”

  It was Rhoen who pointed to the glimmer ahead. “Water up there.”

  The group slowed as they approached a shallow river cutting through the landscape. The water was

  impossibly clear, revealing pale stones on the bottom and tiny silver fish flickering just beneath the

  surface.

  The minnows moved in synchronized patterns, shifting like a single organism.

  Orran crouched at the edge, eyes narrowing. “Well. Are we curious? Space, gravity, or time?”

  The rest of the team exchanged silent glances. There was no fear in their faces, only caution. Curiosity

  too. This was why Black Guilds were chosen first.

  Vanra nodded once. “We need to confirm the recon data if we are going to traverse this world safely.

  Go ahead.”

  Bash froze for only a fraction of a second. His pulse had already begun to pick up, a faint tremble

  building under his sternum. Without waiting for anyone to focus on him, he quietly stepped away from

  the group and found a flat stone to sit on.

  He exhaled slowly, grounding himself.

  He knew what was coming.

  Orran rolled his shoulders, bracing as if preparing for a physical strike.

  Then he reached down.

  His fingertips brushed the water.

  The reaction was instantaneous.

  Every minnow in the river snapped toward him.

  Hundreds.

  A sudden, crushing weight slammed down on Orran’s body. His spine buckled and he hit the ground

  with a sharp grunt, shield clattering against the stone as his zweihander slid from his grasp.

  “ORRAN!” Tyrish sprinted forward.

  And then Orran’s instincts fired.

  Pinned by an overwhelming surge he could not see and could not fight, his body reacted the only way it

  knew how: a violent burst of lightning.

  A jagged bolt erupted from his chest and tore into the river.

  The water flashed white, exploding upward in a geyser of steam and shattered droplets.

  The air cracked with the sudden discharge.

  At the same moment, Bash barely had time to inhale before the first pulse slammed into him.

  His breath vanished.

  His chest locked.

  The world tilted sharply as the second hit him, then the third, then a crushing wave of pressure in rapid

  succession. His vision smeared with white. He clamped his jaw shut only because instinct told him to

  stay silent.

  He could feel them, bursts of essence slamming into his core one after another.

  Hundreds.

  He dug his fingers into the rock beneath him, desperately trying to anchor himself. For a moment he

  thought he might vomit or black out entirely.

  The pulses kept coming.

  Forty.

  A hundred.

  Three hundred.

  Five hundred.

  His pulse thundered in his ears, louder than the river rushing beside them.

  The team remained focused on Orran, unaware of the silent storm hitting Bash behind them.

  The river exploded upward as Orran involuntarily unleashed a bolt of lightning across the water. Steam

  roared up in a white plume.

  Kayris shouted something, but Bash could not make out the words.

  He managed to stay upright. Barely.

  The final pulses struck like hammer blows inside his chest.

  Then stillness.

  A long, ringing stillness.

  SC’s voice whispered into the haze.

  “Seven hundred forty three T3C gravity absorbed. You remained conscious longer this time.”

  Bash sucked in a shuddering breath. His forehead was damp with sweat, palms trembling slightly

  against the stone. He forced himself to breathe evenly until his vision returned to normal.

  By the time he stood, slowly, carefully, the team had gathered around Orran.

  Orran was sitting upright now, shaking his head as if trying to clear water from his ears.

  Kayris crossed her arms. “Pinned by minnows.”

  Tyrish clapped him on the back. “I am absolutely reporting this.”

  Rhoen grinned. “Make sure to write it exactly like that. Pinned. By minnows.”

  Orran scowled. “There were hundreds of them. They hit me with something. All at once.”

  “Still fish,” Kayris added.

  Orran pointed a finger at her. “You go touch them then.”

  “No thank you,” she replied.

  Bash walked over, face composed. He forced a chuckle to join the teasing, though his chest still felt

  like gravity was trying to crush it inward.

  Vanra crouched beside Orran. “You are stable. Good. But that confirms gravity affinity.”

  Rhoen knelt by the riverbank and plucked up one of the small silver scales that floated to the edge.

  “Gravity fragments. T3C. Hundreds of them.”

  Korvex collected several more, letting them gleam in the rising light. “Two rare affinities in two days.

  We are hitting a streak.”

  Tyrish shot Bash a sideways look. “The fragments love us. Bash, not so much.”

  Before Bash needed to respond, Vanra cut in.

  “We still have fifteen kilometers ahead of us. Now that gravity is confirmed, assume the intel was

  correct. Space, time, and gravity are the worst affinities you can encounter. Stay focused.”

  They continued walking, the tension eased only by Orran’s continued protests.

  “They were coordinated,” he insisted.

  Kayris tapped his shoulder. “They were minnows.”

  Orran muttered something under his breath about betrayal.

  Bash stayed quiet, his steps steady but his thoughts sharp.

  Seven hundred forty three.

  His core still throbbed from the impact.

  SC spoke again, quieter this time. “If Rhell seeks to overwhelm your core with raw essence, this world

  would certainly provide opportunities.”

  “Would that force an unlock?” Bash asked silently.

  “No,” she replied. “Unlocking requires something else. Something Rhell has not documented.”

  “Of course,” he thought bitterly.

  Hours passed.

  Eventually the horizon split open.

  They reached a ridge overlooking a massive crater, miles across, perfectly circular, ancient and cracked

  as if a celestial object had once torn it open. And nestled in the center, like a fossilized heart, was the

  city.

  Towers. Bridges. Spires half collapsed and half buried. Streets choked with stone and dust.

  Vanra stepped to the edge, looking out across the ruin.

  “Well,” she said with a quiet breath. “There it is.”

  Rhoen whistled. “That is enormous.”

  Tyrish nodded. “This mission is going to take a while.”

  They began their descent toward it.