The sky above was streaked with the muted hues of late afternoon as Amanda, Brandon, and Celis emerged from the place where the rift had been. The air was still, almost eerily calm, the remnants of the energy from the closed portal dissipating into nothingness. Behind them, the rift shuttered shut, sealing itself with a faint shudder, leaving no trace of its chaotic heart.
Amanda's normally composed face was pale, and her shoulders stiff with tension. Beside her, Brandon's jaw was clenched, his hands trembling slightly despite his best effort to maintain control. Celis, the healer, kept her arms folded, quiet and analytical, but the dark rings beneath her eyes betrayed her exhaustion and the trauma of what they had just endured. Five members of their team—the twin mages, three support mages, and Lysa—had not survived. The weight of their deaths pressed on each of them like a stone in the chest.
As they approached the Guild HQ, the sounds of the city—hovering vehicles, faint chatter of pedestrians—felt distant, muted by the storm that had raged within the rift. They were alive, but every step was heavy with grief and disbelief.
Lyra had been waiting near the entrance, pacing slightly, her gaze scanning the horizon. The moment she saw the trio emerge, her expression tightened. "Amanda… what happened?" she called, her voice controlled but carrying an edge of urgency.
Amanda paused, then squared her shoulders, walking forward with Brandon and Celis flanking her. "Guild Master," she began, her voice steady despite the tremor she could not fully suppress. "The rift… it was unlike anything we expected. Something… intelligent. It wasn't a typical E-Rank encounter. It had awareness, strategy. It spoke."
Lyra's brow furrowed, stepping closer. "It spoke? It's unusual for monsters to speak at E-Rank rifts.."
"Yes," Amanda said, her eyes narrowing as the memory of the encounter flashed across her mind. "It… it spoke, but not in ways we could understand. It never answered our questions directly. It mocked, taunted, and it… it hated something. Something we didn't understand."
Brandon spoke up, his voice low, almost a whisper, as if recounting it out loud gave the memory power. "It mentioned… a 'Her.' Kept saying it couldn't believe a Paragon had arisen again because 'she' was dead. It was… afraid, furious."
Celis's fingers tightened around the strap of her bag, her voice calm but heavy with concern. "It was more than just intelligence. Every move it made was precise, calculated. It anticipated us, countered every strategy we tried. We weren't just fighting a monster—we were… being tested, analyzed."
Lyra's lips pressed into a thin line, her mind racing. "A Paragon…? It referred to a 'Her'…? Did it give any indication of why it mentioned this?"
Amanda shook her head. "No. That's what's most troubling. It hated something we don't understand, but we don't know who or what this Paragon is. We didn't get any clues. It simply… recognized something. And it's clear it thought it had been dealt with before. Whatever this 'Her' was… it mattered to the creature."
Brandon let out a long breath. "And the E-Rank designation? That's another thing. It shouldn't have been here. This creature—what it was capable of—it was far above an E-Rank threat. The way it moved, the way it spoke, the way it targeted us… it wasn't meant for an E-Rank dungeon. If it had been at full strength, any one of us would have died instantly."
Lyra's eyes narrowed as she processed their words. "So it was intelligent, powerful, and… frightened of something we don't even understand. And five of your team members… died?"
Amanda's jaw tightened, and her gaze fell to the ground briefly. "Yes. Lysa, her twin brother, and the three support mages. They didn't stand a chance. We… we tried everything we could. But it adapted too quickly, analyzed every attack, and countered flawlessly."
Celis nodded. "It was clever, cunning. And every time we thought we had an opening, it closed it. Its attacks… they were precise, targeted—never random. We couldn't predict them. We only survived because Amanda is… Amanda."
Lyra's expression softened as she regarded Amanda, the D-Rank awakened leader of the team. "I see. And you… all three of you survived only because of quick thinking and skill."
Amanda straightened, her shoulders stiff, pride and exhaustion battling within her. "We did what we could, Guild Master. But… the creature—its voice, the way it moved—it wasn't like anything I've ever encountered. It knew fear, hate, and it expressed them. But towards what? That's the question. What is a Paragon? Who is this 'Her'? We have no answers."
Brandon's eyes flicked toward Lyra. "We… we barely made it. Amanda, Celis, and I were the only ones left. The others… we couldn't save them. The rift closed immediately after we defeated it, taking any chance to recover the bodies with it. We lost them all."
The silence that followed was heavy, oppressive. Lyra could hear the unspoken grief, the guilt, the frustration. She exhaled slowly, the weight of the revelation pressing against her chest. "I understand," she said softly, almost to herself. Then, raising her voice, sharper now: "This… is far worse than we expected. Thank you for coming back alive, but the implications… the implications are immense. A creature this intelligent, this powerful, appearing in an E-Rank rift… it cannot be ignored. And it knew of a Paragon. Something from the past, something that it feared."
Amanda met her gaze. "Yes, Guild Master. And it's not just that it mentioned a Paragon or a 'Her.' It seemed… personal. There was anger, resentment, hate. But we don't know why. It's as if it was responding to someone or something we have no knowledge of. It hated Ether, as if this is what the paragon wielded."
Lyra's mind raced. Her eyes drifted to the sky outside the guild, briefly thinking about the strange force known as Ether. It was foreign, and its users were few. Could this have something to do with Ael? No… she dismissed the thought immediately. The demon spoke of a "Her," not of him, and it clearly recognized something that the current humans would never be able to produce. Whatever it feared, it had existed long before anyone in the current guild hierarchy had been trained.
She turned to Amanda. "This… this is dangerous. If this intelligence has appeared in an E-Rank rift, we cannot assume it will appear again at this rank, or that it will not seek something else. We need to convene immediately with the other guild leaders. This cannot stay between us. Brandon, Celis, you will prepare a full report. Document everything—how it moved, spoke, and reacted. We must leave nothing to chance."
Amanda nodded. "Understood. I'll write everything in detail. Brandon, Celis, you assist."
Lyra's gaze hardened, her voice calm but decisive. "I will personally call the other guild leaders. They must know that something highly unusual has appeared, one that defies rank expectations and exhibits intelligence far beyond standard monsters. And it spoke of a Paragon, a 'Her'—information we cannot fully comprehend, but we cannot ignore."
Brandon swallowed, glancing at Celis. "Do we… do we mention the deaths?"
"Yes," Lyra said without hesitation. "We will tell them what happened. They need to understand the threat level. But the focus is on what we faced, not on what could have been avoided. The deaths… while tragic, demonstrate the severity of the rift and the intelligence of the creature. The other guilds need to be prepared."
Celis exhaled, relief and tension mingling together. "We'll get the report ready immediately. Amanda… you should rest as much as possible before the meeting with the leaders."
Amanda shook her head. "No, rest comes later. The report comes first. Every detail counts. We can't afford to overlook a single observation. If this creature appears again, we must be ready to face it fully."
Lyra's gaze softened for a brief moment. "I understand. But remember this—survivors carry a burden, Amanda. You, Brandon, and Celis… you witnessed something no one else could imagine. You must process it, and then we must use it to prepare. I trust you three can handle both."
Amanda, Brandon, and Celis nodded, a silent understanding passing between them. They had survived against something they had no precedent for, something intelligent and unnervingly aware. They had lost friends, comrades who would not return. The weight of it settled on their shoulders, but it also steeled them for what was to come.
Lyra's mind drifted for a moment, despite the chaos and sorrow. That mention of a Paragon… and that "Her." Could it be tied to something she had seen in legends or old archives? No, she told herself, dismissing the notion. Whatever the demon feared, it was something from a past long buried. She had no evidence to tie it to anything contemporary, no matter how strange the lingering unease felt. She would keep it in mind—but for now, the focus was clear. The other guild leaders needed to know.
As the three survivors prepared their report, Lyra reached for the communicator in her office. Her fingers hovered over the call buttons for the other four guild leaders, her expression resolute. "It's time they knew," she murmured. "They need to understand what's out there, and that the rifts are… changing."
Outside, the city of the Phoenix Guild hummed with the quiet life of late afternoon, oblivious to the storm that had just passed through its halls. The survivors carried their trauma and knowledge into the guild, while the seeds of unease—of intelligence, of memory, of the Demon—lingered just beyond comprehension.
Lyra exhaled slowly, sitting back in her chair. The weight of leadership pressed down, but she felt the stirring of determination within her. Whatever this creature was, whatever this mysterious "Her" represented, they would prepare. They must. For the guild, for the awakeners, and for what could come next.
And somewhere in the quiet, a faint whisper of unease lingered in her mind, a shadow of a thought she could not quite chase away: the world of awakeners had just become infinitely more dangerous, and the answers—whatever they were—remained buried in the unknown.