The corridor stretched ahead of the group, and Alex did his best to keep his face neutral.

Behind him, Olivia and Sam stayed close, and Sam spoke up, clearly uncomfortable in the silence. “I’m glad we at least got Craig’s number after all of that. I’d like to visit him when things calm down.”

Olivia snorted. “You just want to see Duke again.”

“What? He’s a good boy.”

As they had made the long drive back from New Jersey, Alex had trouble sleeping. Every time he dozed off, he had a dream of the explosions coming down from the sky and the elves being completely unaffected. After an hour of fitful sleeping, he pulled out the sketches he’d taken of the ritual along with his phone and began to take notes on the ritual’s structure and individually sketch the runes that were used.

They rounded another corner to find Mark and Sarah waiting with Jonathan. The corridor widened into a small reception area with sleek, modern furniture that looked like it had never been used.

“I called ahead,” Sarah said as she gestured at the tablet in her hand. “They’ve been waiting for you guys to get back.”

Jonathan adjusted his tie as if he hated wearing the thing and spoke up. “I need to speak with you all before we proceed.” He motioned to a small conference room off to the side. Once inside, he closed the door. “There’s been a change of plans. Alex, Olivia, and Sam, I’ll need you three to follow me down to the lower levels. Mark and Sarah, I’m afraid you’ll need to wait here.”

“What?” Mark’s easy smile vanished. “What do you mean just those three? We’re all a team.”

“Jon, what is this?” Sarah asked.

Jonathan raised his hands. “I tried to talk to him and get all of you to come, but the decision wasn’t mine. With both of your levels being low and you not being a combat class, they decided that there wasn’t a reason for you two to be involved. The fewer people who know what’s happening, the better.”

Alex stepped up and said, “This doesn’t make sense. Like Mark said, we’re all a part of the same team. They can still give valuable insights—”

“It’s not negotiable,” Jonathan said firmly. “Director’s orders.”

Alex met Sarah’s eyes. The flash of hurt there was quickly replaced by something harder. She looked at Jonathan coolly and nodded. “Fine. We’ll compile our observations and knowledge from the incident at the house and send it to you over the secure net.”

Mark’s jaw worked, and it was one of the few times Alex could remember seeing his friend truly seem angry. “Yeah. We’ll be right here… taking notes.”

The unspoken ‘again’ hung in the air, and Alex felt bad for Mark. He knew it would frustrate his large friend to no end to be one step into the awakened world and to be shunned from something so major happening right in front of him.

“I’ll check in with you guys when I can, and I’ll see if I’m able to change anyone’s mind when we’re down there,” Alex promised. He turned to Jonathan.

“Follow me, please.”

They left the small conference room, and Alex looked over his shoulder to see Mark and Sarah talking to each other through the glass wall. It was clear from how Mark talked with his hands that he was anything but happy.

They continued through the hall and past a security checkpoint before stepping onto an elevator. They rode it down to the 8th floor, where they were forced to exit and go through another checkpoint before getting back on the same elevator to continue to the tenth basement floor.

They crossed a wide, empty administrative floor to a small, unmarked elevator.

“This facility doesn’t appear on any blueprints,” Jonathan said as he pressed his palm against a scanner. “What you’re about to see is classified, and you’ll each be required to give an oath of secrecy.”

A scanner was built into the wall that they had to step through to get onto the smaller elevator. It didn’t make any noise as they boarded and rode deeper into the earth. The elevator descended rapidly, and Alex felt his ears pop. Through their bond, Val stirred with sudden interest at the feeling of the descent.

Before the doors had even opened, Val silently communicated with Alex.

Big blue world door here. Good mana.

Alex stiffened. “There’s a Rift down here?”

Jonathan’s eyebrows raised slightly. “You can tell?”

When the elevator doors opened, they weren’t just in another sterile corridor or industrial floored basement. Instead, they were in an enormous natural cavern. Metal scaffolding and prefabricated structures hugged the rough walls and workers in Hunters Association uniforms moved with purpose across metal walkways and between temporary buildings.

“What the fu…” Alex let the curse taper off as he heard Olivia cursing several different ways under her breath. “Pretty crazy operation you’ve got here… and all of it neatly hidden in the capital?”

Jonathan didn’t answer, and they followed him across a metal walkway spanning the cavern floor. There were construction lights that cast hard shadows across their path from the beams overhead. A few workers nodded at Jonathan as he passed.

“How long has this been here?” Alex asked.

“The operation’s only been here for a few weeks.”

They approached a central structure that was larger than the others and had several armed guards at the entrance.

“This is where we access the Rift,” Jonathan said. “Remember, time passes differently on the other side. Four hours here in there will only be one out here.”

So it’s a Rare Rift, then?

Alex and Olivia shared a glance.

Once inside the larger structure, the air felt like it had changed. Alex recognized it as a different sort of charged mana he’d felt around all the Rifts that he’d gone in. The entrance opened into a single large chamber, and in the middle was the large, blue swirling tear in space.

Unlike all the other Rifts that he’d seen, this one was contained within a reinforced frame, monitoring equipment surrounding all of its sides.

“What is that?” Olivia breathed.

“We’re hoping that we can study what makes the Rifts work. If there’s a way for us to close them from the outside, or at least understand how we can get electronics through the doorway, it could change everything. Now, after you.”

Alex hesitated for a second longer, looking at the modern metal frame that seemed to stretch the Rift’s opening to fit within its shape. “What’s on the other side?”

“A building. It’s safe, don’t worry.”

Alex nodded to Olivia and Sam and stepped in before they could.

Despite Jonathan’s assurance, the moment Alex felt his weight reassert itself, he dropped it into an athletic stance and looked around. Instead of wilderness or ruins, he emerged into what looked like a military command center that had been built completely around the Rift. Personnel moved between desks and workstations where he could see maps and scattered papers.

“Welcome to Operation Timehold,” Jonathan said from behind him, having come in only a few heartbeats later.

Director Matthews approached and gave them a curt nod. “Mr. Moore. Glad you could join us again. We didn’t expect you to go off on your own yesterday.”

Alex blinked, still taking in the facility. It was only after a second that his mind caught up, and he gave the Director a serious look. “We didn’t know that you were already aware of where the sun elves were. I thought we had agreed that my team and I would be included in this mission.”

The director stood before him with his silver-cropped hair and tailored suit. Despite being in his sixties, he carried himself with the assurance of someone powerful. His weathered face remained impassive as he looked at Alex.

“Your team was to be included, Mr. Moore. In the event of a planned assault, not negotiations or probing missions.” He gestured for them to follow as he walked deeper into the building to gain distance from the Rift environment. “Sometimes, plans move quickly, and I’m given orders that can’t be ignored. I’m sure if more planning was involved on both sides, you would have shared your plans to scout them out, the same as we would have.”

He saw it for what it was: an easy out, not just for the director but also for himself.

“You built all this inside a Rift,” Sam said, looking around in fascination.

“We adapt. This allows us to stay safe while gaining certain benefits.” Director Matthews replied. “When this Rare Rift stabilized beneath our facility, we recognized the strategic advantage. Every crisis our administration faces never has enough of one thing… time.”

A tall, skinny man stepped forward with his hands clasped behind his back. “The time dilation effect gives us more time to analyze threats, develop strategies, and make decisions.”

“So you use this place to give yourself more planning time,” Olivia said, sounding skeptical.

“Precisely, Ms. Santoro,” Matthews confirmed.

Alex surveyed the room, noting more maps and several bookshelves lined with what he assumed were consumable manuals.

Maybe they’re letting it double as some sort of safe holding space.

“Decisions like deciding to approach the elves without us,” Alex said, and he realized the words came out a bit sharper than he intended, clearly not ready to accept that ‘easy out.’

The willowy man’s expression soured. “Need-to-know basis. You’re Alex Moore, then? Last I checked, you weren’t on the government payroll and haven’t gone through any of the necessary steps to even begin the process of coming down here…”

“That’s enough. Alex, this is Deputy Director Sullivan,” the director said. “Alex and his team deserve an explanation. Follow me to the war room. There’s a lot to discuss.”

They walked through two more corridors, and Alex made sure to remember which turns they made, so that he knew how to get out of the building and back to the Rift exit if needed. He idly thought that using some sort of maze inside a Rift would be a nasty trap. While his core seemed to always tug toward the exit, it did so in a straight line.

The deeper they went, the more uncomfortable he felt and he couldn’t quite tell if that was coming from his general distrust of the Hunters Association or from his time spent in the tunnels below the Shadow Sect.

Unlike the temporary structures on the other side of the Rift, Alex noted that these were more permanent and built to last. Through open doors, Alex saw various sights of Hunters working. Some deep in study of items, others in combat training.

“This was constructed about two months ago SET- uh, sorry. Standard Earth Time.” The director explained. Jonathan walked quietly behind them, and Alex felt the need to look over at him more than once. “For those working here, though, it’s already been a year.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Sam leaned close to Alex. “This is really cool. We should do something like this.”

Alex raised an eyebrow at the younger man but didn’t comment. The scale of the project was enormous, especially with them building an elevator shaft so far down into the Earth. One question rose out above them all to nag at Alex, though. “How did you know that the Rift was down here?”

“Good question,” Director Matthews said. “We are-”

“Director. I insist that this is not something to be shared with someone outside of the organization. We have protocol for a reason,” Sullivan said.

Alex looked over his shoulder to see the man, but instead noticed Jonathan rolling his eyes at the back of the group.

“It’s all right. We have an experimental technology that will allow us to detect nearby Rifts. There’s an entire branch of the Hunters Association devoted to studying Rifts, and this is one of the first hurdles to accessing more of the spaces to study and test.”

“Really?” Olivia said, having been quiet for much of their trek. “You have something to detect Rifts, but are hiding in here while more of them break out there every day?”

The group was quiet for a long moment. The director was the first to speak. “Unfortunately, it’s still very finicky and will only work in certain circumstances. If it’s something that we figure out to work consistently, it would solve a lot of our problems.” He looked to Alex then. “We need to clear the air here if we’re going to move forward. I brought you three down here as a show of good faith. Believe it or not, we’d like to work with you as much as you want to be on this mission. All three of you are very talented, high-level, and have quite unique skill sets.” His face was serious, and he paused to look at all three of them.

“It was a direct order from the President himself that we were to attempt a peace talk before attacking blindly. If some amount of common ground could be found, we may have taken it— or we may not have. That’s above even my pay grade to decide, though. Strike teams were set up to probe the enemy and attempt immediate retaliation should the worst-case scenario happen…”

“Which it did…” Olivia pointed out quietly.

He looked at her seriously for a moment. “It did,” he confirmed. “As you mentioned in your talk about the attack and capabilities of the sun elves, their shielding is extremely tough. It’s concerning that even modern firepower’s unable to leave a scratch.” He reached up, and Alex saw him show some human emotion for the first time. The director looked exhausted. “This meeting is meant to move things forward and allow us to discuss the situation with the added benefit of the time dilation in the Rift. We have body cam footage from the agents who made contact as well as some satellite imagery.”

Olivia and Sam looked at Alex, and when he nodded, both directors nodded as well. All six of them moved through the final door and into what Director Matthews had referred to as the war room. The room had a large circular table in the center with chairs surrounding it. There were maps and printouts covering the walls, along with some satellite imagery and terrain survey maps. A physical model of the forest sat in the center of the table, complete with miniature trees and tiny figures representing the elves’ positions. The model reminded Alex of when they’d helped rebrand for an architecture company, and they’d had several in their waiting room.

A completely different life…

“Welcome to our war room,” Matthews said. “Old-school by necessity. Nothing digital works in the Rifts still, though we’re working on that too.”

The deputy director coughed pointedly, causing the white-haired man to make a noise of dismissal.

“These were taken a day ago before we lost our reconnaissance team,” Sullivan said as he pulled out a folder and spread the photos across the table.

Alex examined the photos. They showed a view of the ritual circle that was a bit hard to see compared to what they had observed in the woods. From the purely top-down perspective, the large hanging ball of golden mana over the camp obscured many of the details at the center of the ritual. The ritual had also been further along in its creation during the time he took his notes.

“After verifying their presence, the decision was made to attempt peaceful contact. As I mentioned, the orders were to see if there was any chance that the elves were willing to negotiate.”

Studying one of the photos, Alex looked up. “But why did they attack your people if they were trying to stay hidden? It’s not likely that you would have even known about them if I hadn’t come to you right away.”

Matthew’s face darkened. “There’s some debate around that, and we’re hoping that you can help confirm something for us.”

“I can try. What do you need?” Alex answered, curious to hear what might help the situation.

“There are really only two reasons for them not to at least go down the route of peace talks. Either one, they were too stupid to realize that they had a perfect opportunity to stall us… or they didn’t need the time to stall. After seeing the chest camera footage from our agents and seeing how they handle themselves, it’s very unlikely to be the first option.”

The light went off in Alex’s head and he grabbed the notebook from his pocket and opened it next to the images that the Hunters had provided.

“Wait, what does that mean, then?” Sam asked, looking at the model carefully.

“It means, if they don’t need to stall for time, they’re probably really close to finishing what they’re planning,” Olivia answered Sam, and it looked like she might be sick.

The Director looked away from the table and at one of the covered walls. “You’ve seen the magic they’re building. As the only ritual expert we have access to, what can you tell us?”

"Oh, I'm not an Expert," Alex said distractedly, flipping through his notebook. "But I've been analyzing this since we got back last night." He pointed to several elements of the design. "These markings are similar to what I've worked with before, but there are key differences. It's not entirely my magic—they've taken elements of how I structure rituals to work with runes and built tweaked that, combining it with their own, much more experienced runic knowledge, to achieve their goal."

Sullivan leaned forward. “What are they trying to do with it?”

Alex rubbed his temples and organized his thoughts. “Best I can tell, this ritual is designed to funnel a ton of mana in a direction and pull mana from multiple different sources.”

“That’s all you can tell?” Jonathan asked with a look of surprise on his face.

“Well… at the moment? Yeah. These runes are also more complex than anything I’ve ever seen before. I can probably get some information on them pretty soon, but even then— I think I already know what they’re doing.” He looked up, seeing the gravity of his words register on their faces. “I believe they’re trying to force the Rift open wider… permanently.”

“What?” Several voices rang out at once.

Everyone in the room stood up straighter and both Deputy Director Sullivan and Jonathan left the room with purpose, leaving the three of them with the director.

“Will that do what I think it will?”

Alex chewed on his lip. “It’s just my best guess, but it would make the most sense based on what I see of this ritual. If they do this, who knows how many D Rank sun elves are about to come pouring out of that Rift? It might just be a bigger Rift Break the next time around, or it might be that the entire thing is broken open.

The room was so quiet that it sounded far too loud when Alex turned the page.

“How much time do we have?” Matthews finally asked.

Alex shook his head. “Hard to say without knowing their methods better. This is really complex and honestly has quite a bit that I could learn from it… The ritual was looking almost complete while we were there yesterday. Based on how much power, I’d guess that something like this could take…” He tried to compare it in his head to his own larger ritual. “How many people do they have?”

“Less than fifty.”

He thought about how much mana it roughly took for him and Val to power his rituals, adjusted for the scale of the new one, and thought about the elves having mana reserves closer to Valtherion’s than his own…

“Maybe a day from the time that they start it up, but that’s a complete guess, and we don’t have any idea when they’re going to begin. I’d say that the best thing you can do is have a few people with mana sight skills get close enough to see them and watch for when they begin the ritual. Then they need to have a way to communicate with you all here...”

The director braced both hands flat on the desk and let his head drop to look down at the table. “Yes, we have to act,” he said. “If they complete this ritual and bring through an army of level 30 to 60s, we don’t stand a chance. There are fewer than fifty of them there now, and I already feel it will be a tough fight. We have the ability to communicate with people just outside the Rift, and they’ll bring any information in and relay it to us directly.”

“Even with this time dilation, though, it doesn’t give you much time to maneuver,” Alex said.

Only a few minutes later, both Sullivan and Jonathan arrived back in the room, trailed by three people who began immediately talking with the director.

They talked about tactical options and pulled out more maps and different diagrams. As the conversation intensified, Alex noticed Olivia growing increasingly pale. Her hands gripped the edge of the table with white knuckles.

She suddenly stiffened, and her breath audibly caught in her throat. Her eyes widened, and Alex rushed forward.

“Olivia?”

“I need a minute,” she whispered. Then, louder, she said, “I just need to step out.”

Before anyone could respond, shadows began to pool at her feet. Deep, black shadows moved with purpose and swirled around her legs like oily water.

Sam stepped toward her. “Olivia…”

A growl filled the room. The shadows thickened further, and a form began to crawl from the shadow. It reminded Alex of a horror movie as a large paw came out first, followed by the head, and a large feline form came through with a rolling shoulder.

“Nox, no!” Olivia gasped, pressing her hand against her chest. “Back!”

Several of the people in the room called out and moved away from her, but Alex noted the one that moved forward. Jonathan reached to his waist and pulled two large hatchets from a spatial pouch.

“Everyone, stay calm!” Alex commanded, stepping between Jonathan and Olivia. “She’ll get it under control.”

While he didn’t know much about the Berserker, his name and image were seen all over Hunter's propaganda, and his reputation for closing Rifts solo was something that even the high-level Guild members whispered about.

The shadow beast’s form flickered for a moment, and Olivia wavered with her eyes closed tight. Alex could see the bright white golden on the top side of Nox’s neck pulsing and glowing from where the sun elf had attacked him. After a tense moment of concentration, Nox retreated into the shadows at her feet, and they returned to their normal state.

Olivia’s face was slick with sweat. “I’m sorry. I need… to use the restroom?”

Jonathan looked at her calmly for a few moments before looping the hatchets in his waistband, but it didn’t go past Alex’s attention that he hadn’t put them back in the spatial bag. “Down the hall, first right.”

She hurried out without another word, leaving the room in silence.

“What the hell was that?” Sullivan demanded.

“Her companion,” Alex explained, and did his best to keep his voice calm despite the concern he felt for his girlfriend. “We should go check on her, though. This isn’t normal.”

“We’re in the middle of a briefing,” one of the unnamed researchers said.

“Let him go,” Jonathan said. “We have to make some plans anyway.”

Alex found Olivia in the hallway outside the bathroom. She leaned against the wall with her eyes closed, and he felt like her skin had a grayish tint.

"Hey. You okay?"

"No." She opened her eyes but still quirked up the corner of her mouth. "It's getting worse, Alex. Nox is... hungry. Being in here, something about the Rift energy makes it harder to control him."

"Has this happened before?"

She nodded slightly. "Small slips. Nothing like this. I usually can feel it coming and get somewhere private, but I wasn’t expecting this change within the Rift."

Alex hesitated. "Do you need to leave?"

“And go where? Home with Mark and Sarah, where I might hurt them if something did happen?” She shook her head. “I can handle it. I just need a minute to pull myself together.”

He touched her arm gently. “I want you here for this mission, but not at the cost of your safety. They have their own people to work around, too.”

“I know.” She straightened, and some of the color slowly returned to her face. “I’m okay now. Let’s go back before they decide I’m too dangerous to have around.”

“Liv, wait a sec. I’m serious… what are you pushing so hard for? You’ve been dead on your feet since you got home. I’m worried about you.”

Olivia let out a breath and looked at him, and even though she was scowling, he could tell there wasn’t heat behind it. “I’m pushing because you’re about to go risk your neck to stop this Rift from being broken open. Even if it wasn’t about you… A common E Rank killed so many people in my hometown. But this-this is going to be a D Rank sentient group of magical monsters. I can only imagine the blood they’ll spill if they can really break that thing open.”

She started to shake as she finished the last sentence, and he could see her eyes misting over. Stepping forward, Alex embraced her and felt one heavy shake into his shoulder before she took several deep breaths.

When they released each other, her eyes looked firm, and her jaw set. He gave her a nod, and together, they moved back to the war room. Sullivan eyed Olivia warily when they returned.

The conversation paused briefly, and the deputy director was the first to speak. “Ms. Santoro, are you fit for this mission?”

“I am,” she said confidently.

Jonathan kept a steady eye on her, and Alex found it hard to tell what he was thinking. “Maybe we should talk about if you should be.”

“I can control Nox,” Olivia stated. “This environment triggered something unexpected. I’m adapting now.”

Matthews studied her for a moment. “We’ll proceed with all three of you on the team for now. But I need absolute certainty that there won’t be complications in the field.”

“There won’t be,” Olivia promised.

“Alright then,” the director continued, “based on Mr. Moore’s analysis, we need to finalize our plans quickly and be prepared to move at a moment’s notice.” He gestured at the maps. “Our primary objective must be stopping this ritual before completion.”

The meeting continued for another hour, with officers presenting various scenarios for infiltrating the elven encampment. Each plan seemed to rely on overwhelming force and modern weapons. Alex felt like they wouldn’t work based on what he’d seen during the last attack.

“I need some time to think,” Alex finally said. “I don’t think these approaches will work against their shielding. But I don’t really know enough about wards to go against them either…”

Matthews nodded. “Take some time. I need to go and make some calls and get the military behind us. Join us in the call center when you’re done.” He turned to the large, bearded man by the door. “Jon, can you get your team ready? If other means fail, this will likely be an escort mission, and we’ll need you all to get Mr. Moore to the ritual safely to stop it.”

“Silas included?”

The director seemed to think about his answer, but then shook his head definitively. “No, we can’t pull him. His mission takes priority, but we’ve recalled all of the other D Ranks we have and most flying in.”

Jonathan grunted in acknowledgment while Alex wondered what kind of mission could possibly take priority over such a severe threat as the sun elves.

As the others filed out, Alex stayed behind with Olivia and Sam. The weight of responsibility pressed down on him.

“What can we do?” Sam asked, looking between the two.

Alex was surprised that he was so calm despite the whirlwind of planning and decisions around them. “I don’t know,” Alex admitted while looking down at his notes. I’m sure they’re expecting us to try and stop them. But we saw how that worked before.”

“And you think the ritual is really to bring more of them through?”

“It’s the most logical explanation.” Alex pointed at his notes where he’d replicated the ritual base from the camp. “See these patterns? They’re designed to stabilize the passage. I just don’t know how close they are to finishing.”

“Close enough to finishing to make everyone here panic…” Olivia said to herself.