Worlds In Limbo

The two had already left the cliff. Fearing for whatever could happen, they darted through the forests, stepping and dodging any cracks as they made it to a shattered meadow.

"This place is going to erode," Gideon stated, snapping his neck toward Rhian. "We need to get back to the association, NOW!" Rhian nodded, dashing toward where Kouki was.

"He's still unconscious." Rhian tapped Kouki's shoulder, trying to wake him up.

Gideon sighed, gesturing to Rhian to get out of the way as he picked up Kouki with one arm and a bunch of struggling and grunting. "Take his glaive. He'll probably need it after he wakes up." Rhian picked up the glaive lying on the floor, which was stained with blood and dirt.

'This this... is pretty heavy..!' She used her shoulder to support the pole weapon before looking back at the shattered forest. 'It's... not spreading anymore?'

The cracks were now curving. The ones stretching into the sky and the ones sprawling on the ground started to join, encircling and confining the forest and the cliff inside. "The spreading stopped." Rhian quickly notified Gideon, who raised an eyebrow as his head snapped toward the bordered forest.

"That's... what the hell is going on?!" Gideon snapped at the wobbling cracks, shivering in the cold, passing wind.

Rhian took notice of it. The Runes gleamed for a moment before shining again, pulsating slowly as the grass and trees swayed and bowed before the passing wind.

The dome was complete, pulsating between black and white. 'It looks like an aviary...' It was a convoluted system, with the cracks covering every little nook and cranny of whatever it confined. It was a surreal painting from every perspective.

"Miss Rhian, may I ask, where did you and Mr Kurayami come from?" The ground was trembling.

"Oh..." Gideon caught onto Rhian's expression of anxiety and dread. The stampede of Abberants was approaching. 'Did they catch our scent? Or- did they see us?' Rhian snaps her vision toward the sky but finds nothing. 'N-No. Those things won't ever cooperate.'

However, her assumptions were all wrong.

The stampede of Abberants was charging toward them, with Gideon and Rhian taking immediate notice, deciding to head for the shattered frontier.

Rhian was alert, constantly taking a glance back at the ever-increasing tremors. The verdant grass was stained with the occasional puddles of blood. Then, some undefinable and mangled bodies of the Abberants were embedded into the ground as an eternal ornament to this land.

And now, the sudden thinning out of the horde of Abberants. 'W-What the- they just disappeared?!' Sweat rushed down her body, feeling slight stinging around her forehead as she turned her head toward the forest.

The sun still hung in the middle of the sky, but no sunlight pierced the canopy. The Runes that formed the cracks and rifts were pulsing faster and more aggressively, seemingly growing and expanding the cracks.

The sound of wood creaking entered Gideon and Rhian's range of hearing, forewarning them of the constant quaking caused by the falling timber. Rhian had her gaze locked in front of her, phasing through each rift in the air. Her heart pounded harder with each tremor sent through the ground; her body heated up with each falling tree.

ROOOOAAA-!

A deep bellow echoed through the forest, trembling the network of rifts and cracks as a strong tremble shook the entire forest, prompting the fleeing duo to stop and see what happened.

'What the-'

"What is happening?!"

Expressions of perplexity plastered onto their face as they saw the Abberant lying on the ground, obviously dead. However, its arm was missing. It wasn't cleaved off nor bit off. It was just missing. For reference, it would be as if you 'cut' off a part of the photo. No evidence of blood, no evidence of harm, but the Abberant was dead.

"Its skull is missing, but the organs... are sti-" Nausea piled in Gideon as he saw the eyes, the nerves, the brains, and other fleshy organs that belonged to the Abberant flop on the ground, shriveling up as water leaves them.

Rhian was already looking away after catching the eye flailing around in the eye, tethered by the blood vessel as it detached when the Abberant fell. 'W-Why is all this happening?' Fear rushed into Rhian's body as she heard more thudding behind her.

Abberants of similar fate fell there, missing something as their cause of death. No more lungs and torso, while their guts spilled out as feces covered the grass; some had their limbs removed, causing to feel the sharp sting of the grass blades as each of them sprawled on the ground, whimpering and crying.

The Runes gleamed. Alternating from black to white, then to black again, with each piling body of the Abberant contributing further into this giant intangible fissure. An Abberant escaped their Calamity.

It looked akin to a werewolf, but titanic. It trampled the bodies of the fallen Abberant, disrespecting them as drool flooded its jaws, locking its gaze onto Rhian and Gideon.

"Tsk." Gideon lowered Kouki, feeling the heat enter his vessels as he burst into flames, evaporating the sweat that built up under his helmet as he raised his fist.

"A-Ah..." Rhian hitched her breath, grasping the handle of Kouki's glaive firmly as she faced the Abberant with fear dragging on her body.

Its eyes were missing and so were its claws, but luckily, none of its organs were. The Abberant walked forward slowly and carefully as he drenched its feet with blood and guts, snarling as it realized Rhian and Gideon's presence.

'D-Don't fear. I am the ow-ner... of this body! I should have no fear!" Rhian swung the pole weapon, brandishing it as she held it behind her, preparing a slash as the heavy weight of fear was slightly lifted. 'Don't fear.' She took a deep breath, charging forward. "HHRAAAAAH!"

It heard her running and yelling, preparing to strike in front of it wildly, but its head was suddenly slashed diagonally.

'Wha-' Rhian stopped in her tracks, worried if another Abberant showed as she brandished the missing glaive. 'WHAT?!'

"Th-That was Mr. Kurayami!" Gideon exclaimed immediately as Rhian snapped her head toward a soft thud beside her - it was Kouki with his glaive.

'W-What the?! D-Did he?' Rhian was perplexed, but Gideon was amazed and knew just what Kouki did. However, the soft tremble caused by the toppling of the Abberant alerted them, anchoring back into their current situation.

"I-I got him." Gideon extinguished the flame around his body, jogging over to Rhian as he carefully picked up Kouki while she secured the glaive once again.

Another gust of wind blew past them as the Runes of the Catalyst radiated intense energy, sending a foreboding chill through their bodies as Gideon noticed something.

"Miss.. Rhian," Gideon held a grim tone.

"Y-Yes?" Rhian acknowledged his worried tone, turning around to look at what Gideon was referring to - the Runes were slowly disappearing and so was the ground.

Gideon reacted quickly, turning around as he warned Rhian to move. The both of them were in a full sprint, avoiding the bodies of the Abberants as the disappearing ground was catching up to them.

The Runes shone even brighter until it stopped, some rifts radiated white while other cracks gleamed black.

'Gogogogogogo-' Her hair was flowing through the wind with blood and sweat helping her wash it while the cold breeze helped her dry it.

"We're almost there!" Gideon exclaimed gladly as the meadow came into their vision.

[The Sundering has been completed!]

[We welcome you, Isabella Yates!]

Rhian's arm was stretched out. Her face filled with assurance. Her body was ready to race out of the forest and run back to the association, but her feet couldn't find any ground.

[This is your profile.]

Her body swung forward, facing the rocky cliff as she continued to spin midair, staring at the severe absence of any footing.

'A-Am I midair?'

[Name: Isabella Yates]

[Race: Undetermined]

[Magic: Vibration Magic]

[Rune Rank: Clean Mark]

[Relic: N/A]

[Weapon: Kouki's Glaive]

'Wh-What is this?' Her eyes were darting around, noticing a distressed Gideon and a freefalling Kouki before she locks onto a set of floating words.

[Title: The Deciding Factor]