Purple lightning crackled as dark clouds raced across the sky. The world inside the rift was one of thunder and desolation, with enormous and craggy rocks reaching for the roiling sky. Acidic rain fell, stinging Elijah’s skin with every drop.

He ignored it.

Instead, he focused almost entirely on the surrounding atmosphere. There was nature there, though it was surrounded by something grotesque and feral. Something hungry. It was corruption, but a different flavor than what he’d felt creeping into his world. Raw and unfettered. Less diluted. And far more troubling.

But that thread of nature – of life – was distracting. It wasn’t weak, either. Different than what he was accustomed to feeling, but it was there all the same. The implications of that were more than a little interesting.

A second into Elijah’s introspection, Rakhan followed him into the rift. The hunter frowned, whispering, “I do not like this place.”

“It’s the same with most rifts,” Elijah muttered, almost to himself as he focused on Soul of the Wild. There were no creatures of note in range, though he could feel microbes clinging to every rock. In that way, it was similar to Earth. The subterranean world was slightly different, populated by wriggling worms and insectile beasts no bigger than his thumb.

“I feel the same about them all. It is as if the world is skewed. It is wrong.”

Elijah nodded. He felt the same way – like he was looking into a funhouse mirror. But as was the case with all rifts, he didn’t expect to be there long. So, he pushed those feelings aside and focused on the task at hand. Every other rift he’d ever visited was centered around defeating a Voxxian monster, and he expected that pattern to continue.

The problem was that there was nothing in evidence to support that notion. No reptilian monsters rising from the ground. No huge, hulking creature bellowing a challenge. It was just empty, save for the small and inconsequential beasts he felt wriggling their way through the earth.

“If you’re going to set some traps, do it now,” Elijah said, searching the landscape for something he might have missed. “When you’re done, I’m going to scout it out. See if I can find the monster we’re supposed to defeat.”

Rakhan nodded, then got to work. From the moment he began, it was clear that he didn’t have any skills associated with trapping. Not like Kurik, whose homemade devices were usually powered by ethera and tied to his system-granted abilities. By contrast, Rakhan’s traps were either mundane – like the pit trap he quickly dug – or based on pre-made devices he’d bought from dedicated artisans. Even those were limited in scope and only meant to bind his prey so he could finish them off.

The hunter worked quickly and efficiently, so it only took him a few minutes – with Elijah doing some of the heavy lifting when it came to digging holes and the like – before he announced that he was ready. By then, the area was festooned with traps meant to hamper any enemies who might venture into the vicinity. However, there was clearly some ability at play, because Elijah had to focus just to perceive them. If he hadn’t known they were there, he might’ve stumbled into one.

“Impressive,” he said.

“I am only a servant. The ability comes from Waheguru.”

With that, Elijah shifted into the Shape of Scourge and embraced Guise of the Unseen. Soon, he was bounding across the jagged landscape of blackened rock, eventually arriving at a raised promontory. Once he reached the top of that pillar of rock, he surveyed the surrounding area.

And when he did so, he flattened himself against the ground. Guise of the Unseen hid him, but his reaction was born of instinctual caution. Because in the distance, he saw dozens of Voxx. Most were tiny – at least for the interdimensional reptiles. Only half-a-dozen feet tall, bipedal and vicious-looking. However, there were nine much larger specimens that could have given a giant a run for its money in terms of size.

In form, they very much reminded Elijah of the first Voxx he’d ever encountered. Back then, he’d been saved by the panther guardian who lived on his island; otherwise, he’d have been slaughtered without fanfare. The memory brought to mind a question he’d never had answered – how strong was that creature? And by extension, how powerful was the panther?

In all likelihood, he would never know for sure.

One thing was certain, though – these new ones were far stronger than anything he might’ve encountered back then. Even from afar, Elijah could tell they were well past ascension. Even the smaller ones met or bypassed that standard, so the larger Voxx were obviously much more powerful.

If they were any weaker than the giants he’d recently fought in the Primal Realm, Elijah would have been very surprised.

And that didn’t make sense.

Rifts were meant as low-level challenges. And what he saw definitely didn’t qualify for that label. The only explanation that made any sense was that the rift had been left to grow for too long and its scope had begun to expand. Underneath it all, rifts, towers, and Primal Realms were all just rips in reality that had been plugged by the system and channeled into becoming something useful. But Elijah likened it to a hole in a water hose. If enough water spewed out of that hole, it would eventually widen. The same seemed true for rifts.

Which posed quite a problem for the world if they didn’t develop some means of finding and closing rifts before they got out of control. It had happened twice so far, and that was just what Elijah had found on his own. The world was a big place, and there were probably hundreds – if not thousands – of rifts that were just as bad or worse than the one he’d just entered.

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Fortunately, the corruption would only spread so far. Probably. Still, the idea of even a few acres of land being so thoroughly tainted was infuriating for Elijah.

With that in mind, Elijah returned to where he’d left Rakhan. After shifting back into his human form – talking as a scourgedrake seemed to unsettle the hunter – he explained what was going on. Together, they discussed a plan of action that, as it turned out, they never got the chance to implement.

After only a few minutes, an unholy screech filled the air as something rocketed from the sky. Fortunately, it targeted Elijah who, through Lupine Reflexes and the Sash of the Whirlwind, was able to dodge the descending missile without too much issue. The creature hit the ground in a shower of rock and earth, fouling a trap upon impact.

Elijah pounced on it, his scythe arcing out to decapitate the stunned creature. Only then did he discover two very distressing things. First – it was one of the smaller creatures he’d seen from afar. Apparently, it had been hiding wings. But even as the thing spurted thick, green blood from its neck stump, Elijah recognized the second problem.

It was not alone.

Indeed, there were a hundred or more monsters flitting through the clouds far above. They didn’t immediately dive, though. Instead, they circled like vultures, ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness.

Elijah was determined not to give them any such opportunity.

“Hunker down!” he shouted, leaping high into the air. With his Strength, he could throw himself to absolutely insane heights, so it was a full five seconds before he reached the apex of his jump. He activated Cloud Step, then sprang even higher. Then, he was among the monsters.

He activated Lightning Domain.

His blue lightning stood out from the dark clouds and clashed with the native purple bolts of electricity, but Elijah wasn’t concerned with appearance. Instead, he only cared about results. With that in mind, he pushed torrents of ethera into the spell, and the lightning spread out further than ever before. Ten feet. Then twenty. Thirty.

The monsters fried, spasming and plummeting. Elijah kept it up for two seconds, jumping off another cloud conjured by the Footwraps of the Wild Revenant and aiming Nature’s Claim at one of the other monsters.

Up close, they were even uglier than he remembered. Reptilian, but wrong. The pieces were all in the right place, but the scales looked dirty and malformed. The ridges were too pronounced, and the multitude of eyes cast everything in an alien – and unnatural – light.

So, when mushrooms sprang from one monster’s back, Elijah couldn’t help but feel a sense of deep satisfaction. That sensation thickened when the spores leaped to another monster. Then another.

Before long, the sky was full of falling monsters.

Elijah would have kept going if it wasn’t for the fact that the larger creatures had arrived on foot. So, he dove, falling alongside the dying monsters, then halting his momentum with two more Cloud Steps before landing on the ground in a cloud of dust. It was just in time to meet the oncoming monsters.

Nine of them.

All as large as giants and somehow even bulkier, with a multitude of arms, dozens of compound eyes covering their heads, and jagged claws that looked more serrated than sharp. From a distance, they’d seemed similar to the one that had nearly killed him only a few months after the world had changed, but up close, they were extremely different. More primal. More unnatural.

Elijah didn’t hesitate to hit the first one with Nature’s Claim. Even as the fungi nestled within his foe, he sprang into motion, shifting into the Shape of Scourge. Meanwhile, Rakhan’s traps activated, exploding into a multitude of ropes that bound the monsters’ legs.

The hunter himself hadn’t remained idle, either. He filled the air with thrown knives from the bandolier crossing his chest. Then switched to his sling, which thrummed with ethera with every swing.

Elijah’s transformation completed, and he kicked the first creature, hitting it with Ethereal Sepsis and opening a jagged wound across its belly. Before it could respond, he leaped high into the air, sprang from its shoulder, and threw himself at the next closest. As he did, his tail acted independently, punching into the hard scales and inflicting upon it one dose of Spreading Blight after another.

His momentum sent it spinning into another of its fellows, propagating the affliction into other creatures. In seconds, five had been infected, and it showed. They didn’t die in seconds like the monsters outside, but it was obvious that they wouldn’t last too much longer.

Unfortunately for them, they were also under the influence of Nature’s Claim. Even as they stumbled and staggered, mushrooms – purple and oddly asymmetrical – burst free of their backs, then exploded into spores that soon settled on their fellows. The chain reaction was unstoppable, and it didn’t cease until the spell ran its course.

By that point, Elijah had shifted into Shape of Thorn and planted himself in the center while activating Domain of Vines and Thornbound Legion. The monsters never knew what hit them as roots and vines – many looking like the black tendrils Elijah hated so much – wrapped around their legs and held them in place. Elijah pulled them all close, keeping them in place as mites leaped from his body to burrow into their hard-scaled bodies.

It didn’t do much damage, but then again, it didn’t need to. The afflictions spreading among them was enough to take them down. Elijah just needed to keep them from targeting Rakhan in the meantime.

For his part, the hunter moved with efficiency, dashing in and out and inflicting wounds upon the monsters. None were terribly grievous, but he seemed to have boundless energy and immense discipline. He never put a foot out of place, and no matter how the creatures responded to his attacks, he was never caught off-guard. Even when the remaining flyers attacked, he shifted his tactics without a moment’s hesitation.

Seeing that, it was easy for Elijah to see just how the man hunted powerful creatures.

Still, his ability as a hunter could only go so far when there was such a distinct disparity in power. He realized that, shifting his focus to the flyers that were closer to his level.

That left Elijah to deal with the big ones.

And in Shape of Thorn, he used his immense strength and durability to his advantage, ripping through their hard scales and breaking their dense bones. Not with ease, but it wasn’t terribly challenging, either.

Just as Rakhan was underleveled to deal with the large monsters, so too were the large monsters underpowered compared to Elijah. He didn’t steamroll them, but it wasn’t difficult, either. Just further evidence of his recent surge in growth.

Even before he’d been dragged into the Chimeric Forge, he was the strongest man in the world. And in the past year, he’d further separated himself from the rest of the pack. And the fight in the rift showed that better than anything he’d experienced of late.

While Rakhan held his own, he certainly would have been overwhelmed. Meanwhile, Elijah was never even forced to use the full extent of his power. If he had, the fight would have been over in only a few minutes.

Still, it only lasted about half an hour before the last of the monsters fell, its body completely ravaged by fungi and afflictions. When it hit the ground with a wet thud, Elijah turned to face Rakhan.

The man had made it through mostly unscathed, though Elijah had been forced to use Wild Resurgence on a couple of occasions to ensure his health. He was covered in viscera, though his dastar was still in pristine condition.

“By Waheguru’s grace, we live another day,” he said with a grin that revealed pristine white teeth.

Elijah cocked his head to the side. “Nice teeth. You have a toothpaste guy?”