Lucen stared at the gate for another second. It shimmered and twisted, not like heat, not like fog, just… wrong. Like the space behind it was trying to be real but hadn't fully decided on the rules yet.
Gen stood a few steps behind him.
Still not moving.
Still not going in.
Lucen turned his head. "You're not coming?"
Gen gave a lazy half-shrug. "I don't do group projects."
Lucen frowned. "You dragged me out here."
"I'm here to introduce you to people," Gen said. "That's basically babysitting. I'm done."
Lucen was about to say something sarcastic, but footsteps interrupted him.
A trio approached from down the block.
Boots crunching glass, gear clinking softly, one of them chewing gum like she was daring someone to ask her to stop.
Lucen turned to get a better look.
The guy up front was tall and square-shouldered, broad enough to make the street look narrower. Buzzcut blond hair, dark brown eyes, armor layered with mana-treated plating.
His shield was ridiculous, half as tall as he was, matte black, scuffed at the bottom like he used it to clear sidewalks. He looked like someone who called every fight a warm-up.
The one walking beside him was lean, a bit shorter, with reddish-brown skin and dark gray eyes that didn't blink often.
Her hair was a light ash brown, buzzed short on one side and tied into a tight braid on the other. Bow across her back, calm gait, not even checking her corners.
She had the energy of someone who thought she was already late for the next job.
The third one was a mess.
Lucen stared for a second.
Short black hair, barely trimmed, sticking out near the ears. Golden eyes, actual golden, not amber. The unnatural kind that almost looked like contacts until you saw the way they caught light.
She wore an open uniform jacket over a faded red hoodie, one sleeve cut off halfway. Sword in one hand, dragging it lazily like she was walking her dog. A chip in the blade's edge. Blood dried on the hilt.
She looked over and grinned.
Lucen stared at her sword for a beat longer.
'She definitely sleeps with that thing under her pillow.'
Gen stepped forward slightly. "Lucen, meet your squad."
The tank gave a nod. "Callen."
The archer gave a bored glance. "Mira."
The girl with the sword didn't bother with a nod. She just raised her free hand. "Senna. Try not to die. It gets awkward."
Lucen blinked. "Noted."
Senna looked at his coat. "Support type?"
Lucen tilted his head. "Sure."
"Cool," she said. "Just don't make me carry you out."
Lucen looked at Gen. "Are these people vetted? Or do you just pick random psychos from the street?"
Gen smiled. "Why not both?"
Mira let out a small sigh. "Can we go already?"
Callen looked at Lucen for a second. Like he was calculating something. "You've been in before?"
Lucen shrugged. "Yeah."
"Solo?"
Lucen said nothing.
That seemed to satisfy him.
He stepped toward the gate and held up a small glyph tag. It shimmered against the mana field, then dissolved in his hand.
Lucen looked at Gen again. "Seriously. You're not coming?"
Gen smiled, quiet. "I'm already in the next part of the plan."
Lucen rolled his eyes. 'That's not ominous or anything.'
He turned back to the others.
Callen had already walked up to the edge. Mira hung back, adjusting something on her glove. Senna spun her sword once, the tip skimming the concrete.
Lucen stepped closer to the ripple.
The air felt thin.
Not cold, but stretched. Like a rubber band pulled too far without snapping.
He opened his system.
Mana: 61/61
[Unstable Kinetic Point]
[Gravitic Snap]
[Tension Mark]
[Hold Point]
He shut the screen again.
Callen went through first.
Just walked into the ripple and vanished. No sound.
Mira followed a second later, without a word.
Senna turned to Lucen. "You coming, spell boy?"
Lucen muttered, "Yeah. Sure. What's the worst that could happen."
Senna grinned again.
Then stepped through.
Lucen was last.
He looked back at Gen.
Still there.
Still watching.
Lucen pulled his coat tighter.
Then stepped into the gate.
And the world bent.
—
The mana in the air didn't feel like wind or pressure. It felt like stillness with teeth.
Lucen's boots touched the floor and stuck for a half-second, like the drift needed a moment to remember physics. The light overhead came from old sconces. Real fire. Blue flame. Almost violet at the tips.
The hallway stretched ahead like a storybook version of a castle. Walls lined with suits of armor, the kind that never looked quite balanced.
The ceiling arched in uneven stone ribs. Somewhere up high, something dripped.
Lucen blinked once, then again slower.
'Right. Classic drift aesthetic. Everything's haunted. Half of it's decorative. The other half kills you.'
The others stepped in behind him one by one. Callen first, shield already half-raised. Then Mira, scanning the walls like they owed her money. Senna took the rear, dragging her boots across the stone just to make noise.
No gate behind them anymore.
Just wall.
Lucen tapped the back of it. Solid.
He turned around. "Okay, so before we get jump-scared by a hallway rug, can we go over the basics?"
Senna snorted. "What basics?"
"Like… ranks?" Lucen said. "I kind of like knowing how fast you all die compared to me."
Callen gave him a look. "A-Rank. Tank type. Defensive glyph-tether."
Lucen nodded. "Cool. So you're the one I hide behind."
Callen didn't blink. "That's the idea."
Senna raised a hand lazily. "B-Rank swordswoman. Close combat. Mostly speed and finishers. I'm great at ending things. Not so great at starting them."
Lucen gave her a sideways glance. "Sounds like my report card."
She grinned. "You wish."
Mira said, "B-Rank support archer. Buff glyphs, weak-point targeting, kinetic arrows. Don't stand in front of me unless you want your back remodeled."
Lucen gave her a slow nod. "Noted. What's your crit rate?"
Mira blinked once. "Depends on how annoying you are."
Lucen grinned faintly. Then shrugged. "C-Rank. Spell Tracer. Don't worry, I'm great at not being helpful."
Senna muttered, "Figures. You're a C-Rank."
They walked.
The air stayed still, but the hallway didn't. Not really. The walls weren't changing, but the feeling in the stone did. Like something was watching from inside the rock, not through it.
Lucen brushed his fingers against a tapestry.
The fabric was soft. Too soft.
He looked down. The stitching pattern was a glyph. Almost too clean to notice unless you were trained to look.
He pulled his hand back.
'That's a mana bait rune. Low-level trigger, hidden behind embroidery. This whole castle's rigged like a prank show for the suicidal.'
They passed under a broken archway. The stone above was cracked in three directions, but hadn't fallen. Callen slowed as they entered the next room.
A hall with wide pillars and no visible exit. The floor was covered with dust, torn flags, what looked like cracked weapon handles. One had a notch bitten clean through the center.
Lucen stared.
'Yeah. This is totally fine. No horror movie vibes here. Just ancient war decor and stress.'
Senna glanced at him. "You good?"
Lucen gave her a thumbs-up. "Vibrating with confidence."
"Thought so."
Callen stopped near the center of the chamber. Mira walked the perimeter.
Lucen stayed close to the wall.
The system pulsed.
[Zone Data Incomplete]
[Stabilizer Nodes Present: 2]
[Mob Signature Detected: Classification… Delayed]
Lucen frowned.
'Delayed?'
The torches on the walls flared once.
Then went out.
All of them.
Mira swore. Loudly.
Lucen's vision took half a second to adjust. The hallway wasn't fully dark, just coated in that mana-haze glow. Faint, colorless, like ambient fog lit from inside.
Then they saw it.
A shape.
No sound.
Just motion.
From the far end of the hall, something tall stepped forward. Not walked. Floated.
Lucen's heart stalled for one beat.
It wore a long cloak. Tattered at the edges. Black with streaks of oily gray. Its face was a blank bone mask. No eyes. No mouth. Just ridges where features should be.
In its hand, if it had one. Was a scythe.
Not a costume one. A real one. Blade long enough to bisect someone sideways.
Lucen didn't breathe.
'Reaper..?'
The word dropped into his head like ice water.
Not a ranked monster.
Not even a real mob, technically.
A drift anomaly. A zone enforcer. The kind of thing that only showed up when a drift formed with a broken logic core.
The scythe tilted slightly in the air.
Then moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Lucen's system pinged.
[Warning: Incoming Hostile – Range Breach Detected]
"Move!" Callen yelled.
Lucen dropped, rolled sideways behind a broken pillar.
The scythe tore through the air where he'd been standing.
Stone shattered behind him.
Senna lunged forward, blade up.
The Reaper didn't flinch.
It turned.
Focused.
Lucen's breath caught.
He reached for mana without thinking.
'Okay. Bad plan. Very bad plan.'
The scythe came around again.
And everything blurred.