“That must be hard.”
“Yeah, it is. What can you do, though? I stick by my friends, even when they aren’t convenient. Makes the living twice as hard, but without him, what do I have? Maybe one day, he’ll get better. Not likely, but there’s always a chance. Most would have left him for the wyverns by now. Not me, though.”
“I take it survival isn’t easy here.”
She cast him an annoyed glance. “You’re one for making obvious statements, aren’t you?”
“Sorry. It’s all I’ve got right now.”
“Well, just shut up and listen. You don’t have to have some rotting remark to everything I say.”
Rotting? That was the second time she’d said that. It seemed like a local profanity. He wanted to ask about it, but figured it would be best to keep quiet.
She nodded in satisfaction. “That’s better. First thing you need to learn – get inside before nightfall. If you don’t, there’s a good chance you won’t live to see the morning. There are plenty of caves in the rifts. Don’t go in the ones that are too high up. That’s where the wyverns like to nest. For that matter, you shouldn’t ever go to the very bottom of the rifts, the part where you can’t really see the sky anymore and it’s dark all the time. At some point, all the rifts go low enough and join up in this place called the Darkrift. That’s where you’ll find a lot of nasty creatures, and a lot of frays, too. And with frays, you’ll find Burners.”
“How far until the bottom?”
“There’s no real bottom,” Serah said. “It just keeps going down and down until you realize you’re not in the open air anymore. And it keeps going down below that, as far as we know.”
“How long’s a day here, anyway?” Lucian said.
“Well, a day’s a day. From what others have told me, Psyche’s close to Earth standard. Don’t know if anyone’s measured it properly, though.”
“I see. So, it’s just you and Ramore in here?”
She nodded. “It’s a bit too close to Kiro for my liking.” She held up a finger, staying Lucian’s next question. “Kiro is a day’s walk down the trail. Keep going down and you’ll find it. Big cave mouth, big wall, always guarded.”
“Why aren’t you living there?”
She laughed at that. “You kidding? I used to live there.” She held up her frayed arm. “The minute they see this, they send you packing.”
“That’s harsh.”
“That’s the rules,” she said. “Can’t let a fray wind up a Burner one day. It can happen at any time. Even if I don’t blame them, I don’t like them.”
“So, when someone frays, they just get banished?”
“That’s the modus operandi,” she said, mispronouncing things epically.
It sounded harsh, but if there was a better solution, Lucian didn’t know what it was.
“Well, it’s getting a bit late,” Serah said. “I should probably check on Ramore.” She stood and seemed to consider for a moment. “Tell you what. Tomorrow, I’ll take you down to Kiro, see if they might let you in or at least give you a chance.”
“Why wouldn’t they let me in?”
“You’re a stranger. Usually, you can’t get into a Deeprift village unless someone vouches for you, first.”
“Can you vouch for me?”
“I would, but I don’t know how far that would get you. Kiro and I have something of a . . . strained relationship.”
She went off to check on her friend. Lucian wondered how bad Ramore’s state was to be isolated back there.
Whatever the case, tomorrow he would wake up and hopefully reach this Kiro Village. He was nowhere near fraying, so maybe this place would accept him if he were willing to offer something in exchange, like work.
And always, Lucian had to remember his ultimate goal: escape. He recalled his audience with the Oracle all those months back on Volsung. She had entrusted the Orb of Binding to him. He didn’t even know what to do with that, and he didn’t know how any of it worked.
For a moment, Lucian doubted whether it had even happened. It wouldn’t be the first time. The question was probably pointless, anyway. He had to survive the night first, and every night after that. Then, he could worry about the Orb, along with the Oracle’s worrying encouragement to locate the rest of them.
When Serah’s footsteps approached the fire, a series of high shrieks emanated from outside the cave. Just hearing that gave Lucian chills.
“There they are,” Serah said. “Just pretend it’s a lullaby and you’ll fall right asleep.”
“I don’t think that’s going to work.”
“They’re checking us out all right. But with the way I built this fire up, we can sleep as safe as two mud-sallies during hibernation.”
“Whatever that means.”
“Goodnight, Lucian.”
Lucian lay down, being sure to keep the fire between himself and the cave entrance. More shrieks echoed from outside.
This was going to be a long night.
3
Lucian awoke to a guttural yell, and was pushed by some unseen force across the rocky cave floor. He scrambled up and found himself face to face with a shambling corpse of a man dressed in rags.
It took a moment for things to register, but when they did, he reached for his Focus.
It was going to be a fight.
Ramore’s deadened eyes did not match his wide, mad smile. He’d lost most of his hair, while his pink, mottled skin hung from his face like melted wax. His flesh was cadaverous and decaying, covered with open sores. He extended a trembling hand, which became wrapped with reddish light.
Serah scrambled up, her eyes widening. “Ramore, no!”
Lucian had time enough to wrap himself in a Thermal shield, countering the incredible blast of heat directed at him. Even with the shield, he felt as if he were standing in an oven. Ramore’s nightmarish face strained as he streamed more Thermal Magic.
