He heard and felt the sickening crunch of the cricket, quickly followed by a squelch and an awful smell that washed over him as he crushed the cricket beneath him. Closing his eyes and mouth quickly to avoid anything that might splash into them he scrambled to his feet. Turning around to look for what had knocked him over he saw Ilmarillion hovering there with a broad smile on her face.

  “See, you dealt with it like you would any other bug, you squashed it” she said smugly. “My advice despite you dismissing it was helpful.”

  “Helpful! That was not helpful. Now I am covered in bug guts and stink” zeke said crossly. “I had that under control and didn’t need your help to kill that bug you made me squash.”

  Breathing through his mouth he could still taste the smell and he had to stop himself from gagging because he knew if he gagged once he probably wouldn’t be able to stop himself from vomiting.

  Ilmarillions eyes sparked with anger as she flew up and into Ezekiel's face. “You were the one who asked for my help and I gave you the help you needed. First, get another weapon which you did. Second was to deal with them like you would any other bug which would be to squash it.” she explained threateningly “I have helped you four times now and you have yet to even thank me for a single one. You do not want to break the laws of hospitality with one of the fae as it will only lead to your misfortune.”

  “Thank you!” he exclaimed angrily “for what? nearly letting a spider and these crickets almost kill me! Thank you for nearly getting me killed.”

  “You are welcome” she replied laughing. “See, was that so hard? You might also want to remember to keep your voice down or you might attract more of those insects.”

  “Now I have a few questions for you I am interested in having answered. How did you get yourself into such an abysmal state when I found you? You had almost no essence or mana within you and while being drained of mana is common enough having so little essence within yourself was rather surprising. I have rocks that have more essence than you.”

  “I’m not sure, I don’t even know what essence is. I was going camping and animals were acting strange then there was a noise like thunder and a strong wind hit me before I passed out.” Ezekiel said “and then I woke up to that giant spider you so helpfully dropped on to my chest.”

  “I have already told you it was not a giant spider. By the way you were behaving upon waking and have continued behaving, being manaless and having almost no essence has not been bothering you as much as I would have expected” Ilmarillion responded.

  Now that he had a moment to catch his breath and was talking with someone about his experiences it started to hit him how crazy everything that had happened really was.

  “Am I actually dreaming?” Ezekiel asked himself out loud “maybe I'm sleeping, fairies and giant bugs and spiders aren’t real. I have to be dreaming”

  As he finished talking Ilmarillion darted forward quicker than he expected and stabbed him on the left hand in the fleshy part of his hand between his thumb and index finger with a small dagger. He hadn’t even noticed that she had a dagger strapped to a belt she wore.

  “What the heck!?” he exclaimed trying to keep his voice low despite the pain

  “That is a warning and a lesson, I am a faerie, not a fairy and that spider was not a giant spider. I do not like repeating myself. Now if that hurts and you are bleeding” she said gesturing at my hand “you most likely are not asleep.”

  “Well if you are really a faerie, then show me some magic.” Ezekiel demanded, holding his hand watching as blood started to slowly run down his fingers.

  With an exaggerated flourish she conjured a ball of fire above her head that was about the size of a grape “will this prove I am a faerie?” She questioned “or do you need something that looks more impressive, like this?” Suddenly the ball of fire grew to twice the size of his head and the heat was enough for Ezekiel to take several steps back to avoid being burnt.

  “Now I hope that was sufficient to prove I am indeed a real faerie. I would generally consider this an insult from most having to explain what I am more than once but your situation has me more interested in why you do not believe what I say.” she said.

  “Sorry” Ezekiel said “I’m just a bit… I don’t know since waking up everything has felt more intense killing those bugs felt like a rush I haven’t felt before. To me fairies aren’t real they are like elves and dragons and monsters under the bed only ever existed in stories”

  Then gesturing with his hand at Ilmarillion “or at least faeries and magic weren’t real to me till now”

  “You are aware that elves, dragons and monsters are real as well are you not?” she questioned.

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  “Though monsters rarely hide under beds I am not sure why you think that. They are more likely to smash through the wall to try to kill everyone and everything” she added offhandedly

  Ezekiel stared at her blankly for a second as he processed what she had just said.

  “What do you mean there are elves and dragons as well?!” he exclaimed “can I ride a dragon?”

  “You could probably try to ride one if you were able to find one in the first place; they are not the most common of creatures. Though it would be a short flight and an even quicker death. Dragons are prideful and rarely let anyone ride them especially if it is just for the thrill of it. Though it might be a more novel approach for them than trying to slay one as so many humans seem keen on attempting.” she consideringly

  “I think instead of trying to think of idiotic ways to die in the future, you need to focus on ways to stop yourself dying now. You will not be able to leave this rift until you have killed most of the monsters contained within it” she continued “depending on how quickly you deal with the monsters in the rift will affect how quickly you leave the rift. I can not change how slow you are.”

  “You mean I have to kill more of those things? Can’t I just go back the way I came though?” he asked.

  Looking back at the hole in the air I could see it had turned almost grey and transparent in colour and the colours that once swirled and glowed within were no longer visible.

  “You have already absorbed some of the essence of the rift by killing the monsters, the rift will not let you leave until it has either killed you and absorbed your essence or you have absorbed the majority of the essence in the rift by killing the monsters contained within it causing its collapse.” she explained

  “I don’t enjoy killing things though, like I would if I was going to eat it but I'd rather live and let live you know?” he said.

  “That is a fine ideal to have but it will most likely lead to something else living while you are eaten. Rifts and the monsters contained within do not care about life, they are not like animals and beasts you will find on your world. Rifts and everything contained within them are one and the same, just a different expression of the same thing.” she explained.

  “Everything has its own essence, different to everyone and everything else. The rift and everything contained within it all have the same essence. As you breathe the air here you are absorbing the same essence as you would from killing a monster or eating some plants.”

  “Rifts draw in the ambient essence and mana of your world and convert it to their own slowly growing in strength and size until it breaks, releasing the creatures within which will then go out into the world slaughtering and destroying all they come across and delivering the essence gained from that destruction back to the rift. This causes it to grow faster leading to further growth of the rift, rift breaks and more destruction. If rifts are not destroyed they will eventually destroy the planet you are on, turning it into a wasteland till eventually even the rift dissipates on its own due to lack of new essence to help it grow.” she explained

  “As you enter a rift, your body will naturally start absorbing the essence of the rift and after a certain amount of time once the rifts excess essence has been absorbed by you or you have killed a creature within the rift the entrance becomes sealed while the rift tries to reabsorb the lost essence or the creatures contained within it will seek out the source of the problem within the rift.”she continued

  “So the rift knows I'm here? And is going to try and kill me? I didn’t even want to come here. I was just chasing after you because you kept throwing bugs at me?” he protested.

  “No, the rift doesn’t know anything, it is not aware or alive. They are more like an abnormal growth you might have on your body that keeps growing. It will not actively try and hurt what it is growing on but eventually it will lead to their death if it is not removed. That is what a rift is like except on your planet.” she said.

  “You mean like cancer?” He asked.

  “Excellent, you know of what I am referring to, that makes things a bit easier if you have some idea of what I am talking about as you have seemed rather dull so far. I guess you can use your head after all. Yes, like cancer and it needs to be removed. If you knew the right magic you would not have even needed to enter this rift to destroy it but given how weak you are and how you struggle with even these most basic of creatures that will still be a long way off.” she said

  “Is this like a dungeon from a video game? Am I going to find awesome treasure and rewards in here and for defeating the boss? Are you a dungeon fairy then or maybe even my own fairy guide? Are you going to be helping me complete quests and save princesses? Or use magic?” I asked hopefully my excitement building with every thought and question I had.

  “I am not sure what a video game is or what connection a dungeon has to this rift, but you will not find treasure or rewards in here. Well you could find things in the rift you could sell as most rifts will have things from the world they are like an echo of another world. Monster parts, plants, the ground or water, I have seen or heard stories of all sorts of people taking all sorts of things out of rifts during my life.”

  “But I do want to make one thing clear to you now. I am only here to help you because of how I found you. I am not your guide and if you want to go on a quest or save a princess you can and will be doing that on your own. I have also shown you magic already.” She answered.

  “Now you need to stop putting this off because whether you like it or not you will need to kill more of the creatures within this rift or they will kill you” she said.

  Seeing my worried look she continued “If you are careful and take your time you should be able to clear the rest of this rift quite easily. It is only small; you will probably only find twenty to thirty monsters in a rift like this. Just avoid drawing the attention of too many creatures at once and you should be fine.”

  “Okay, I got this. I can do it. I’ve already killed four of them without being hurt and they weren’t that hard even with just a stick.” Ezekiel said, trying to hype himself up to the task.

  “You know you sound ridiculous talking to yourself like that. Actions often prove your thoughts more than words ever will, so hurry up and start doing something. I am already getting bored.” she responded.

  Looking at the spider leg he had attached as proof of the giant spider, he realised that the spider wasn’t as much of a threat as the crickets. Still terrifying to wake up to one on top of him though. Removing the leg he picked up his backpack and took his first step deeper into the rift. Ezekiel almost expected something to jump out and attack him. When nothing did he felt his confidence grow it might be dangerous but he could do this. He would be able to clear this rift.