Another day arrived, and Relyn stood outside the city walls with the others from the night before.

  The stone wall he had seen just a couple of days ago was different, it couldn’t possibly change in only a day or two. Something was off.

  What was it?

  Relyn twisted his head, looked more carefully and suddenly his eyes widened. A whole section of the wall seemed to be leaning inward. It was subtle, but his eyes were used to picking up on subtle things.

  That’s how he had survived until now.

  ‘What the hell did that?’

  Then, he glanced to the sides and grinned.

  A line of soldiers was between his group and the forest behind. They didn’t seem to pay his group much attention and just freely whispered between themselves.

  ‘Is this on purpose?’

  His group, on the other hand, was quiet. Their silence was only broken by the occasional cough or the noise of the boots they had just been given on the ground.

  And this lasted until an older soldier, who introduced himself as the expedition’s instructor, showed up and led the way. Everybody began to walk.

  Relyn looked to his sides again, then behind him, but every man from his group he saw seemed to have their eyes looking down.

  Sometimes, a whisper of prayer would get to his ears, barely high enough to be heard, but these weren’t prayers for fortune or victory, they were words of protection.

  When the expedition leader finally ordered them to stop with a yell, Relyn was curious. The place had nothing special about it.

  He looked around, more carefully this time, and finally found it. Its length was about the same as a regular tree and its width was almost nonexistent, just a thin line in space.

  ‘What… what is that?'

  It rippled and pulsated as if it were alive. All types of small translucent shapes and shades moved around it, fading in and out of view.

  At the same time, it was so subtle that it required careful attention to notice, barely distinguishable from the surrounding nature.

  For a moment, his gaze just wouldn’t turn away no matter what. It was like something important there was about to happen, but it never did.

  A hand suddenly waved in front of his eyes.

  “Don’t stare at it. That shit drives people crazy,” someone muttered in a low voice.

  When Relyn came back to his senses, he realized their instructor had already been speaking for a while.

  “So it’s your first time, uh,” the same person spoke again.

  “By the way, my name is Milen, what 's yours? I couldn’t get your name at the tavern yesterday,” he continued with a low chuckle.

  That was the man he had met just a day before.

  “Relyn,” he replied, keeping his voice low.

  “Nice to meet you. You seem like decent folk.”

  Relyn nodded, glancing back toward the instructor.

  “...the sphere will do most of the work,” the instructor was saying, holding up the small, glowing orb"

  “Just keep it close at all times. The receiver outside will map your location in about a 10 steps radius and… anything else in that range too,”

  “Remember, crawlers just map, that’s what you’re for. If anything crosses your path, you run. The spear you’re about to receive is for keeping things at a distance if necessary,”

  “You’ll be splitted into groups of three. Each group must head as far from the other groups as possible to get the most out of the sphere’s reach. May the Gods be with you all,”

  With these words, the instructor finished his speech.

  As the groups were organized, Relyn found himself paired with Milen and another man he hadn’t seen before.

  “We are going to spend some time together now, might as well know each other, am I right?” Milen started the conversation.

  “You’re Relyn, and you are…?” he pointed towards the one who just joined them, a tall and bald man.

  “I’m Gareth… are you two first timers?” he asked, staring for a while at Milen’s missing arm, seemingly not very excited to be here.

  “Our friend Relyn here is a first timer, but I’ve been to quite a few rifts already,” Milen shook his head with a smile on his face.

  “What about your arm?” Gareth’s eyes lingered on Milen’s missing arm.

  Milen’s smile froze instantly.

  “Ah.. this,” He looked where his right arm was supposed to be.

  “Lost it a while ago, but that’s not going to be a problem,” Milen said, brushing it off.

  “Really? How did you lose it?” Gareth pressed on.

  Relyn saw a miserable expression on Milen’s face, but he wasn’t concerned. What bothered him was the number of soldiers still around.

  He wasn't confident. Taking the risk and running now or staying and going in?

  When he turned his attention back to his group, Gareth had a strange look in his eyes and shifted in his direction.

  “And you, mudmonger. Why are you here?” Gareth asked.

  ‘What? Is he talking to me?’

  At this time, a soldier approached them and confirmed it was their turn to go, so they were handed their spears and some bags with food, water and medical herbs.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Let’s get this done, my friends,” Milen said, stepping forward as if nothing had happened.

  As they got closer to the rift, the noise coming from it was the only thing in Relyn’s mind. An unnatural, sharp sound that seemed to buzz inside their heads that only grew louder at every step.

  But once they crossed through, everything went silent, dead silent.

  The air inside the rift was heavy and every next breath felt hard to take, as though it was not meant for them to breathe.

  Milen maintained his calm, he pulled out something from his pocket, adjusted his pack and kept his eyes scanning their surroundings, moving slowly but not hesitating.

  Gareth gripped his spear tightly with both hands and his posture went stiff.

  In the distance, a small group of people appeared, heading toward the far right. Milen glanced over, then turned left without a word. They began walking in that direction, and Relyn followed them closely.

  The place was surprisingly clear for somewhere with no exposure to the sun, and the sky above them was dark. They were now in the middle of open space surrounded by rocks.

  The other groups appeared not far from where they stood. Ahead, there were mountains of rocks piled on top of each other, with only a few openings.

  When they got to one of the entrances, Milen took his spear and made an ‘X’ on one of the rocks there, and the group continued, going inside.

  “What was that for?” Relyn asked.

  “Marking we’re here so the groups can take another entrance,” Milen replied.

  “So, Relyn, what brings a young man like you here? Debt?” he continued the conversation.

  “Yes. Something like this.” Relyn spoke.

  “Hard not to get in debt these days I suppose. You aren’t much older than my boy, so let me tell you something.” Milen said.

  “This isn’t a job you want to do for long. Construction is paying well for youngsters like you, get yourself in a course or study under someone, that’s how you make it.”

  “I’m building a tavern back in my hometown. The best ale in the whole province. First round’s on me if you ever visit.” Milen chuckled.

  “Ok. I will think about that.”

  “Now, you might be wondering if that’s the reason why I’m here, am I right?”

  ‘No. I’m not.’

  “Well, that's half the reason. I just put my kids in a prep school to become hunters. Oh, you should see those kids…” Milen laughed.

  He spent the next half hour talking about his son and daughter, his eyes lighting up with every story he would tell.

  Eventually, they stopped to rest along the way.

  “Here you go, Relyn boy.”

  Milen handed him something, a small yellow cube.

  “Gareth.” he did the same for Gareth, who immediately shoved it in his mouth and swallowed it.

  Relyn held the cube close to his nose, and slightly poked it with his finger. That was something completely new for him, no records of it whatsoever in his mind.

  “You really are a suspicious fellow,” Milen chuckled.

  “That’s a yellow ration. I got a bunch of these in Solara last month. It ain’t much better than dog shit but that’s going to give you some energy for the next few hours” he finished explaining.

  Relyn nodded, inspecting it a little more before finally swallowing it in one go as well.

  It tasted like leaves mixtured with dirt, but after a couple of seconds, his body felt more energetic and his mind was also a little sharper.

  When they started moving and Milen started talking about his family again, Relyn noticed something odd.

  Gareth, who was even quieter than he was, despite walking alongside them, would always fall a few steps behind after a while, only to catch up quickly and go along with the same pattern.

  After a while, Milen suddenly stopped walking and knelt down.

  “What happened?” Gareth, slightly behind, was the first to ask.

  Milen seemed to look at something on the ground for a while. He dropped his spear over and used his hand to touch the floor. then brought it close to his nose.

  “Nothing, it’s just that… this rift seems a little odd.” Milen said.

  “Why?” This time, it was Relyn who spoke.

  Milen looked around himself, and reached his hand for the closest rock.

  “I’ve been to almost thirty expeditions now, I know a thing or two about these places…”

  “And this is the first moist rift that I’ve seen.” Milen continued to speak.

  “What? It’s a rift, there's no water here” Gareth quickly said.

  “See the ground and the walls for yourself. They’re completely damp.” Milen spoke while extending his hand again to touch a different part of the wall.

  “And what is wrong with this place having water?” Relyn struggled a little, but managed to put his sentence together"

  “Rifts don’t have water, none. The only water it has is the water the crawlers bring in to drink.” Gareth responded to Relyn and looked straight at Milen.

  “S-should we go back, you think?” Gareth asked Milen.

  The place fell silent.

  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1450871766/carvan-of-blades-a-litrpg-deckbuilder