A man who's missing an arm can be seen panting under the light circle of a blazing torch, dancing back and forth each time a voice filled the corridor with a sharp wailing and agonizing screams back at some distance and in intervals...
He was limply crawling on the ground with his armor on- clanking with metallic friction.
He stretches his arm in a feeble motion to reach for a wooden pendant that was a few inches away.
When his hand finally reaches the pendant, a small relief washed upon his face as he stuttered a single word "D-Darling.."
His tired eyes went soft and teary as he opens the pendant - it shows a picture of his wife, smiling.
Flashbacks swim across his head- about the good and sweet memories with her, dancing and laughing. How she's always waiting for his return with a smile after a long day of hard work...
As he recalled those memories, it aches his heart even more as his tears won't stop falling down his cheeks. Gripping the pendant closely to his face while sobbing- regretting his decision for going into this kind of place.
If only he hadn't come with the others to venture this place despite the benefits but instead stayed with his wife, look for a proper job than to make his wife constantly worried. He wouldn't be putting himself in this kind of a mess and just live a simple life with his caring wife. He thought while gritting his teeth.
Suddenly, his thoughts became disoriented when he heard some heavy footsteps gradually approaching his direction.
His heart was thumping frenziedly and loudly every second as he slowly recalled the horror at what occurred to his friends earlier.
They were brutally murdered...
"This is only a dream.." He keeps repeating these words on his mind, tightly shutting his jiggly eyes and firmly holding on to his pendant. Wishing that everything up to this point was like a dream.
But unfortunately, at times like this, it's hard to escape from such reality.
Until he can feverishly tell the sound of the footsteps stopped, just near him. As some dust blows off to his face prompting him to cough.
He waited for a couple of minutes, having cold sweats on his back and forehead. Thinking something's about to happen to him any second.
But minutes have passed and nothing seems to happen in contrast to his expectation-
He found it so strange while a curiosity together with a sudden ray of hope was rekindled. He gingerly tried to open his eye to take a peak.
Only to meet the gaze of a bead of glowing red eyes staring intently through his soul in the cover of the dark- following a wide eerie smile.
♦♦♦
June 16th of 2002
Humanity was suffering huge losses after the constant wage of wars and massive destruction caused by these so-called Rifts appearing out of nowhere. The existence of why these things pop out is unknown and is still left questioned. But because of this, all countries were forced to merge into one, having three supreme leaders at the pinnacle of the pyramid, birthing a whole new system.
Rifts are made up of mysterious energy that connects other different worlds to one point- The Earth portals. Although despite the precious resources and materials you can benefit from it, It's difficult for a normal human to defeat an otherworldly being from the other side.
One thing to note is, Rift's difficulties are determined by its size. The bigger the size of concentrated energy, the more difficult it is to handle it. Luckily, Humanity only managed to survive this far because Monsters couldn't cross the border to Earth from the Rift due to some unknown reason. But it's dark energy is so vicious that can cause a massive destruction and virus outbreak to its surrounding causing some calamities.
But by sheer luck, Humanity sprung itself with supernatural growth after discovering these called EXP cubes that are dropped after killing a single monster while guarding these Rift's borders.
These EXP cubes trigger a system in your consciousness that gives you a random power that is only fed by the same type of EXP cubes or E.Cubes i. short, for your powers to grow and evolve. This shocking discovery gave humanity hope and slowly, they managed to conquer a single Rift and slowly recovered what was lost from humanity. Giving a new era of Rifters.
The First Rift that was conquered was called Everest, named after Mount Everest due to its freezing temperature and snowy environment. And at the center of this world stands a very magnificent huge castle that was once the Rift Boss Castle.
And this soon became the Headquarters for all the rifters that existed now after a decade.